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Trade Exam · Module 4

Specialty Fixtures: Urinals, Fountains, Service Sinks and Emergency Equipment

Lesson 9 of 9~20 minFree previewCurrent as of September 2026Leer en español

The fixtures beyond the bathroom and kitchen, under the 2025 California Plumbing Code and Cal/OSHA: urinals (0.125 gallon wall-mounted, 12 and 24 inch spacing, vacuum breaker, nonwater rules), drinking fountains and bottle fillers, service sinks with a 2 inch waste, commercial dishwashers, clothes washer standpipes 18 to 30 inches above the trap weir, floor drains and floor sinks, bidets limited to 110 F, shampoo sinks and footbaths limited to 120 F, hose bibbs, and emergency eyewash and showers within 10 seconds of the hazard.

Key Takeaways

  • CPC 412.1: wall-mounted urinals average 0.125 gallons per flush maximum; other urinals 0.5 gallons. Trough urinals are prohibited (405.2).
  • CPC 412.1.3: a nonwater urinal needs a liquid barrier sealant, at least one water-supplied fixture of 1 WSFU or more upstream on the same drain, and a water line roughed in for a future retrofit.
  • CPC 402.5 and 422.7: urinals 12 inches center to side wall and 24 inches center to center; partitions with the bottom at least 12 inches and the top at least 60 inches above the floor, extending at least 18 inches from the wall.
  • CPC 415: drinking fountains are self-closing, not in toilet rooms, and not required for an occupant load of 30 or less; bottle filling stations may replace up to 50 percent of required fountains.
  • CPC 414.2 and 414.3: a commercial dishwasher's supply is protected by an air gap or an approved backflow device, and it drains through an air break or a direct connection per 704.3. It never drains into a grease interceptor (1014.1.3).
  • CPC 804.1: a clothes washer standpipe is 18 to 30 inches above its trap weir, and its trap is 6 to 18 inches above the floor, never below it.
  • CPC 410.3, 417.7 and 417.8: bidets are limited to 110 F; head shampoo sinks and footbaths or pedicure chairs to 120 F.
  • CPC 416 and Title 8 5162: emergency eyewash and showers follow ANSI Z358.1, are not flow-limited, are on the same level as the hazard, reachable within 10 seconds, and plumbed units are activated at least monthly.

Why This Matters

Commercial and institutional jobs bring fixtures you rarely see in a house: urinals, drinking fountains, service sinks, commercial dishwashers, floor sinks, and emergency eyewash stations. Each has its own short section in Chapter 4 of the California Plumbing Code (CPC), and a few rely on Chapters 6, 8 and 10. The numbers are specific, so learn them from the code, not from habit.

Special fixtures not covered elsewhere, such as baptisteries, ornamental and lily ponds, aquaria, and ornamental fountain basins, are submitted to the Authority Having Jurisdiction for approval before installation (406.1).

Urinals

  • Standards and water use (412.1): wall-mounted urinals average not more than 0.125 gallons per flush; other urinals not more than 0.5 gallons per flush.
  • Prohibited (405.2): trough urinals and urinals with an invisible seal.
  • Backflow (412.2): the water supply is protected by an approved vacuum breaker or other approved device per 603.5.
  • Flushometers (413.2): no manually controlled flushometer valve may flush more than one urinal, and each urinal flushometer is an approved self-closing type that discharges a set quantity.
  • Clearances (402.5): not closer than 12 inches from the center to a side wall or partition, and not closer than 24 inches center to center.
  • Partitions (422.7): each urinal is separated by walls or partitions that extend from not less than 12 inches above the finished floor to not less than 60 inches above it, and project at least 18 inches from the wall surface. In all-gender rooms, urinals are visually separated or placed in privacy compartments.
  • Drainage (Table 702.1): an integral-trap urinal has a 2 inch minimum trap and trap arm; an exposed-trap urinal 1-1/2 inch; a nonwater urinal with drain cleansing action 2 inch at 1 DFU.

Nonwater urinals (412.1.3):

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