Sometimes the buildings’ architecture forces us to establish, for the same sanitary network, more than one plumbing vent pipe that ensures that the sanitary fixtures’ trap, at all levels of the building served, has access to atmospheric pressure.
Thus, with the incorporation in DRAINS 3.0, of plumbing vent design tools, it’s possible to define more than one main vent stack in each waste network that you generate in your sanitary projects.
We will explain to you in this video how to approach individual vent pipe networks that are “separated” according to more than one vent stack, and, of course, you will learn how to perform the vent stack design in the case that it’s not connected to a soil stack.
General Approach to the Individual Vent System for the sanitary network
Let’s continue with the example project that contains the different sanitary networks that we have used to show you the new features in DRAINS version 3. Remember that you will find the file in the software’s installation folder.
For network number four, we have already, in previous videos, carried out the design of the individual vent network, as well as the design of the vent stack connected to the waste stack number 4.
But, In this case, we are going to carry out the individual vent design for this network here on the right, the number 6.
The existence of the necessary open space in this wall, required to configure the bathroom on the right’s access door, forces us to separate the ventilation network into two independent vent stacks.
We will have a branch vent in this wall to vent these sanitary fixtures and reach the first vent stack located at this point.
This column, being so close to the network’s soil stack, will be used to ventilate it, as we did with installation number four in the previous video.
Then you will see that here, on the right, the situation becomes complicated by the space in the wall mentioned above since there is no way to connect the branch vent pipe for these fixtures, which would have this alignment, with the one we have proposed on the left.
So the most straightforward solution will be to define, let’s say, at this point, a vent stack that, being remote and not connected to the waste stack, we will call it independent.
Thus, through these ventilation columns, we guarantee the entry of air to the respective individual vent systems in this waste network, at each level of the building.
Modifying the Sanitary Network to receive the Branch Vent pipes
As you imagine, it is necessary, before starting to draw the bathroom vent pipes and nodes, to make some modifications to the vented sanitary network.
These modifications consist of simply inserting nodes at the points where we expect to connect the individual vent pipes, which, in turn, will be connected to the horizontal collection pipe.
So let’s change this network’s nodes prefix to lowercase “v.”
And, using the nodes creation tool, let’s insert nodes at the referred points.
Remember that the program, since there are no defined fixtures in these inserted nodes, and since they are in straight sections, will consider that the corresponding fitting is a sanitary tee.
The idea here, as mentioned, is to connect these horizontal drains vertically with the respective branch vent.
And that’s all!. The drainage network is ready to be ventilated.
We will click the calculation and design button to make sure that the changes have not caused problems.
All good, as we see in the report as well as in the tables.
So, let’s get started.
Creating the bathrooms’ individual vent pipe systems.
Go to the Current Network panel to create our vent network.
Specify a name, description, and node prefix.
And, very important, we select Vent Network.
From the list, we select the network number six.
Once created, the program assigns to it the same display area as that of the ventilated network.
But, as I will do, it’s possible to specify a different one by selecting it and clicking this button.
OK, let’s start creating the vent pipes for the bathroom on the left, from the point where the vent stack will be located towards each of the upstream nodes.
Remember that, when clicking inside the circle that defines a node in the ventilated network, its coordinates will be taken automatically to create the node of the ventilation network.
You can modify the position of the nodes to, for example, align the pipe, but keep in mind that you must change to the ventilated installation, six, in this case, to edit its objects.
Then, going back to the vent pipes network, you will see that by repositioning the node within that of the ventilated system, it adjusts to its coordinates automatically.
Now we will change this node’s to convert it in a Vent Stack Node.
Let’s go to its properties.
Check here, establishing that it will be a vent stack.
I give it a name. To differentiate it from the one I will later create for the other bathroom. I’ll put a lowercase “a” at the end.
Remember, as we already saw in the previous video, that, since this vent stack will be connected to this waste stack, that is, it will not be an independent one, we will keep this box unchecked.
Click OK to save the changes and close the dialog.
Let’s now assign the ventilated fixtures at each node in the vent pipes network.
Note that, since the created node here detected that it was on a node with a sanitary fixture assigned, the program has automatically assigned it here to the list of ventilated fixtures from this node.
So, in this case, we don’t have to do anything.
With the remaining nodes, we must manually assign the sanitary fixtures, since these nodes are not directly attending some of these.
Everything is set here. We can click the Calculate button to see if there are errors.
We check the ventilated fixture unit’s totalization.
Remember that these two stacks will be interconnected, as stipulated by sanitary regulations.
Let’s continue.
Notice that without creating a new vent network, I’m going to draw nodes and pipes that are separate from the ones I’ve already created here on the left.
I start from this point, where the other vent stack will be, and I will create nodes and pipes upstream of it.
Now, we need to convert this node to a vent stack type.
So, I change the name, adding a lowercase “b” at the end, and activate the property that we already know.
Setting up the independent Vent Stack’s Properties
Now, since we are interested in establishing it as a separate vent stack, I do have to check the box below.
Notice that the Pipe Properties Button has been enabled to allow access to the respective design tool.
Let’s click it to load the dialog.
As you can see, the data to enter are minimal.
You must specify the number of ventilation networks that will be connected to this vent stack. It is common to have one for each level of the building served.
I will select 10, assuming that sanitary network six serves ten levels in the corresponding building.
Later, a small calculation to establish here what will be the vent stack’s length or height. I will enter 27.5 meters, supposing that it extends along ten levels, 2.5 meters high each, plus one more level corresponding to its extension above the roof of the building.
And that’s it. Of course, if you want to override the automatic design, check this box and select the diameter of your preference.
Click OK to return to the vent network and finish feeding it with the ventilated fixtures at each node.
Here we will ventilate the two fixtures that drain through this pipe, the lavatory and the floor sink.
The water closet here.
And the shower here, finally.
All set, click Calculate to see the results.
Individual Vent Network and Vent Stacks Calculation and Design
What interests us most is to see what the results are for the vent stack design of this part of the system.
The selected diameter is 75 mm.
Here the program has totaled the fixture units ventilated by this half of the sanitary network, multiplied by the specified number of vent networks.
This total, with the vent stack’s length, was used to pick, from the project’s size and length of vents table, the mentioned diameter.
Of course, since there is no soil stack, an equivalent stack diameter has been determined for the ventilated fixture units, so to speak, to enter this table and obtain the resulting diameter.
Thus we have the design, quickly, realized.
Let’s look at the isometric view.
We take advantage of this network, which has a quite particular geometry, to introduce you to a new feature in the isometric views visualization.
By default, to establish the arrangement of the lines in the drawing, the angle of the line defining the pipe discharging into the network’s soil stack node is taken as a reference so that it has, in the isometric view, 30 degrees from the horizontal.
Here, as you can see, the tributary section to the soil stack has a 30 degrees inclination towards the northeast.
But you will agree that the isometric view does not allow us to differentiate the system’s pipes adequately.
Let’s switch to the Southeast view.
The section is now oriented 30 degrees to the right and down.
And finally, switch to the Southwest view.
With slight improvements but, in general, a good visualization is not achieved.
So, to give you options to achieve a better visualization in situations like this one, we have added the option to cancel the reference pipe section’s rotation.
That is, when you activate this box here to the left of the views selector, you will see that this rotation of the tributary pipe section to the soil stack node is canceled.
Now its rotation coincides with the vertical, allowing to obtain a better representation of the entire pipe system.
If I change to the Northeast view, you will see that now the pipe is horizontal, also achieving a better isometric view.
So we leave you this feature to be used especially in those cases in which the tributary pipe to the soil stack node is not entirely horizontal or vertical in plan view.
Finally, going back to the isometric drawing of the individual vent network, keep in mind that from the layers manager, you can modify the display, that is, line thickness, color, and visibility of each object type independently.
Well, we are ready here, let’s close to return to the main window.
As always, I highlight the list of materials.
Please note that the independent vent stacks will not be part of the respective individual vent network, that is, the associated quantities are not included in the list of the network six’s ventilation system in this example.
Rather, they will be included in the project’s total list.
Thus you have separated the elements of the network from those of the vent stacks.
Finally, we remind you that this vent stack design would be similar to what we did for installation 4 in the previous video of this series.
So we recommend you to review the DRAINS video playlist so that, if you have not seen it yet, you will become familiar with this procedure.
Thanks for your attention.