December 1, 2020

As the year 2020 reaches its end, so do many items in the Florida Building Code. The 2020 Florida Building Code 7^th Edition goes into effect on January 1, 2021. Any project submitted to a jurisdiction on this date (Jan. 1, 2021) will have to conform to the new 2020 code. In our first installment of a blog series aimed at examining these code changes, we’ll take a look at noteworthy changes in plumbing code. These changes are important as we look to address project scope and identify additional costs for our business and potentially, our customers.

Here are seven changes to take note of:

• An ASSE 1071 temperature mixing valve is required when hot and cold water are routed to an emergency eye wash. This will affect our dental clients and some of our medical office clients.
• Water heater drain pans are not limited to galvanized metal material. The new code allows for aluminum and plastic (but not under gas fired heaters).  This could provide cost savings to our clients.
• All brass piping and fittings have been deleted in their entirety for any application from the 2020 code.
• Press fit joints are now an acceptable pipe joining method for copper tubing, CPVC plastic pipe and PEX plastic. This could offer installation savings.
• Polyethylene (PE) pipe and polypropylene (PP) pipe are acceptable sanitary pipe materials. This could offer material and installation savings.
• This is a big one! When connecting new sanitary piping into existing sanitary piping in buildings, the existing sanitary system and the existing sewage (outside) system “shall be internally examined to verify that the piping is sloping in the correct direction, is not broken, is not obstructed and is sized for the drainage load of the new plumbing drainage system to be installed.” This will be an added expense to projects!
• A food waste disposer can no longer discharge to grease waste. This may cause clients to add an extra working sink to their facilities – an added expense.

If you’d like to see the changes on the state website, you can do so by clicking here. In future installments of this series, we’ll take a look at changes to Florida building code in mechanical, fuel, gas and energy conservation.