Down pipe

Slovak term: Slovenský termín

1. A vertical drainage pipe for conveying storm water from the roof or gutter drains (WHO 2006).
2. A down pipe is a vertical rain water pipe used to transport the rain water from a roof catchment and roof gutters to a below ground storm water drain. (ASSE 2007).
3. A down pipe is a pipe designed to transport the storm rain water away from a building roof (World Plumbing Council Working Group 2008).

Explanation

A down pipe on a building may be one of many depending on the rainfall load to be transported. Down pipes are sized to ensure the risk of flooding from a known rainfall intensity is reduced, thus reducing the risk of flood damage to a building (Standards Australia 1997).

Example

A common down pipe is a gravity system. Rain heads or sumps should be installed over downpipe entry points to increase the depth or head of water over the entry and thus make the downpipe work more efficiently. Another way to increase the downpipe capacity is to increase the throat diameter or the down pipe size (Standards Australia 1997).

In addition to a gravity discharge system a syphonic roof drainage system for rain water removal can be used. It utilises negative vacuum pressures to work (Standards Australia 1997).

References

• American Society of Sanitary Engineering (ASSE) (2007) Plumbing Dictionary. Sixth Edition
• Standards Australia (1997) Installation code for metal roofing and wall cladding. Handbook HB39.
• WHO (2006) Health aspects of plumbing

Links

• WHO — The Health and Environment Lexicon