[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Kutztown 12-26-1995 by Ord. No. 12-1995; amended in its entirety 4-20-2004 by Ord. No.
9-2004. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known and cited as the
"Borough of Kutztown Plumbing Code."
The provisions contained in § 163-3 of this chapter were reenacted on April 20, 2004, pursuant to Act 45 of 1999, also known as the "Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code" which allowed for the reenactment of all building code ordinances which equal or exceed the specific requirements of the "Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code" and were in effect prior to July 1, 1999.
A.
Fee schedule. A fee schedule shall be determined and
established from time to time by the Borough Council. Upon enactment
of this section and until such time as the Borough Council enacts
a new fee schedule, the fee schedule in place at the time of this
section's adoption shall be enforced.
B.
Violations and penalties. Any individual, firm, partnership,
corporation, trust or other entity who or which shall violate any
provision of this Code, as amended or supplemented; or fail to comply
with any requirements hereof; or whether as owner or lessee or otherwise,
do or perform any plumbing work or suffer any plumbing work to be
done or performed without complying with the provisions hereof shall,
upon conviction thereof, pay a fine of at least $50 but not exceeding
$1,000. In default of payment of the fine, such person, the members
of such partnership, the trustees of such trust or the officers of
such corporation or any other entity shall be liable to imprisonment
for not more than 30 days. Each day that a violation is continued
shall constitute a separate offense.
C.
Licensure.
(1)
Master or residential plumber's license. No person
shall be allowed to carry on or engage in the business of plumbing,
nor shall any person or persons in any manner advertise or solicit
the performing or doing of plumbing work until such person shall have
first secured a master or residential plumber's license.
(2)
License fees. Any person, partnership, firm, corporation,
trust or other entity having a master or residential plumber's license
granted by any municipality within the County of Berks or by any city
of the third class or larger in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall
be licensed by the Borough of Kutztown, without reexamination, upon
payment of the fee established from time to time by resolution of
the Borough Council.
(3)
Insurance coverage. An applicant for a master or residential
plumber's license or an appliance installer's license shall be required
to file concurrently with the application and fee aforesaid one or
more certificates of insurance evidencing one or more policies of
insurance covering commercial general liability by the licensing applicant
in the performance of services as a master or residential plumber
in the amount of $300,000 per occurrence with an aggregate limit of
$300,000. Such policy or policies shall provide for notice to the
Borough of Kutztown, Berks County, Pennsylvania, of 30 days prior
to cancellation.
(4)
Journeyman. Journeymen are permitted to lay out, install
and repair plumbing work only when employed and under the supervision
of a plumber holding a master or residential plumber's license. In
the event that a plumber with a master or residential license orders
and/or permits a journeyman to perform work in violation of this provision,
said plumber as well as the journeyman shall be deemed to be in violation
of this Code.
(5)
Apprentices. Apprentices are permitted to install
plumbing work only when accompanied by and under the observation of
a plumber holding either a journeyman's license or a master or residential
plumber's license. In the event that a plumber with a journeyman's
license or with a master or residential license orders and permits
an apprentice to perform work in violation of this provision, said
plumber as well as the apprentice shall be deemed to be in violation
of this Code.
(6)
Appliance installers.
(a)
Any individual, firm, partnership, corporation,
trust or other entity constituting an appliance installer shall be
licensed by the Borough of Kutztown upon payment of the following
fee: appliance installer's license shall be determined by resolution
of Council.
(b)
Appliance installers may be issued permits to
make connections to water and waste lines and to reconnect electrical
lines necessary for the installation of or repairs or alterations
to the following domestic appliances: clothes-washing machines, clothes-drying
machines, dishwashers, water softeners, garbage disposals, ice machines,
refrigerators, refrigeration ice machinery, hot-water heaters, water
equipment and other similar types of domestic appliances.
D.
Licensing of plumbers.
(1)
Plumbing systems, heating systems, equipment and apparatus
may be installed, altered or extended only under the supervision of
a master or residential plumber who is registered with the Borough;
provided, however, that the owner and occupier of a single-family
residence may perform such plumbing work in the owner's residence
as long as the owner shall first obtain a permit for such plumbing
work prior to the performance thereof, and, upon its completion, said
plumbing work shall be inspected as required by this Plumbing Code.
(2)
Application for a master or residential plumber's
license to perform plumbing work within the Borough can be accomplished
by the following methods:
(a)
If the applicant holds a valid master or residential
plumber's license issued by any city of the third class or larger
in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any municipality within the
County of Berks, such applicant may present said license, together
with a fee as set from time to time by resolution of the Borough Council,
and a certificate of insurance as required by this chapter to the
Borough Code Office of the Borough, which shall issue a master or
residential plumber's license to such applicant permitting such applicant
to perform plumbing work as permitted by such license within the Borough;
provided, however, that said license must be annually renewed during
the month of January of each year.
(b)
Any applicant who does not hold a valid master
plumber's license issued by any city of the third class or larger
in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall apply to the International
Code Council, Contractor Examination Services for an examination and
upon successful completion of such examination and proof of a minimum
of three years' experience in the plumbing work as a journeyman shall
be issued a license upon payment of the required fee.
(c)
If an applicant was previously licensed as a
master or residential plumber in the Borough but has let said license
expire, he shall be reinstated if the applicant is actively employed
as a plumber by a licensed master plumber who shall, by letter, certify
employment and experience and upon payment of the required fee.
E.
Any person not a master plumber who assists a master
or residential plumber in the performance of any plumbing work (other
than a person performing any plumbing work in his/her own residence
if he/she is the owner thereof, as hereinabove permitted) shall be
the holder of a journeyman plumber's license. Any applicant for a
journeyman plumber's license shall apply to the International Code
Council, Contractor Examination Services for an examination and upon
successful completion of such examination and upon proof of a minimum
of three years' experience in plumbing work or two years of technical
training shall be issued a license upon payment of the required fee.
F.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection D(1) above, a person, firm, company, partnership, corporation or other entity engaged in the selling of plumbing appliances who or which has as a part of its operation a department engaged in the repair of those appliances may install such appliances within the Borough, provided that a permit for any necessary plumbing work is first obtained prior to the performance thereof and, upon its completion, said plumbing work shall be inspected as hereinafter required by this chapter.
G.
License issuance. Each license issued by the Borough
shall expire on December 31 of the year in which said license was
issued, but said license may be renewed upon payment of the appropriate
fee as hereinabove provided.
H.
License revocation. The Code Enforcement Officer (Plumbing Inspector) may revoke any license if it is subsequently determined that said license was obtained through nondisclosure, misstatement or misrepresentation of a fact or in the event that the holder thereof is deemed to be in violation of any provision of this Code and a penalty as provided for in this Code has been imposed upon the holder thereof; provided, however, that before any license may be revoked, the licensee shall receive a notice, in writing, enumerating the charges against the licensee, and said licensee shall be entitled to a hearing before the Code Appeals Board, in the manner provided for appeals in Chapter 12 of the Code of the Borough of Kutztown.
I.
Single-family dwellings. Notwithstanding anything
herein to the contrary, a permit may be issued to the unlicensed owner-occupant
of a single-family dwelling in the Borough of Kutztown used exclusively
for living purposes, provided that the applicant is the record owner
of such dwelling, that the same shall be occupied by such owner and
that said owner in his application states that he will personally
perform all labor in connection therewith; provided, however, that
this provision shall not apply to any modification or alteration to
the sanitary sewer system or any alteration in the building sewer
system. All requirements of the permit issued shall be met as regards
limit of work and inspections.
J.
APPLIANCE INSTALLER
MASTER PLUMBER
PREMISES
RESIDENTIAL PLUMBER
Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following
terms shall have the meanings indicated:
An individual, firm, partnership, corporation, trust or other
entity engaged in the business of installing, altering or repairing
domestic clothes-washing machines, domestic clothes-drying machines,
dishwashers, water softeners, garbage disposals, ice machines, refrigerators,
refrigeration ice machinery, domestic hot-water heaters, domestic
water treatment equipment and other similar types of appliances.
A plumber who is permitted to engage in plumbing work in
any type of building use group.
Any property on which there is situated a dwelling unit,
commercial or industrial use, upon which a structure is erected and
occupied from time to time.
A plumber who may only engage in plumbing work in one- or
two-family dwellings and accessory buildings or uses thereto.
K.
Public systems available. A public water supply system
and/or public sewer system shall be deemed available to premises used
for human occupancy if such premises are within 150 feet, measured
along a street, alley or easement, of the public water supply or sewer
system and a connection conforming to the standards set forth in this
Code and the standards set forth in the Public Improvements Requirement
Manual of the Borough of Kutztown, as from time to time in effect,
may be made thereto.
L.
Freezing. Water service piping and sewers shall be
installed below recorded frost penetration but not less below grade
than three feet six inches for water piping and four feet nine inches
for sewers unless greater cover is required by other regulations.
All plumbing piping in exterior building walls shall be adequately
protected against freezing by insulation or heat, or both.
M.
Backfilling. One foot (305 millimeters) of screening
shall be placed in the trench in two six-inch (one-hundred-fifty-two-millimeter)
layers and tamped in place. The backfill beside the pipe shall be
compacted for pipe support. Backfill shall be brought up evenly on
both sides of the pipe so that it retains alignment.
N.
Water service pipe. Water service pipe shall be brass
pipe, copper pipe, copper tube, cast-iron water pipe, open-hearth
iron pipe or ductile iron pipe. Copper tube, when used underground,
shall have a weight not less than copper water tube Type K. All threaded
ferrous pipe and fittings shall be galvanized or cement-lined. When
used underground in corrosive soil or fill, the piping material and/or
protective coating or covering shall be approved by the Plumbing Inspector.
O.
Water distribution pipe. The water distribution system
shall be of any material approved and allowed under the Pennsylvania
Uniform Construction Code, as amended from time to time by the Legislature
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[Amended 9-16-2009 by Ord. No. 11-2009]
P.
Any plastic pipe used for force mains shall be Schedule
80 PVC pipe and shall be permitted only when placed in sand fill and
approved by the Plumbing Inspector.
Q.
No discharge on adjacent properties. Stormwater drains,
rainwater conductors, roof drains and/or sump pumps shall not be discharged
so as to cause storm- and/or floodwater to flow upon or onto adjacent
properties.
R.
Floor drain. No fixture or drain shall be constructed
in any cellar or basement floor whose level shall be below the elevation
of the natural ground outside the building, which shall permit open
drainage into the sewer at a point lower than 18 inches above said
floor level. Further, no open waste connection shall be permitted
which is below the top of the nearest downstream manhole, unless backflow
protection is provided.
S.
Supply pressures.
(1)
When a street main pressure exceeds 75 pounds per
square inch (517.13 kPa), an approved pressure-reducing valve shall
be installed in the water pressure to 55 pounds per square inch (379.23
kPa) or lower.
(2)
Exception: Where the water service pipe supplies water
directly to a water pressure booster system, an elevated water gravity
tank or to pumps provided in connection with a hydropneumatic or elevated
gravity water supply tank system, pressure at any fixture shall be
limited to not more than 75 pounds per square inch (517.13 kPa) under
no flow conditions.
(3)
Water-pressure-reducing valves shall conform to ASSE
1003 listed in Appendix A.
T.
Location of shutoff valves. Shutoff valves shall be
installed in the following locations:
(1)
On the fixture supply to each plumbing fixture in
all occupancies and other than in individual guest rooms that are
provided with unit shutoff valves in occupancies in Use Group R-1.
(2)
On the water supply pipe to each sillcock.
(3)
On the water supply pipe to each appliance or mechanical
equipment.
