JOP,
A wonderful post on a topic that touches every piper at some point in their career.
On a relevantly recent project, I found myself embroiled in a bit of a Mexican standoff with the lead mechanical engineer on the project.
We didn’t see eye to eye at the best of times, mainly because he didn’t believe that someone without a P.Eng could possibly have a valid opinion on anything remotely to do with plant layout and design.
He was insistent on all pump suctions having 10d of straight pipe up to the suction nozzle of the pump.
I refused to follow this request, in the grounds that it was lunacy … and I was the piping lead.
I simply asked him to show me where any code or standard called for this.
Needless to say, all he could produce were examples from previous projects – not good enough.
“That’s the way we’ve always done it” cannot form the basis of good design.
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