[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Scranton: 9-26-1979
as Ch. 7, Art. IV, of the 1979 Code, amended in its entirety by Ord.
No. 130-1986. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended by Ord. Nos. 77-1987; 170-1990; 149-1993; 163-1993; 164-1993; 9-23-1998
by Ord. No. 85-1998]
A.
Adoption. Certain documents, one copy of which is on
file in the Office of the City Clerk of Scranton, being marked and designated
as the "International Plumbing Code, 1997 Edition," as published by the International
Code Council is hereby adopted as the Plumbing Code of the City of Scranton
in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the control of buildings and structures
as herein provided; and each and all the regulations, provisions, penalties,
conditions and terms of the International Plumbing Code, 1997, are hereby
adopted and made a part hereof, with changes, if any, to be set out in the
following subsections.
B.
Amendments. The following sections of the International
Plumbing Code, 1997 Edition, are amended to read as follows:
(1)
Section 101.1 is hereby amended to read as follows:
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101.1 Title. These regulations shall be known as the "Plumbing
Code of the City of Scranton," hereinafter referred to as "this code."
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(2)
Section 106.5.2 is hereby amended to read as follows:
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106.5.2 Fee schedule. The fees for all plumbing work shall be as indicated in § 345-4, as amended.
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(3)
Section 108.4 is hereby amended to read as follows:
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108.4 Violation penalties. Any person, firm or corporation
who shall violate any provision of this code or shall fail to comply with
any of the requirements thereof or who shall erect, install, alter or repair
plumbing work in violation of the approved construction documents or directive
of the code official, or of a permit or certificate issued under the provisions
of this code, shall be guilty of a summary offense, punishable by a fine of
no less than $200 and not more than $600 for each violation or by imprisonment
for a term not to exceed 30 days, or both. Every day that a violation of this
article continues after due notice has been served shall be deemed a separate
offense.
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(4)
Section 108.5 is hereby amended to read as follows:
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108.5 Stop-work orders. Upon notice from the code official,
work on any plumbing system that is being done contrary to the provisions
of this code or in a dangerous or unsafe manner shall immediately cease. Such
notice shall be in writing and shall be given to the owner of the property
or to the owner's agent or to the person doing the work. The notice shall
state the conditions under which work is authorized to resume. Where an emergency
exists, the code official shall not be required to give a written notice prior
to stopping the work. Any person who shall continue any work in or about the
structure after having been served with a stop-work order, except such work
as that person is directed to perform to remove a violation or unsafe condition,
shall be liable to a fine of not less than $200 and not more than $600. Every
day that the work continues in defiance of the stop-work order shall be deemed
a separate offense of this section.
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(5)
Section 306.6 is hereby amended to read as follows:
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306.6 Freezing. Water service or waste piping shall be
installed below recorded frost penetration, but not less than four feet below
grade. In climates with freezing temperatures, faulty piping and exterior
building walls or areas subjected to freezing temperatures shall be protected
against freezing by insulation or heat, or both.
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(6)
Section 305.6.1 is hereby amended to read as follows:
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305.6.1 Sewer depth. Building sewers that connect to private
sewage disposal systems shall be a minimum of three feet below finished grade
at the point of septic tank connection. Building sewers shall be a minimum
of three feet below grade.
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(7)
Section 903.1 is hereby amended to read as follows:
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903.1 Main vent required. Every sanitary drainage system
receiving the discharge of a water closet shall have a main vent that is either
vent stack or stack vent with a minimum diameter of three inches.
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(8)
Section 917 is hereby amended to read as follows:
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917 Air admittance valves. The use of air admittance valves
shall be prohibited within the City of Scranton unless in strict conformity
with the American Society of Sanitary Engineering (ASSE) Standards 1050 and
1051.
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It shall be unlawful, without securing a permit therefor, to do any
plumbing or pipe-fitting work which involves the installation of or the roughing
in or openings for one or more water closets, toilets, sinks, wash-traps,
washtubs, washbasins, leader connections, floor drains, septic tanks or other
item or equipment utilizing water or other liquids to carry away waste or
sewage or for any similar purpose or to repair or install water supply pipes
or to repair or install waste or sewage lines, as prescribed by statute, or
to cause any change of major plumbing fixtures.
Upon the filing of a written application in such form as the plumbing
inspection shall require and upon payment of the required fee, a permit shall
be issued in duplicate to the master plumber, or owner-occupant, one copy
thereof to be conspicuously posted upon the premises where the work is being
done, until the work is done, has been inspected and approved by the Plumbing
Inspector. "Owner-occupant" in this case is the residence in which the owner
is living and is not to be construed as authorization to do any type of plumbing
in any other structure or upon any other land owned in whole or in part by
said owner-occupant.
A.
Plumbing permits may be granted upon the payment of fees
based upon the value of consumer cost estimate of the work to be done as follows:
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Value
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Charge
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$0.00 to $500.00
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$15.00
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$500.01 to $1,000.00
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$30.00
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$1,000.01 to $75,000.00
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$30.00
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Plus per $1,000.00 or fraction thereof
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$6.00
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Over $75,000.01
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$474.00
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Plus per $1,000.00 or fraction thereof
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$12.00
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B.
In addition to the foregoing charges, an additional and
separate charge shall be made and separate permit issued for septic tank work
at the rate of $100 per tank and its connecting tile field.
A.
Any person engaged in the business of work of plumbing
and house-drainage shall pay an annual license fee payable in advance by or
before January 1 of each year according to the following classifications:
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Type
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Fee
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Master plumbers test fee
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$50.00
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Journeyman test fee
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$30.00
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Master plumber license
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$150.00
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Journeymen plumber license
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$25.00
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B.
All licenses whether master or journeyman must be renewed
by the end of each calendar year.
No person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of plumbing and
drainage in other places as master or journeyman plumbers, desiring to do
such work in the City of Scranton, shall enter upon such work until he holds
a valid license or certificate granted by the City of Scranton.
During the progress of work under this article, or within a reasonable
time thereafter, the Plumbing Inspector shall make an inspection to determine
whether or not the work complies with the Plumbing Code, and the statutes
and ordinances governing the same. If the Plumbing Inspector finds that the
work does not so comply, he shall notify the owner of the premises and the
contractor, in writing, and require to remedy the same within seven days after
receipt of such notice, and it shall thereupon be the duty of the owner or
contractor to comply with such notice. Failure to comply will constitute a
violation punishable as set forth in this Article.
Each septic tank serving not more than one toilet outlet shall be connected
to a minimum drainage field constructed of 180 lineal feet of four-inch vitrified
clay tile, plus 90 lineal feet thereof for each toilet above the minimum,
all properly embedded in crushed stone under the tile pipe and four inches
of crushed stone covering the tile pipeland (each such septic tank system
so constructed as to include therein a grease trap to handle all waste except
toilet room facilities).
[Amended by Ord. Nos. 170-1990; 149-1993; 164-1993]
Any person, firm or corporation who or which shall violate this article
or any provisions of the BOCA National Plumbing Code/1993, Ninth Edition,
or of the BOCA National Plumbing Code Provisions applicable to detached one-
and two-family dwellings, First Edition, or shall fail to comply with any
of the requirements thereof or who shall practice in the installation, maintenance,
extension and alteration of all piping, fixtures, plumbing, appliances and
plumbing appurtenances in violation of an approved plan or directive of the
plumbing officer or of a permit and certificate issued under this Article
or the provisions of the aforesaid BOCA Codes/1993, shall be guilty of a summary
offense punishable by a fine of not more than $500, plus costs, and, in default
of payment thereof of said fine and costs, imprisonment not exceeding 30 days.
Each day that a violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense.
A.
The Mayor shall appoint, with the advice and consent
of the City Council, a Plumbing Examining Board consisting of the Plumbing
Inspector and two master plumbers, licensed by the city to supervise examinations
for masters and journeyman plumbers licenses. The terms of the members of
the Plumbing Examining Board are to run concurrently with the term of the
Mayor, however, the Mayor shall have the power to discharge any or all members
of the Board at any time during his term of office. All Board members must
be residents of the City of Scranton. The Board shall elect one of the members
to serve as Chairman.
B.
The Plumbing Examining Board shall approve the application
forms, prepare and administer examinations, and make all reasonable rules
and regulations pertaining to the examination of applicants.
[Amended by Ord. No. 149-1993; 9-23-1998
by Ord. No. 85-1998]
A.
Journeyman. Any person wishing to apply for a journeyman
plumber's license must meet the following requirements:
(1)
He shall have served at least five years as an apprentice
or a helper in a duly registered master plumber's shop. The five-year
term must represent at least 10,000 hours of labor performed as an apprentice
plumber.
(2)
He must produce his statement of wages, known as a "W-2
form," for the five years he worked as an apprentice.
Any person carrying a journeyman or master plumbers license who willfully
and consistently violates the Plumbing Code of the City of Scranton shall
receive one warning from the Plumbing Inspector, and if he continues to violate
the Plumbing Code of the City of Scranton, the Plumbing Inspector shall then
report that person or persons to the Plumbing Examining Board, which after
investigation finds the charges to be true, shall recommend that his license
be suspended for a period of one year from the date that the investigation
was concluded.
Master plumbers and journeyman plumbers may apply for an inactive license
for the sum of $10 per year. Any master or journeyman plumber who is issued
this inactive license cannot apply for plumbing permits to install or do any
plumbing work. However, they may reactivate their license by applying to the
Plumbing Inspector and paying the full fee for that particular year.
No person licensed under the provisions of the Plumbing Code of the
City of Scranton may take out a permit in his own name, for use by a person,
firm or corporation not licensed or registered in the City of Scranton to
perform any plumbing work within the City of Scranton under penalty of forfeiture
of his or its license.
The Plumbing Inspector may, at the discretion of the Plumbing Examining
Board, issue one permit to a person holding a master plumbers license in the
city outside of Scranton. Any plumber holding a temporary permit [license],
must take and successfully pass the next applicable plumbers examination.
A temporary plumbers permit [license] which had been issued prior to an examination
shall not be valid after the conclusion of that examination. The fee for said
permit
Every master plumber holding a license in the city must furnish the
Plumbing Inspector with satisfactory proof of property damage and public liability
insurance amounting to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence and
workmen's compensation insurance before any license can be issued.
A reexamination will not be necessary for reregistration unless the
licensed master or journeyman plumbers should have failed to make application
for reregistration at the specified time.
No permit will be issued unless a copy of the signed contract between
owner and contractor is furnished with the permit application.
