What happens when a plumbing engineer encounters a curiously installed faucet?
by Nicholas Hipp, CPD
As a plumbing designer/engineer who travels quite often to different cities and towns to survey and manage projects, you tend to notice odd things in the buildings you survey and/or stay in—such as fixtures installed in a peculiar manner, unique selections of specific equipment, and their head-scratching installation locations.
These are their stories.
I recently traveled to a faraway land and took a red eye to the outskirts of Atlanta. Getting to the hotel a little before midnight after working a full day and with an early start the next day, one could say their senses would be a little blurred. In the hotel room, I went to splash my face and noticed the nice lavatory and its lovely corner faucet. Corner-mounted faucets are unique and add some flair to an otherwise pretty standard bathroom setting.
However, this specific faucet was meant for the center of a lavatory, not the corner. I then renamed the faucet the “Knucklebuster 1000.”
Nothing like trying to splash your face when your hands can hardly fit under the faucet!
As plumbing designers, we can sometimes overlook these little nuances of designs, as most hotel chains have their specific fixture matrixes that they want to use. We trust that the matrix has been well reviewed and vetted. Like I mentioned before, corner faucets are neat, but they need a longer spout for ease of use.
It takes a little time to squeeze into our already busy days, but familiarizing yourself with the equipment the end user would like to use, along with the architectural sections, can really make you look good in front of your clients when you catch items like this. It also eliminates any complaints by potential residents of this hotel.
It would also save you from people like us—the ones who notice!
About the Author
Nicholas Hipp, CPD, is Manager of Plumbing Engineering for Case Engineering Inc. in St. Louis, the ASPE Young Professionals (AYP) Liaison to the ASPE Board of Directors, and the St. Louis Chapter’s President.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not the American Society of Plumbing Engineers.
