General Regulations Both Codes Agree On — Materials and Marking, Protection, Trenching and Backfill, Hangers, Test Gauges, Engineered Designs (UPC ch. 3 / IPC ch. 3) — Lesson

Chapter 3 of each code is the "everything else" chapter: what may go into a drain, how materials are marked and listed, how pipe is protected, trenched, backfilled and hung, what test gauges to use, and how an engineer's alternative design gets approved. Both codes say the same thing on most of it. This lesson teaches the shared rules and lists, at the end, the numbers on which the two codes part company — those are never in our question bank.

Section map: UPC 301 (standards, marking, alternates, flood, engineered design), 302 IPS pipe, 303–306 disposal of waste, 307–308 location, 309 workmanship, 310 prohibited fittings and practices, 311 independent systems, 312 protection of piping, 313 hangers, 314 trenching, 315 joints, 316 increasers, 317 food-handling areas, 318 test gauges, 319 medical gas, 320 rehabilitation. IPC 301 general, 302 exclusion of materials, 303 materials, 304 rodentproofing, 305 protection, 306 trenching, 307 structural safety, 308 piping support, 309 flood, 310–311 toilet rooms and worker toilets, 312 tests and inspections, 313 efficiencies, 314 condensate, 315 penetrations, 316 alternative engineered design.

1. What must be connected — and what may never go down the drain

Every fixture, drain, appurtenance and appliance that receives or discharges liquid waste or sewage is connected to the drainage system (UPC 304.1; IPC 301.3). The UPC adds that disposing of sewage or liquid waste any other way is unlawful (303.1).
Prohibited deposits (UPC 305.1; IPC 302.1): ashes, cinders, solids or rags; flammable, poisonous or explosive liquids or gases; oil, grease, or anything else capable of obstructing, damaging or overloading the drainage system or public sewer — never into any fixture, floor drain, interceptor, sump or receptor.
Industrial wastes (UPC 306.1; IPC 302.2): the AHJ / code official controls them — the IPC keeps manufacturing or industrial waste out of the public sewer until the code official determines it will not damage the sewer or upset the treatment plant; the UPC requires wastes detrimental to the sewer or plant to be treated and disposed of as the AHJ directs, and wastes deleterious t

General Regulations Both Codes Agree On — Materials and Marking, Protection, Trenching and Backfill, Hangers, Test Gauges, Engineered Designs (UPC ch. 3 / IPC ch. 3)

1. What must be connected — and what may never go down the drain

This is where the public part ends.