RWB Teaches, Learns at Plumbing Design Course in DFW
On August 23 and 24, 2019 the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter of ASPE held the Basic Plumbing Design Course at the PCETX Facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Michael Danielson, Senior Associate at RWB, served as the course instructor. He has a wealth of plumbing design experience in healthcare, municipal, multifamily, and institutional designs.
The Basic Plumbing Design Course is a 14-hour design training class. The curriculum is intended to educate designers on the basics of plumbing design. The coursework covers plumbing terminology, trade tendencies, history of the professional, and fundamental plumbing calculations.
Over 40 designers and engineers from the DFW area attended the course last week, including attendees from multiple other design firms in the area. Among the attendees were three engineers from the RWB mechanical team seeking to expand their skill set.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A PLUMBING DESIGN COURSE
Typically, plumbing design is not taught as a part of any engineering degree program. So, most plumbing designers learn from on-the-job experience. In many cases, gathering such experience is not feasible. For example, if a design engineer works in a firm that doesn’t offer plumbing services, the amount of education on plumbing design and best practices would be limited.
Another important reason for a plumbing design course is for coordination amongst disciplines. Anyone that works in building design and construction would agree that colleagues in different trades could do more to learn about each others’ work. So, although some attendees of a plumbing design course may never design plumbing systems themselves, learning about the fundamentals can be immensely beneficial to their work.
Plumbing Design Course Curriculum
The ASPE Basic Plumbing Design Course is 14 hours of training split over two days, covering a variety of plumbing topics.
Day 1
- Introduction & History to Plumbing
- Plumbing Definitions & Codes
- Plumbing Fixtures, Trim & Chase Requirements
- Piping & Fittings
- Storm Drainage Piping Systems Design/Examples
- Sanitary Sewer & Vent Piping Systems Design/Examples
Day 2
- Domestic Cold Water Piping Systems Design
- Domestic Cold Water Piping System Design/Examples
- Domestic Hot Water Piping Systems Design
- Domestic Hot Water Piping Systems Design/Examples
- Sizing Pumps & Sizing Pump Piping Systems
- Natural Gas Piping Systems Design (Time permitting)
RWB PARTICIPATION IN INDUSTRY GROUPS
At RWB, we encourage our team to participate in local industry groups. Through these groups, our employees are able to learn from the experiences of other design teams. Additionally, our employees serve in volunteer leadership roles in many different organizations. For one, Michael Danielson volunteers as the Education Chairman of the DFW ASPE Chapter. As volunteer leaders, our team is able to gain valuable teamwork experience that can apply to our own work. Also, volunteering or speaking at industry events is one way we are able to expand our reach and share our knowledge with the greater engineering community.
DALLAS/FORT WORTH EXPERTS IN PLUMBING DESIGN
RWB offers high-quality engineering services to the North Texas area and beyond, including mechanical, engineering, and plumbing design services. Our team is not only committed to learning the latest in plumbing design, we’re the ones teaching the course on the subject. For a plumbing system designed by the experts, contact RWB.
