Plumbing Terms: Plumber’s Dictionary

Plumbing job is just like other job that needs some terms or words that best define some things in Plumbing services. If you wish to be a plumber, you need to know these terms for you to handle such plumbing jobs.

For you to know more about plumbing services, you can look for these terms of Plumbers for you to understand plumbing services:

Backfill

Soil used to refill a trench that was dug up to excavate pipes.

Bedding

Material laid under a pipe that supports it and keeps the pipe from shifting in the soil.

Boundary Trap

A point of disconnection between your property/properties sewer and the local authorities  main. All your sanitary plumbing runs to this trap. It has a water seal to stop the smell from the sewer coming back up the line.

Cement Mortar Joint

 A socket joint or pipe bend made out of cement.

Choke

A blocked drain.

Clearout

See Inspection Opening

Conduit

 A fancier word for pipe.

Defect

Decaying material, abnormality or obstruction in pipes that effects your plumbing.

Sanitary Drain

The plumbing (within your property line) that carries waste water away from your home or business. This type of drain includes any fitting or pipe that’s outside of the building.

House Drain

Plumbing, within your sanitary drain system that carries waste water from sinks, toilets, equipment and tubs. This type of drain includes any plumbing that’s inside of the building.

Drainage Diagram

A map or plan of the approved sewer lines throughout your property, available from your local water authority, usually attached to a property contract of sale.

Drainoscopy

A drainoscopy is the process of surveying your drainage pipelines with a high tech purpose built camera. It really is the only way to see what is going on underground. A drainoscopy will show pipes, pipe joints, tree root penetrations, damage or even collapsed sections of pipe. A drainoscopy can be recorded and forwarded to you via email.

Helio

Plumbers over the age of 30 refer to the drainage diagram.

Infiltration

Unintended ground or storm water that makes its way into the sanitary/sewer drainage system, usaully through cracks in pipes or joints, or tree root penetrations.

Installation

The creation of your network of pipes and fixtures or just your network of pipes and fixtures.

Inspection Opening

a point of access into your house drains and branches.

Main

Usually owned and maintained by the local “Water authority”.

Pulling

Manually removing pipe obstruction by pulling a disk through the plumbing.

Rodding

Manually removing pipe obstruction using a system of jointed rods, like an electric eel.

Root Foam

A chemical foam mixture applied to pipes after mechanic root removal to prohibit future plant intrusion and reinforce pipes.

Root Penetration

Tree roots growing into plumbing, pipes, drains and sewers.

Rubber Ring Joint

A type of pipe joint seal that’s made out of chemically treated rubber circa; 1970-85

Sewer Main

The publicly owned pipes that carry waste water away from your property.

Sludge

Sort of the opposite of scum, this is pipe obstruction that sinks to the bottom of plumbing.

Spigot or Socket Joint

The male end of a pipe.

Sullage

Household waste water, specifically from sinks, kitchens and laundries.

Surcharge

Pipe or drain overflow cause by a combination of plumbing blockages and an abundance of rain. It could be from the main.

Surcharge Gully

An outside drain which may have a tap over. It is lower than your lowest floor drain, so that surcharge occurs here, not inside your home. It also has a water seal.