Aaron Bock, PE, breaks down the complex plumbing demands of hospital Sterile Processing Departments, emphasizing why precision in water purity, temperature, and system redundancy is vital for supporting life-saving surgical workflows.

Understanding geotechnical reports is essential for plumbing engineers, as groundwater, soil conditions and subsurface risks directly impact below-grade systems and require careful coordination with structural, civil and geotechnical teams to ensure reliable, damage-free designs.

Commercial kitchens can dramatically complicate otherwise simple plumbing designs, making early coordination, thorough code research, and close collaboration with kitchen consultants essential for a compliant, efficient, and conflict-free system.

Plumbing engineer Aaron Bock offers tips for seeking a new job and personal anecdotes about his experiences. Make sure you know why you want a new job and what you won’t accept in an offer.

Oversizing a domestic water system can lead to aging water and stagnation, the two biggest factors in waterborne pathogen growth. Yet modern plumbing codes still require or strongly recommend outdated sizing methods such as Hunter’s Curve, doing our building owners a disservice and putting the public at risk.

One of the most common plumbing system issues I’m brought into near punch list time or shortly after occupancy is inadequate water temperature at a fixture or in a general area. 

Health care needs in rural areas may differ from urban areas, but facilities are usually sparse, and services are more limited and less specialized. Designing simple, maintainable and resilient plumbing systems helps avoid additional challenges to health-care facilities with limited resources.

Instrument air and service compressed air — compressed air systems found in health-care facilities — are often an afterthought as they are not considered life safety systems. Yet they are critical in operating rooms and sterile processing areas.

When designing behavioral health facilities, plumbing professionals must choose environmental designs and products that minimize the risk of patients harming themselves and their caregivers. To do so, they need to understand the risk levels in each facility area.