Privacy Policy

Last updated: 1 November 2026

This policy explains how PipingDesigners Limited (the “Operator”, “we”, “us” or “our”) handles personal data on PipingDesigners.com and the separate jobs site at jobs.pipingdesigners.com (together, the “Sites”). The Operator is the data controller for the Sites. PipingDesigners Limited is a private company limited by shares, registered in Ireland, company number 828687, with its registered office at 6 Highfield Crescent, Swords, Co. Dublin. Contact: info@pipingdesigners.com.

What this policy covers

  • The main site provides engineering knowledge, browser/server engineering calculators and a wpForo community forum.
  • The jobs site uses WP Job Manager for job listings and job alerts. Employers must sign in to post; listings are moderated before publication, limited to three per day and expire.
  • After the jobs site launches, the intended arrangement is that members can use a single account across the main site and jobs site.
  • The Sites are intended for people aged 16 or over. Please do not register if you are under 16.

Personal data we collect

  • Accounts and profiles: username, email address, password in protected form, optional profile information and account dates. Forum members can also create posts and other content. Legacy accounts migrated from the old PipingDesigners site may include forum posts dating from 2009.
  • Forum and job activity: posts, edits, moderation records and the information included in a job listing, such as company name, logo, location, description and application email address or URL.
  • Job alerts: Job alerts on PipingDesigners Jobs, operated by PipingDesigners Limited, are switched on the same account page. The box on registration is unticked. Turning job alerts on uses the account email straight away. There is no second confirmation email. An optional keyword is stored with that choice. The time, the source and the wording version are stored on the account, and the original time and source are kept if they were already recorded. Turning job alerts off, or using the unsubscribe link in a digest email, stops further digests. Each digest email keeps its unsubscribe link. The keyword and the alert status are stored by PipingDesigners Limited. They are not sent to Brevo.
  • Security and technical data: IP address, browser/device and request information, login and event information, and records needed to protect the Sites from spam, abuse and attacks.
  • Uploads: files submitted through available features, limited to 10 MB and to images, PDF or Word documents.
  • Messages: information you send to the contact address or that is forwarded through the domain mail service.
  • Newsletter (The Pipeline): The Pipeline, the PipingDesigners.com newsletter from PipingDesigners Limited, is sent when a person with an account turns it on, or ticks the unticked box when registering. The account email is already the address on the account, so no second confirmation email is sent. The time, the source (registration, the account page, or a one-time match to an existing subscriber) and the wording version are stored on the account. The address is shared with Brevo so the newsletter can be sent. Every marketing email includes Brevo’s unsubscribe link. Turning the switch off removes the address from that list. Basic delivery data (delivered, opened, clicked, bounced, unsubscribed) is also kept.
  • Unsubscribes and bounces: When a person uses the unsubscribe link in a Pipeline email, or Brevo records a hard bounce, a spam complaint or a blacklist, Brevo notifies PipingDesigners.com, operated by PipingDesigners Limited. If the address matches an account, The Pipeline switch is turned off and the time is stored on the account. An address with no account is ignored. The notice is never used to add anyone to the list, or for job alerts. Existing email-only subscribers who have no account stay on the list.
  • Saved calculations: If you save a calculation while logged in, PipingDesigners Limited stores that calculation with your account: the title, the tool name and version, the inputs and results, any notes, and the time of the save. A PDF or export file is not stored. You can export or erase these records with your account data, and deleting your account deletes them. Host backups may keep a copy until that backup expires.
  • Returning members: When a former member returns from a reclaim email, we record which email campaign brought them back and when they reset, logged in and first used a tool, to measure the campaign, kept with the account and deleted with it.

How we use data and our legal bases

  • To create and run accounts, provide the forum, allow employers to post listings and operate requested features: contract (or steps at your request before entering one).
  • To send account confirmations and service notifications: contract where needed to provide the service. Job alerts, including the jobs daily digest, require consent, given by turning them on in your account. You can unsubscribe in any alert.
  • To send The Pipeline newsletter: consent, given by turning it on in your PipingDesigners account or ticking an unticked box when registering. Earlier subscribers gave consent through our signup form and confirmed it by email. We do not add existing members or other contacts to the newsletter without that consent. You can withdraw consent at any time using the unsubscribe link in every newsletter or by emailing info@pipingdesigners.com.
  • To prevent spam, secure accounts, moderate content and maintain the forum archive: legitimate interests, balanced against your rights.
  • To use non-essential cookies where applicable: consent. You can withdraw it through the consent controls.
  • To respond to enquiries, maintain records and comply with legal obligations where required: the applicable legal obligation or our legitimate interests.

Service providers

  • Krystal Hosting Ltd (United Kingdom): hosting, storage and backups for the Sites, DNS for the domain, and email forwarding for the domain.
  • Brevo (Sendinblue SAS, France): transactional email, including account confirmations, notifications and the jobs daily digest, and the newsletter The Pipeline (subscriber list, sending, and unsubscribe and bounce handling).
  • Cloudflare Turnstile (Cloudflare, Inc., USA): spam and abuse checks on registration, login, forum posting, job posting and job-alert signup.
  • Wordfence (Defiant Inc., USA): firewall and login security. Wordfence logs IP addresses and related security events.
  • Google Analytics 4 (Google Ireland Limited): website measurement, only if you accept analytics cookies. See Cookies and analytics below.
  • Gravatar (Automattic Inc., USA): profile pictures on the forum. When a forum page shows a member’s picture, your browser requests it from Gravatar using a coded form (hash) of that member’s email address, and Gravatar receives your IP address.
  • WordPress, wpForo, WP Job Manager, CookieAdmin, SpeedyCache and Rank Math: software or features used to operate the Sites. SpeedyCache does not use personal-data tracking cookies. Rank Math does not use tracking cookies unless analytics are added later.

These providers process data only as needed for their services and under appropriate contractual or other legal safeguards. Krystal is in the United Kingdom, which has an EU adequacy decision. Wordfence and Gravatar are in the USA, and Cloudflare may process Turnstile data in the USA or elsewhere. Where personal data leaves the EEA, we rely on safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses and, where applicable, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. We do not claim that every transfer is covered by the Framework; the applicable safeguard depends on the provider and processing.

Cookies and analytics

The sites use a first-party cookie, pd_analytics_consent, to remember whether you accepted or rejected analytics cookies. It lasts 6 months (182 days). It is not an analytics cookie. You can change the choice from Cookie settings in the footer of pipingdesigners.com and jobs.pipingdesigners.com.

If you accept, both sites load Google Analytics 4, provided by Google Ireland Ltd (measurement ID G-YM85CFGG0B). Google then sets _ga and _ga_YM85CFGG0B. Google’s default lifetime for those cookies is up to 2 years. On these sites the tag sets them for 6 months (182 days), and only after you accept. Google Analytics 4 does not store IP addresses. Consent Mode starts with analytics storage and advertising storage denied. Accept grants analytics storage only. We do not use advertising cookies. The tag does not receive your name, your email address, or an account identifier. If you reject, Google’s tag is not loaded.

Google may process this data outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States. The transfer safeguards described in this policy apply. The Cookie Policy lists the cookies.

Our own consent banner on both Sites asks for your choice before any analytics cookie is set, with Reject and Accept side by side. The Sites may also use WordPress login/session cookies, wpForo cookies and Turnstile cookies. SpeedyCache does not use personal-data tracking cookies. Rank Math does not use tracking cookies. We do not use advertising cookies.

See the Cookie Policy for more information.

Supplier directory statistics

We count, per supplier and per day, how many times a supplier listing is viewed and how many times its website, contact page, email or phone link is clicked. These are anonymous totals: no cookie is set, and no IP address, user ID or other identifier is stored with them. To limit abuse, a one-way hash of your IP address is kept for up to one hour as a rate-limit key and then discarded. Logged-in administrators and obvious bots are not counted. We may share a supplier’s own monthly totals with that supplier. If you have accepted analytics cookies, the same clicks are also sent to Google Analytics as events that name the supplier. PipingDesigners Limited (CRO 828687, 6 Highfield Crescent, Swords, Co. Dublin), info@pipingdesigners.com.

Supplier directory

The supplier directory lists businesses that supply piping products and services, using business information such as the company name, website, location and categories. We do not show named individuals’ email addresses. A business can claim its listing or ask us to remove it using the form on each listing; we use the details in that request, including the email address, to confirm and handle it. A removal request also stops us contacting that business about the directory. We count listing views and clicks as daily totals without storing IP addresses. Legal basis: legitimate interests in running a useful directory and handling requests. You can object at any time.

Tool verification

Signed-in members can mark a tool as Verified or report an error. We store the member’s account, the tool and version, the details entered (calculation, inputs, result and how it was checked) and the date. The public page does not show the username. Accepted error reports may be shown on the tool as comment text and time, without the username. Legal basis: legitimate interests in keeping the tools accurate. Deleting your account deletes your verification records.

Who receives data

Data may be accessible to the Operator, authorised administrators and the providers listed above. Forum posts and published job listings are public when published, so do not put confidential or unnecessary personal information in them. Applications made using an employer’s email address or URL go directly to that employer; the jobs site is not a party to that application.

How long we keep data

  • Accounts are kept until you request deletion, subject to information we need to keep for legal, security or dispute purposes.
  • Forum posts may be anonymised instead of deleted so that useful discussion threads remain intact.
  • Job listings are deleted or anonymised after expiry and a further 12 months, unless a longer period is legally necessary.
  • Wordfence security logs are kept for the short period provided by its normal/default settings, subject to configuration and security needs.
  • Job-alert data is deleted when you unsubscribe, subject to limited records needed to prevent a mistaken re-subscription or meet legal obligations.
  • Pending sign-ups that are not completed are deleted after 7 days.
  • Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe. After you unsubscribe we keep your email address on a suppression list only so that we do not email you again, and we keep the consent record for as long as needed to show that consent was given.

Your rights

Subject to the GDPR and applicable limits, you may request access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests and withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing already carried out lawfully. You can withdraw analytics consent at any time from Cookie settings in the footer. You can unsubscribe from job alerts using the one-click link in any alert.

To exercise a right, contact info@pipingdesigners.com. We reply within one month. We may extend this by two further months for complex requests and will tell you if we do. We may ask you to confirm your identity. You may also complain to the Irish supervisory authority, the Data Protection Commission, 6 Pembroke Row, Dublin 2, D02 X963, Ireland, or through www.dataprotection.ie.

Changes

We may update this policy when the Sites, providers or legal requirements change. The date above will show the latest version. We will update it if a material service is introduced.