Plumbing Vacuum Breaker Size Calculator

Compare independently established vacuum air admission demand against matched differential-pressure breaker capacities; no assumed pipe drainage or water-column transient, potable backflow/vacuum protection approval.

Description

Vacuum-breaker sizing needs air-admission capacity at matched conditions.

Vacuum-breaker sizing needs air-admission capacity at matched conditions. A capacity catalog can screen candidates against a stated demand.^[1]

The returned values include Caller compatible candidate ids, Signed candidate capacity margins liters second. The How section below explains the calculation, input rules and interpretation.

When to use Plumbing Vacuum Breaker Size Calculator

Use Plumbing Vacuum Breaker Size Calculator when you need to evaluate the supplied records under the calculation and evidence rules below. No vacuum transient, installation approval or inferred air demand is supplied.

Prepare measured flows, pressures, temperatures or inventories with consistent units. For catalog tools, use independently verified capacities at the stated operating conditions and supply the explicit design demand.

How to use Plumbing Vacuum Breaker Size Calculator and understand its results

Prepare measured flows, pressures, temperatures or inventories with consistent units. For catalog tools, use independently verified capacities at the stated operating conditions and supply the explicit design demand.
Enter callerVacuumBreakerIds, callerMatchedAirAdmissionCapacityLitersSecond, callerIndependentlyEstablishedAirAdmissionLitersSecond using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read callerCompatibleCandidateIds, signedCandidateCapacityMarginsLitersSecond. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
callerVacuumBreakerIds	Caller vacuum breaker ids	list of string	Required
callerMatchedAirAdmissionCapacityLitersSecond	Caller matched air admission capacity liters second	list of number	Required
callerIndependentlyEstablishedAirAdmissionLitersSecond	Caller independently established air admission liters second	number	Required

Enter aligned nonempty unique nonblank IDs and nonnegative air capacities, plus nonnegative air demand. Return all inclusively adequate IDs and signed margins in input order.

margin=airCapacity−requiredAir; eligible=margin≥0

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
callerCompatibleCandidateIds	Caller compatible candidate ids	list of string
signedCandidateCapacityMarginsLitersSecond	Signed candidate capacity margins liters second	list of number

json

{
  "input": {
    "callerVacuumBreakerIds": [
      "a",
      "b",
      "c"
    ],
    "callerMatchedAirAdmissionCapacityLitersSecond": [
      5,
      10,
      20
    ],
    "callerIndependentlyEstablishedAirAdmissionLitersSecond": 8
  },
  "output": {
    "callerCompatibleCandidateIds": [
      "b",
      "c"
    ],
    "signedCandidateCapacityMarginsLitersSecond": [
      -3,
      2,
      12
    ]
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

No vacuum transient, installation approval or inferred air demand is supplied.

Numeric inputs, where present, must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Numeric lists are limited to 10,000 entries; string lists to 128 strings of at most 128 characters each. The rules above may impose smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Plumbing Combination Air Valve Size Calculator: Combination air valves need separate admission and expulsion capacities. Adequacy in one direction does not establish adequacy in the other. For a complementary task, use Plumbing Hydronic Air Separator Size Calculator: Air-separator screening needs adequate flow and verified removal performance under matched conditions. Both criteria must pass.

References

Plumbing Vacuum Breaker Size Calculator — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Plumbing Combination Air Valve Size Calculator
Combination air valves need separate admission and expulsion capacities. Adequacy in one direction does not establish adequacy in the other.
Plumbing Hydronic Air Separator Size Calculator
Air-separator screening needs adequate flow and verified removal performance under matched conditions. Both criteria must pass.