The WPJ blog

Does that big L-word scare you? Ease yourself in with some plumbing L-words – our plumbing glossary has them all right here.

L tubing – an industry standard for copper tubing defined by the tube wall thickness and identified by a blue strip – a Type L copper tube wall is approximately 50% greater in thickness than Type M

LDO – Lint, Dust and Oil

LP – Liquid Propane – a fuel for gas water heaters

Laminar flow – streamlined flow of a fluid near a solid boundary

Laminated glass – glass that has been made by uniting layers of glass in order to strengthen it

Langelier index – a calculated number used to predict whether or not water will precipitate, be in equilibrium with, or dissolve calcium carbonate – it is sometimes erroneously assumed that any water that tends to dissolve calcium carbonate is automatically corrosive

Lateral sewage line – a sewage line that connects one sewage pipe with another

Laundry tub – a very deep sink used in a laundry room for soaking or washing clothing

Lav tube – water supply tube for a lavatory

Leach field – porous soil area, through which septic tank leach lines run, emptying the treated waste

Leach lines – pipes that carry effluent from the septic system out to the leach field

Leakage – loss of fluid, usually due to mechanical breakdown or gasket wear

Lean mixture – an air-gas mixture that contains more air than needed for complete combustion of the gas

Leader pipe – a pipe that carries rainwater to the ground or sewer

Length – a unit of linear measure for pipes (e.g. 10 ft)

Life cycle labs – a place where water heaters are tested at an accelerated rate to simulate life expectancies

Light duty – small commercial applications

Lime – the substance that settles on the bottom of a water tank – also known as sediment

Limit stop – faucet control unit used to adjust maximum water temperature

Lock nut – a nut fitted into a piece of pipe and screwed onto another pipe to join the two pieces

Low consumption toilet – a class of toilet designed to flush using 1.6 gallons of water or less – also known as a water-saving toilet

Fancy learning more plumbing lingo? You can find all our previous glossaries in our news section today.