Plumbing Systems: Developing A Work Plan

By Rob McRaney
From the December 2022 issue

A The facility manager’s primary concern is to keep buildings full of happy tenants and residents. To do this, they must maintain their facilities effectively, which can be a daunting task with multiple properties. For this reason, it is important to have a standard operating procedure or best practices guide for utilities.

Of course, a standard operating procedure for utilities can include water, gas, and electricity. Of these utilities, water is the top priority – while a building can function without electricity, it absolutely cannot function without water.

Facility management can check the utility line for leaks by seeing if water is pooling behind the toilet. (Photo: Niagara)

Establishing a standard operating procedure for a plumbing system is key to maintaining a facility easily and consistently. Unless FMs are knowledgeable about plumbing, it can be difficult to get started, especially when a facility’s plumbing system can vary from a simple bathroom to a full irrigation system.

Conduct a water audit

To best understand what is required to maintain plumbing systems, facility managers need to know how their buildings use water and how much water is being used. Common places are:

  • bathroom
  • kitchens
  • break rooms
  • Outdoor landscaping
  • Interior greening (if there are plants or water features in the building)

Once FMs determine where they use water in facilities, they can locate the devices that distribute it: showerheads, aerators, toilets, watering systems, etc. These devices vary in their water use, but the toilets and watering systems use the most water. Each of these lights has different maintenance requirements, so FMs should make a note of who the manufacturers are and keep a living record of that information. A google sheet is an efficient tool for cataloging the types of fittings, their manufacturers and their flow rates. This also provides maintenance teams with an easy way to access this information on their phones or tablets while they work.

It also doesn’t hurt to have an extra jig or two for quick field swaps. In addition, some manufacturers give guarantees on their lights; knowing who the manufacturer is can save you money in the end if more than one light needs to be replaced.

During a water audit, facility managers can see how much water their building is using and spot potential leaks in the building’s plumbing system.

Identifying leaks in plumbing systems

Leaks are one of the biggest wastes of money in a property, especially silent leaks like running toilets or ruptured pipes. Leaks can account for 13% of a property’s water consumption. Depending on the device, these leaks can be easily remedied and easily identified.

Toilets: This is one of the worst leakers as nearly 6% of water use comes from a leaking toilet. If a building has a flush meter or a wall mounted toilet, the chance of a toilet leaking is very small. However, when toilets have a tank, there can be a problem. Toilets leak from three common places: the fill valve, the service line, or the flap.

One way to check if a toilet is leaking from the flap is to drop a blue dye tablet into the toilet’s tank. Wait five minutes and if the water in the toilet bowl stays clear, then the toilet isn’t leaking.

This works because when a flapper is tightly sealed to the flush valve, water will not escape into the bowl unless flushed. Once a toilet is flushed, blue water should run into the bowl and down the drain.

Checking the supply line is easy too – just look where the toilet connects to the wall and see if there is water on the floor or if the supply line itself is wet.

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