19 / 132
PLUMBING CONNECTION
WINTER 2015 19
“On average, lagging costs around $20pm2. I’m sure
plumbers like the idea of not having to lag pipes and would
prefer to use pipes that are self-sufficient but lagging
has proven itself as effective for decades. At the moment
acoustic consultants are still specifying lagging over the
newer technologies – especially in residential developments.
Lagging is a critical part of residential buildings and at the
moment we aren’t designing any without it,” says Olivier
Gaussen, Principal, National Acoustics Coordinator, Wood &
Grieve Engineers.
“There is no compulsory NCC requirement for plumbing
acoustics for commercial buildings. The performance
of pipes, lagging and silent pipes as far as acoustics
are concerned in hydraulic systems, is only relevant to
residential and aged care facilities.”
In other buildings, the driver for minimising noise output
from pipes comes down to developers wanting to please the
actual end users.
Olivier explains that in days gone by, people were
happy for downpipes to run externally, down the walls
of their homes. Now the architects are under increasing
pressure to hide all services so the facade has a particular
look. They must be aesthetically appealing.
“They have to conceal all the pipes within the building
which creates challenges when it comes to keeping noise
pollution to a minimum.”
Plumbing acoustics is a bit of a tricky area because it’s
hard to demonstrate compliance or non-compliance as far
as acoustics are concerned.
“The performance that the NCC nominates in residential
and aged care facilities is an attenuation between the pipe
and the middle into which the pipe will radiate noise i.e. a
riser that is common to two apartments. This riser, including
any lagging, will need to achieve a particular performance.
“From a wet area to a habitable area the code requires
a greater performance than a wet area to wet area for
instance. If you have a pipe in a ceiling cavity of a bedroom
underneath a bathroom, the requirement is higher than if
the space below a bathroom is another bathroom.
“The tricky part comes from the code saying that you
need to attenuate the noise by a certain performance.
The problem then occurs once it is installed as there is no
physical way to test it. We can test the performance of the
walls quite easily by putting a big speaker in one room
therma
coil
industrial
.
commercial
.
domestic
hot water
Ph 03 9720 2888
wilsonhotwater.com.aus -AINS 0RESSURE 3TAINLESS 3TEEL CYLINDER
s 5P TO ,ITRE CAPACITY
s K7 RATINGS FROM TO
s &INNED TUBE COIL HIGH PERFORMANCE OUTPUT
s 3INGLE OR MULTIPLE COILS PER VESSEL
s %LECTRIC OR GAS BOOST
ThermaCoil
Features
ThermaCoil
Applications
Air Conditioner
Condenser
Wood Heater
Wood Stove
Hydronic
Heating
Floor Heating
Domestic Hot Water
Solar Panel
Heat Recovery Vessels