My $5 yard sale book helped me pass the plumbing code test on the first try

I was studying for my plumbing license exam and kept failing the mock tests on code questions. My neighbor's dad gave me a beat-up code handbook from 1998 he found at a yard sale for $5. The old examples were way simpler and somehow explained the rules better than my $200 study guide. Has anyone else gotten lucky with an old edition of something like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

holly_reed553d ago

Relying on a 20+ year old code book is playing with fire. The plumbing code gets updated every few years for a reason, and a 1998 edition probably has stuff in it that's completely wrong now, like old venting rules or pipe material specs. If an inspector catches you using outdated methods, you could fail an actual job inspection or worse, create a safety hazard. You got lucky passing a test, but memorizing old rules could mess you up in the real world where current code is all that matters. What happens when you have to work with modern materials and your old book doesn't even mention them?

rose_reed3d ago

@holly_reed55 yep, outdated info is just asking for trouble on real jobs lol.

lindag333d ago

Yeah @holly_reed55 has a good point. I learned that the hard way when I tried using an old venting rule on a remodel and the inspector made me redo half the work.