14.2 Key Indiana Amendments to the 2006 IPC (675 IAC 16-1.4)

14.2 Key Indiana Amendments to the 2006 IPC (675 IAC 16-1.4)

Core Principle: The technical baseline for plumbing in Indiana is the 2006 International Plumbing Code, 2nd printing, adopted by reference and amended by the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission at 675 IAC 16-1.4, titled the 2012 Indiana Plumbing Code. The rule is short — twenty-two numbered sections — and it is free online. Print it, tab it, and bring it. The Prov Candidate Information Bulletin expressly permits candidate-printed copies in the testing room.

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Indiana Code Adoption Architecture

675 IAC 16-1.4-1 adopts "the International Plumbing Code, 2006 edition, second printing, published by the International Code Council... save and except those amendments made in this rule," and provides that wherever the term "this code" appears it means the 2012 Indiana Plumbing Code.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                 INDIANA PLUMBING CODE LEGAL STRUCTURE                   |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Model Building Code    | 2006 International Plumbing Code, 2nd printing |
| State Adopting Agency  | Fire Prevention & Building Safety Commission   |
| Administrative Rule    | 675 IAC 16-1.4 (2012 Indiana Plumbing Code)    |
| Statutory Authority    | Indiana Code Title 22, Article 13 (IC 22-13)   |
| Administrative Parent  | 675 IAC 12 (General Administrative Rules - GAR)|
| Licensure              | NOT in this code - see IC 25-28.5 and 860 IAC  |
| Legal Hierarchy        | The Indiana amendment overrides the model text |
|                        | wherever the rule edits, adds, or deletes      |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

An answer taken from the unamended model IPC is wrong wherever Indiana has edited that section. The reverse is also true, and it is the more common exam trap: do not invent Indiana amendments that do not exist. The list below is the complete set, section by section, as the rule is written.

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Section-by-Section Analysis of the Indiana Amendments

1. Chapter 1 Replaced — 675 IAC 16-1.4-2

Indiana deletes model Chapter 1 and inserts its own Chapter 1, Sections 101.1 through 101.9. Three provisions carry real exam weight:

• 101.2 Scope: the code applies to Class 1 structures except townhouses, within the structure and up to five (5) feet outside any portion of it. Compliance for Class 2 structures or Class 1 townhouses is evidence of compliance with the Indiana Residential Code (675 IAC 14). And: "This code does not regulate licensure requirements for plumbers. Such licensure requirements are set out in IC 25-28.5."
• 101.3 Appendices and Standards: "Provisions in the appendices are not enforceable unless specifically adopted."
• 101.5 through 101.9: plans go to 675 IAC 12-6, existing construction and code conflicts to 675 IAC 12-4, alternative methods to 675 IAC 12-6-11, and appeals to IC 4-21.5 and IC 22-12-7.

2. Chapter 2 Definitions — 675 IAC 16-1.4-3

Indiana rewrites 201.3 to route undefined terms to the Indiana Building, Electrical, Mechanical, Fire and Fuel Gas Codes, and edits twenty-six definitions in Section 202. The ones worth tabbing:

• BACKPRESSURE is added: any elevation of the pressure in the downstream piping system above the supply pressure at the point of consideration, which would cause or tend to cause reversal of normal flow.
• DEAD END becomes "a pipe that is terminated at a developed length of two (2) feet or more by means of a plug or other closed fitting, except where serving a clean out extension to an accessible area."
• CODE OFFICIAL becomes the Division of Fire and Building Safety or the local building official authorized under IC 36-7-2-9.
• GRAY WATER is added: waste water discharged from lavatories, bathtubs, showers, clothes washers, laundry trays, condensate cooling coils, and evaporators.
• WATER CLOSET is added, and WATER MAIN is redefined as water supply pipe or system of pipes for public or community use.

3. Chapter 3 General Regulations — 675 IAC 16-1.4-4

This is the single most productive amendment section for the exam.

The bury-depth table is the money item. Table 305.6.2 lists all 92 counties. Generally 48 inches across the northern tier (Allen, Lake, Porter, St. Joseph, LaPorte, Elkhart and neighbors), 42 inches across the central band (Marion, Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson, Delaware, Tippecanoe and neighbors), and 36 inches across the south (Vanderburgh, Monroe, Floyd, Clark, Vigo and neighbors). If the stem names a county, look it up — do not estimate from a frost map.

What Indiana did NOT do to Chapter 3. 675 IAC 16-1.4-4 makes no change to Section 312.2 (water test) and no change to Section 312.3 (air test). The air test remains 5 psi, or sufficient to balance a 10-inch column of mercury, held 15 minutes. Any claim that Indiana amended 312.3 to ban pneumatic testing of PVC or ABS is false. Avoiding compressed air on plastic DWV is a manufacturer instruction and OSHA safety matter — real, but not a 675 IAC 16-1.4 amendment.

4. Chapter 4 Fixtures — 675 IAC 16-1.4-5

Indiana hands the fixture-count and clearance questions to the building code:

• Section 403 deleted in its entirety → "See Chapter 29 of the Indiana Building Code."
• Section 404 deleted in its entirety → same.
• Sections 405.2, 405.3, 405.3.1, 410.1 and 410.2 deleted → same.
• Section 419.2, last sentence deleted → same. What remains of 419.2: urinals shall not be substituted for more than 67 percent of the required water closets in assembly and educational occupancies.
• Section 413.4 amended: the cold water supply to a food waste grinder must be protected against backflow by an air gap or a backflow preventer in accordance with Section 608.
• Section 416.5 exception added: an ASSE 1070 point-of-use device may be omitted if the public hand-washing fixture is supplied tempered water through an ASSE 1017 master mixing valve.
• Section 419.1 amended: insert ASME A112.19.19, Vitreous China Nonwater Urinals, 2006 edition after ASME A112.19.2M. (675 IAC 16-1.4-22 adopts that ASME standard by reference with its own edits.)

There is no Indiana amendment to Table 403.1, because Indiana deleted Section 403 outright. Any answer that describes Indiana "amending Table 403.1" or "coordinating fixture ratios" is wrong; the correct move is to open Chapter 29 of the Indiana Building Code.

5. Chapter 5 Water Heaters — 675 IAC 16-1.4-6

Four additions and one replacement, all of them testable:

• 502.1.1 added — Elevation of ignition source: appliances with an ignition source in hazardous locations and in public, private, repair and parking garages and automotive motor-fuel-dispensing facilities must be elevated so the ignition source is not less than eighteen (18) inches above the floor surface. Rooms not part of the living space that communicate directly with a private garage through openings are considered part of the private garage.
• 502.1.1.1 added — Parking garages: connection to a room containing a fuel-fired appliance must be through a vestibule providing a two-door separation, except a single door where ignition sources are elevated per Section 304.3 of the Indiana Mechanical Code.
• 502.2.1 added — Prohibited locations: fuel-fired appliances shall not be located in, or obtain combustion air from, sleeping rooms, bathrooms, toilet rooms, storage closets or surgical rooms, with three exceptions (direct-vent appliances, certain solid fuel-fired appliances, and appliances in a dedicated outdoor-air enclosure behind a weather-stripped self-closing solid door).
• 504.2 replaced — Bottom fed water heaters: protected from accidental drainage and negative pressure by either a check valve plus a properly sized expansion tank, or a vacuum relief valve complying with ANSI Z21.22.
• 504.2.1 added: "The cold water piping shall rise above the top of the water heater before connecting to the tank inlet."

6. Chapter 6 Water Supply — 675 IAC 16-1.4-7

Nineteen edits. The high-value ones:

7. Chapter 7 Sanitary Drainage — 675 IAC 16-1.4-8

8. Chapter 8 Indirect/Special Waste — 675 IAC 16-1.4-9

A single sentence added to 802.4: "A trap for a clothes-washer standpipe receptor shall not be installed below the floor." That is the whole of Indiana's Chapter 8 amendment.

9. Chapter 9 Vents — 675 IAC 16-1.4-10

Frost closure is not on this list. The 3-inch frost closure rule is base IPC Section 904.2, unamended by Indiana, and it is triggered by a 97.5-percent outside design temperature of 0°F or less — not by being in Indiana. Section 904.1's Indiana amendment is about the 6-inch roof extension height, nothing more.

10. Chapter 10 Traps and Interceptors — 675 IAC 16-1.4-11

• 1002.1, exception 2: after "fixture," insert "up to three (3) compartments" — a combination fixture of up to three compartments may share one trap.
• 1003.1, second sentence added: "A cleanout shall be installed immediately downstream of the interceptor or separator."

11. Chapter 11 Storm Drainage — 675 IAC 16-1.4-12

• 1107.2 deleted without substitution (the model "Separate Systems Required" provision for secondary roof drainage).
• 1113.1.5 added: "Water powered sump pumps. Water powered sump pumps shall comply with Section 608 of this code."

12. Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 — 675 IAC 16-1.4-13 and -14

• Chapter 12 (Special Piping and Storage Systems): text deleted and replaced with "See the Indiana Fire Code (675 IAC 22)."
• Chapter 13 (Referenced Standards): the first paragraph's reference to Section 102.8 becomes "See Section 101.3"; ASSE 1050 (Stack Air Admittance Valves) is deleted from the ASSE list; and NFPA 50, NFPA 51 and NFPA 70 editions are replaced with pointers to 675 IAC 28-1-16, 675 IAC 28-1-18 and 675 IAC 17 respectively.

13. The Appendices — 675 IAC 16-1.4-15 through -21

Read that table against Section 101.3 — appendices are unenforceable unless specifically adopted — and the result is clean: only Appendix C and Appendix E are enforceable in Indiana.

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A Note on Cross-Connection Control and IDEM

Section 608 is the plumbing code's cross-connection chapter, and Indiana amended it substantially as shown above. Separately, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management administers 327 IAC 8-10 (Cross-Connection Control), which governs public water supply systems and obliges water utilities to operate cross-connection control programs and to require protection at the service connection for hazardous facilities. Two things follow:

1. Two different rulebooks, two different enforcers. The plumbing inspector enforces 675 IAC 16-1.4 Section 608 inside the building. The water utility, under IDEM's 327 IAC 8-10, enforces containment at the service connection. A commercial job can be required to satisfy both.
2. Testing frequency differs. The plumbing code as amended requires testing at the time of installation (312.9.1) and after relocation (608.1.1) — Indiana deleted the model code's annual requirement. Utility cross-connection control programs under 327 IAC 8-10 commonly impose their own periodic testing, frequently annual. If a stem asks what the plumbing code requires, answer "at installation and after relocation." If it asks what the water utility requires, that is a program question, so check the utility's rule.

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Indiana Amendment Cross-Reference Matrix