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- Indirect and Special Wastes (UPC ch. 8 / IPC ch. 8) — air gaps and air breaks, receptors, chemical wastes
Indirect and Special Wastes Both Codes Agree On — Air Gaps and Air Breaks, What Must Drain Indirectly, Waste Receptors and Standpipes, Corrosive and Chemical Wastes (UPC ch. 8 / IPC ch. 8)
An indirect waste is a drain that stops short of the drainage system: the discharge falls through open air (an air gap, or an air break below the receptor's rim but above its trap seal) into a trapped and vented waste receptor, so a backed-up sewer can never reach the equipment. Both codes use the idea the same way; they differ on the numbers (air-gap height, when the indirect pipe itself is trapped, standpipe maximum height) — those are in §6 and never tested.
2018 UPC and 2018 IPC · Reviewed 2026-09-20
1. Air gap or air break — the two connections
- Indirect waste piping discharges into the drainage system through an air gap or an air break into a waste receptor (UPC 801.2; IPC 802.3).
- An air gap is open air between the end of the indirect waste pipe and the flood-level rim of the receptor (UPC 801.2 — at least 1 in; IPC 802.3.1 — at least twice the pipe's effective opening). An air break discharges below the receptor's rim but above its trap seal (IPC 802.3.2). Equipment handling food or sterile materials gets the stricter air gap.
- Receptors are trapped and vented and connect to the building drain (UPC 801.3.2, 803.3; IPC 802.3).
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