Building automation 路 Free
Plumbing and Drainage Design for Buildings
How a public health engineer designs the water and drainage systems of a building: the codes (IPC, UPC, BS EN 806 and BS EN 12056, NBC Part 9), water demand and storage tanks, fixture units and pipe sizing, booster pumps and pressure zones, backflow and water hammer, hot water heaters, recirculation and Legionella control, sanitary drainage and venting, stormwater and roof drainage, sewage lifting and interceptors, schematics, testing and handover.
Inside the course
From the lessons
Public health engineering: the systems, the codes and the deliverables
MEP BOOSTER
Water demand, storage tanks and transfer pumps
MEP Engineering Tutorials
Booster pumps, pressure zones and pressure reducing valves
Design Experts - MEP
Hot water systems: demand, heaters and storage
Design Experts - MEP
Sanitary drainage: discharge units, stacks, drains and slopes
MEP Engineering Tutorials
Stormwater, roof drainage and rainwater harvesting
Clear Creek Solutions
Lesson frames belong to the creators named in the Credits below and are shown from YouTube.
What you will learn
Explain what each building water and drainage system does and which code family governs it; estimate population, daily water demand and storage tank volumes; add fixture or loading units and size water pipes by velocity and friction loss; zone a tall building, size a booster pump and place pressure reducing valves; protect potable water against backflow and water hammer; size hot water heaters and storage, recirculation flow and balancing for Legionella control; size sanitary stacks and drains with discharge units and slopes; choose and size vents; size roof outlets with the rational method; size a sewage sump and a grease interceptor; and draw schematics, take off quantities and plan pressure tests and disinfection.
- Set population, daily water demand and storage, and size underground and roof tanks
- Add fixture or loading units and size water pipes by velocity and Hazen-Williams friction
- Zone a tall building, size transfer and booster pumps, and place pressure reducing valves
- Choose backflow protection by hazard and limit water hammer
- Size hot water heaters and storage, recirculation flow and balancing for Legionella control
- Size stacks and drains with discharge units, set slopes and choose the venting
- Size roof drainage with the rational method, sewage sumps and grease interceptors
- Draw schematics and riser diagrams, take off a BOQ and plan tests and disinfection
For you
Taking Plumbing and Drainage Design for Buildings from the United States
- Free in the United States, as everywhere, and self-paced: lessons, notes and the final assessment are open at any hour, so your time zone and shift pattern do not matter.
- The optional certificate for learners in the United States is a one-off US$23.99. What you get for it
- Plants across the Americas most often run Allen-Bradley, Siemens and Inductive Automation; each has its own free course to take next.
- See automation and engineering jobs in the United States, and what the industry looks like in Houston, Detroit and Chicago.
- EDWartens also has a regional site for the United States, for classroom training and local support: edwartens.com/us.
The course project 路 about 14 hours
Plumbing and drainage design of a G+10 residential building: demand, tanks, zoning, pumps, drainage, stormwater and testing
Design the public health engineering services of a ten-storey block of flats as a PHE consultant would: a design basis report, water demand and storage, pressure zoning with a transfer pump and a booster, riser sizing, sanitary drainage and stack sizing, roof drainage, a drawing list and a testing and disinfection method statement. The sample pack shows each document for a fictional building in Sharjah, UAE.
Sample document pack, 5 documents, filled in for the scenario
- ReportPHE design basis report: Al Waha Residences, G+10
- ReportWater supply calculations: tanks, pumps, zoning and risers
- ReportDrainage and stormwater calculations
- Drawing listPHE drawing list for the authority submission
- ProcedureMethod statement: pressure tests, drainage tests, flushing and disinfection
Read inside the course and download as a workbook. The project is optional practice, marked when you submit it; the certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
Course content
14 modules 路 66 lessons 路 14h 9m
In order, at whatever pace suits you. Each module ends with a practice task that builds on the last.
- 01Public health engineering: the systems, the codes and the deliverables3 lessons25m
- 02Fixtures, pipe materials, fittings and valves4 lessons1h 1m
- 03Water demand, storage tanks and transfer pumps4 lessons49m
- 04Pipe sizing: fixture units, velocity and friction loss4 lessons1h 6m
- 05Booster pumps, pressure zones and pressure reducing valves6 lessons53m
- 06Protecting potable water: backflow, cross-connections and water hammer4 lessons22m
- 07Hot water systems: demand, heaters and storage4 lessons1h 42m
- 08Hot water recirculation, balancing and Legionella control5 lessons1h 44m
Requirements
- Who it is for
- Beginner to intermediate. For civil, mechanical and building services graduates and diploma holders, plumbing draughtsmen and site engineers moving into public health engineering (PHE) design. You need school algebra and a spreadsheet; no plumbing design experience is needed. HVAC Design and Fire Fighting Design are the neighbouring MEP courses; fire water storage and fire pumps are taught there, not here.
- Software
- A spreadsheet (LibreOffice Calc is free) for every calculation. For schematics and layouts any 2D CAD will do: LibreCAD and FreeCAD are free; AutoCAD and Revit are optional and free to eligible students and educators on the Autodesk Education plan. Squared paper works for every exercise. What to download, and how
- Hardware
- None. Any laptop that runs a spreadsheet is enough.
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
Nothing to install
A spreadsheet is enough for every calculation, and schematics and layouts can be drawn on squared paper or in LibreCAD (free 2D CAD, librecad.org). FreeCAD and AutoCAD are useful but optional.
Optional
Useful, not needed to finish the course.
- 01Free
LibreOffice
The Document Foundation
- Runs on
- Windows 10 or 11, macOS 11 or newer (Intel or Apple silicon), Linux
- Account
- None needed
- Size
- up to 1.5 GB of disk space on Windows
LibreOffice is free, open-source software under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, for any use including business. Calc is its spreadsheet.
Steps
- 1.Open the LibreOffice download page.
- 2.Check the page has picked your operating system, then select Download.
- 3.Run the installer (administrator rights are needed on Windows).
- 4.Start LibreOffice Calc for spreadsheet work.
- 5.Save as .xlsx if you need to share files with Excel users.
- Choose the latest main version unless your organisation asks for the older, more conservative release.
Official download pagelibreoffice.org - 02Free and open source
FreeCAD
FreeCAD project (open source)
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS and Linux
- Account
- None needed
FreeCAD is released under the LGPL 2.0 or later and is free for any use, including commercial work. The course uses its TechDraw workbench, version 1.1 or later.
Steps
- 1.Open the downloads page on freecad.org.
- 2.Choose the installer for your operating system (the AppImage on Linux).
- 3.Run the installer and start FreeCAD.
- 4.Open the TechDraw workbench from the workbench list to make drawings.
- Feature control frames are built from a balloon with a rectangular shape, Unicode GD&T symbols and '|' between compartments, as module 12 shows.
Official download pagefreecad.org - 03Free trial: 15 days
AutoCAD
Autodesk
- Runs on
- Windows 10 or 11 64-bit; AutoCAD for Mac on recent macOS versions
- Account
- A free Autodesk account
- Size
- about 10 GB of disk space for AutoCAD on Windows
The AutoCAD trial lasts 15 days in most regions (30 in a few), expires on its own and cannot be extended. Students and educators can get free one-year educational access through an Autodesk Education plan, renewable while they stay eligible; education licences are for learning only.
Steps
- 1.Open the AutoCAD free trial page on autodesk.com and select Download free trial.
- 2.Sign in to your Autodesk account, or create one.
- 3.Answer the short questions about how you will use AutoCAD.
- 4.Download the installer from your Autodesk account and run it.
- 5.Start AutoCAD and sign in with the same Autodesk account.
- If you are a student or teacher, use the Autodesk Education route instead: it lasts a year, not 15 days.
- Plan your practice before starting the trial, since it cannot be extended.
Official download pageautodesk.comAlternatives
- Autodesk Education plan: Free one-year access for verified students and educators, renewable while eligible.
- LibreCAD: Free open-source 2D CAD if you only need basic drafting practice.
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
Plumbing and Drainage Design for Buildings at a glance
Plumbing and Drainage Design for Buildings is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for civil, mechanical and building services graduates, plumbing draughtsmen and site engineers moving into plumbing and public health engineering design. It has 14 modules and 14h 9m of video lessons by MEP Engineering Tutorials, MEP BOOSTER, Design Experts - MEP and others, with written notes and worked problems, a practical project with a document pack and a 15-question final assessment (pass mark 60%). Learning is free with an account; an optional certificate with a public verification code is issued when you pass. Last updated 27 September 2026.
All course factsHide course facts
- Price
- Free, for good. No trial, no card. The only paid item is the optional certificate, a small one-off fee.
- Who it is for
- Civil, mechanical and building services graduates, plumbing draughtsmen and site engineers moving into plumbing and public health engineering design
- Format
- 14 self-paced modules, 14h 9m of video, written notes, a practice task per module and one final assessment.
- Level
- Beginner. Beginner to intermediate. For civil, mechanical and building services graduates and diploma holders, plumbing draughtsmen and site engineers moving into public health engineering (PHE) design. You need school algebra and a spreadsheet; no plumbing design experience is needed. HVAC Design and Fire Fighting Design are the neighbouring MEP courses; fire water storage and fire pumps are taught there, not here.
- Brand
- Vendor-neutral
- Software
- A spreadsheet (LibreOffice Calc is free) for every calculation. For schematics and layouts any 2D CAD will do: LibreCAD and FreeCAD are free; AutoCAD and Revit are optional and free to eligible students and educators on the Autodesk Education plan. Squared paper works for every exercise.
- Hardware
- None. Any laptop that runs a spreadsheet is enough.
- Certificate
- Optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code. Not a vendor credential.
- Video lessons by
- MEP Engineering Tutorials, MEP BOOSTER, Design Experts - MEP, SM Techno MEP Training Services, MEP Academy, Global MEP Training Academy, Got2Learn, Matt Risinger, Practical Engineering, Roger Wakefield Plumbing Education, Williams Plumbing & Heating, This Old House, David Butler - Serving Up Plumbing!, Grundfos, Watts Water, Caleffi Hydronic Solutions, Geberit, Highland Tank, ATS SpecTool, Douglas Cornwall, Clear Creek Solutions, American Water College (independent creators, credited below)
- Language
- English
- Last updated
- 27 September 2026
A shareable EDWartens certificate
Finish every module and pass the final assessment, and the optional EDWartens certificate is yours. It carries a unique verification code on a public page anyone can check, so it stands up when a recruiter looks it up. See it below.
The course itself stays free whether or not you ever buy one.
Stuck? Ask a practising engineer
A free course usually means a comment section and hope. This one does not. Every module has an Ask-your-trainer panel that reaches the same engineers who teach our paid programme: people who commission panels for a living, not moderators.
Pairs well with
FreePLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA PortalFree Siemens TIA Portal course for beginners: write ladder logic for a simulated S7-1200 and WinCC HMI. Learning is free; the certificate is optional and paid.
FreePLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA Portal in Three HoursThe first three hours of the Siemens TIA Portal course, cut to end on a win: what a PLC is, how it is wired, a project configured in TIA Portal, and your first ladder program running in simulation. Finish it in an evening or two, earn a certificate, and carry straight on into the full course.
FreePLC programming 路 FreeTIA Portal: Build a MachineOne machine, start to finish. Take a bottle filling line from a written specification and an I/O list to a structured S7-1200 program with a fill station, a capper, a reject sorter and an operator screen with alarms, then test it against a written record and archive it for hand-over. The lessons are the reference; the machine is yours, and it is what you submit.
FreeInstrumentation 路 FreeInstrumentation for PLC EngineersThe half of the loop that is not code. Follow one measurement from the transmitter in the field, down the 4-20 mA loop, into the analog card, through NORM_X and SCALE_X into engineering units, out again to a valve, and back to the control room when the reading is wrong.More free courses: Free BMS and building automation courses
Learner reviews
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Reviews here are written only by learners who have finished every module of Plumbing and Drainage Design for Buildings, and they are published exactly as written. Finish the course and yours will be the first.
Common questions
What is plumbing and drainage design (public health engineering)?
Plumbing and drainage design, called public health engineering (PHE) in the UK and the Gulf, is the design of a building's water supply, hot water, sanitary drainage, vents and stormwater systems so every fixture gets safe water at the right pressure and all waste leaves without smells, blockages or flooding. It is one of the MEP disciplines, alongside HVAC, electrical and fire protection.
Who is this plumbing design course for?
It is for civil, mechanical and building services graduates and diploma holders, plumbing draughtsmen and site engineers who want to work as plumbing or PHE design engineers in consultancies and MEP contractors. You need school algebra and a spreadsheet; no plumbing design experience is needed.
Which codes and standards does the course cover?
The course teaches the methods shared by the main code families: the International Plumbing Code and Uniform Plumbing Code (drainage and water supply fixture units), BS EN 806 and BS EN 12056 (loading units and discharge units), and NBC Part 9 with its IS codes. Code text is paraphrased, never copied, and every real design must follow the edition the local authority has adopted.
Do I need software to take the course?
No paid software is needed. A spreadsheet such as LibreOffice Calc is enough for every calculation, and schematics can be drawn in LibreCAD or FreeCAD, which are free, or on squared paper. AutoCAD and Revit are optional and free to eligible students on the Autodesk Education plan.
Is the course free to learn, and how long does it take?
Yes, every module, the notes, the worked problems, the practice tasks, the optional project and the final assessment are free to learn. The course takes about 22 hours at your own pace, of which about 14 hours is video; the optional G+10 building project takes about 14 hours more.
What certificate do I get, and how is it verified?
You get a verifiable certificate of completion when you finish the modules and pass the 15-question final at 60 percent. It carries a unique certificate number and a QR code that open a public verification page showing the course, the modules covered and your final score. It is not a plumbing licence or an ICC, IAPMO or ASPE credential.
What jobs does plumbing design lead to, including in the Gulf?
It prepares you for roles such as plumbing design engineer, public health engineer, junior MEP design engineer, plumbing draughtsman and site plumbing engineer. MEP consultancies and contractors in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar advertise public health engineer roles that ask for exactly these calculations: demand, tanks, boosters, pipe sizing, drainage, stormwater and lifting stations.
Does the course cover fire fighting water and HVAC?
No. Fire water storage, sprinklers and fire pumps are taught in Fire Fighting Design: Sprinklers, Fire Pumps and Hydrants, and chilled water and air systems in HVAC Design: Heat Load, Ducts and Chilled Water. This course covers domestic water, hot water, drainage, vents and stormwater, and shows where they meet those systems.
What you walk away with
Your certificate for Plumbing and Drainage Design for Buildings
Finish the course, pass the final, and this is the document with your name on it.
Verifiable by anyone
Adds to LinkedIn in one click
QR code on the certificate
Names what you can do
A permanent link
Earned, not attended
Learning is free. The certificate is optional.
Add it now and pay only when you have finished the course, or come back for it later. One-off, US$23.99, with a receipt.
Issued by EDWartens, the training division of Wartens, as a Certificate of Completion for this self-paced course. Sold by Wartens Ltd (England and Wales). It is not a vendor certification, a university award or a CPD-accredited activity, and it does not certify competence on live equipment. Delivered electronically; see the refund policy.
Credits
Who made the video lessons
The video lessons in this course were created by the people below, not by EDWartens. Every lesson streams from its creator's own YouTube channel; EDWartens neither hosts nor sells that footage, and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens and do not endorse this course. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
- MEP Engineering Tutorialsthe IPC-based design walk-throughs: water demand, hot and cold pipe sizing, PRV operation, heater sizing, recirculation pump sizing, drainage and vent stack sizing, combined storm and sanitary design, lifting stations and grease interceptor sizing
- MEP BOOSTERthe overview of building plumbing systems, codes and standards, materials, tank sizing, water supply systems, booster pump selection, drainage system types, rainwater harvesting, septic tanks, the water supply schematic and the BOQ
- Design Experts - MEPthe short design lessons on pipe types, demand estimation, water pipe sizing, high-rise supply, PRVs, booster design, central hot water and its return, drainage pipe sizing, stack ventilation, single stack design, storm calculations, gutters, grease interceptors and external drainage
- SM Techno MEP Training Servicesthe lesson on types of plumbing fixtures
- MEP Academysizing water pipes with fixture units, and the hot water recirculation system
- Global MEP Training Academyreading plumbing drawings for a high-rise building
- Got2Learnthe animated tour of how a home's plumbing works, and why water hammer arrestors matter
- Matt Risingerthe comparison of PEX, copper and CPVC water pipe
- Practical Engineeringflow and pressure in pipes, and what water hammer is
- Roger Wakefield Plumbing Educationhow a backflow preventer works, and how water heaters are sized
- Williams Plumbing & Heatingsizing a drainage system with drainage fixture units
- This Old Househow a plumbing trap can lose its water seal
- David Butler - Serving Up Plumbing!what a sewage ejector pump does and how it is installed
- Grundfosthe basic boosting function of a Hydro booster set
- Watts Waterthe short course in backflow prevention
- Caleffi Hydronic Solutionsbalancing hot water recirculation circuits, and the webinar on controlling Legionella in recirculation systems
- Geberitthe Pluvia siphonic roof drainage and Sovent single-stack animations
- Highland Tankhow a passive grease interceptor works
- ATS SpecToolthe webinar with A. O. Smith on sizing commercial domestic hot water systems
- Douglas Cornwallthe ASPE presentation on single-stack drainage design rules
- Clear Creek Solutionsthe rational method explained in five minutes
- American Water Collegepressure and leak testing, and flushing and disinfection of new pipework
If you are one of these creators and would like a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@wartens.com.