Drain
- Slovak term: Slovenský termín
- Any pipe or series of pipes used to transport waste water, sewage, effluent, storm water, or other waste liquids away from a building (ASSE 2007).
- A conduit or channel constructed to carry off stormwater runoff, wastewater or other surplus water. Drains can be open ditches or lined, unlined or buried pipes (WHO 2006).
Explanation
A drain relies on gravity to work and is mainly used to remove waste water from a building, or from an industrial process in a commercial industrial installation. It is usually below ground. A drain can also be a small pipe used for example, for the removal of condensation from air-conditioning equipment (World Plumbing Council Working Group 2008).
Example
A drain may take the form of a pipe connected to a toilet for sewage removal and be sized to ensure it is capable of removing waste material without loss of trap seals. To achieve this, a drain must be sized based on a known hydraulic load. In plumbing systems this is called a fixture unit loading (Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand 2003).
A drain utilises gravity forces to remove liquid domestic waste water from plumbing fixtures, rain water, storm water, industrial waste water or any other form of liquid based material that requires to be moved from one point to another in a building. All drainage systems depend on natural gravity forces to transport the liquid material to a point of safe disposal. A drain can be very large or very small in size depending on the hydraulic load it is required to carry (World Plumbing Council Working Group 2008).
References
- American Society of Sanitary Engineering (ASSE) (2007) Plumbing Dictionary, 6th ed.
- Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand (2003) Plumbing and Drainage. Part 2.
- Sanitary Plumbing and Drainage. AS/NZS 3500
- WHO (2006) Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater
