The Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. has announced a major update to its Building & Construction Division’s Plastic Pipe Design Calculator. PPI is the major trade association representing the plastic pipe industry.
The “BCD Calculator” is a free software tool that simplifies and makes it faster to design plastic pressure pipe and tubing systems using CPVC, HDPE, PEX, PE-RT, PP-R and PP-RCT. Applications integrated in the program include plumbing, water service, fire protection, hydronic piping (liquids), radiant heating & cooling, snow and ice melting, geothermal ground loops, district heating and turf conditioning.
The changes include an updated appearance. The Pipe/Tubing Selection Menu has also been revised to prevent confusion between pipe types. In addition, hundreds of new sizes of PEX pipe have been added, along with HDPE pipe and tubing plus PP-R and PP-RCT pipes, and also links to BCD material webpages.
The calculator allows the user to select either IP/US or Metric/SI working units, as well as multiple fluids (e.g., water, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol). Fluid temperatures and mix ratios are chosen by the user. Results can be viewed, printed or emailed.
The BCD Calculator can be found on PPI’s website at https://plasticpipe.org/building-construction/bcd-calculator.html or at http://www.plasticpipecalculator.com.
