The Pipeline: May 21, 2026
Hi there,
Welcome to this week's edition of The Pipeline. Here's what's flowing this week to keep you informed and entertained!
🔦 Fun Fact
Thomas Crapper didn't invent the flush toilet — that one belongs to Joseph Bramah and Alexander Cumming, nearly a century earlier. But Crapper, a Yorkshire plumber who set up shop on London's King's Road in the 1860s, did patent the floating ballcock valve in 1891 — the same self-regulating fill mechanism that's still inside the tank of nearly every gravity toilet sold today. He held nine plumbing patents in total, ran one of the first plumbing showrooms in the world, and supplied fixtures to Buckingham Palace under royal warrant. The slang "crapper" actually came home with American GIs in World War I who saw his name stamped on British loos — proof that, in plumbing as in everything else, the right manufacturer's mark outlives the patent.
😆 Laugh of the Day
Why did the plumber bring a ladder to the bar?
He heard the drinks were on the house.
💧 EPA Announces $2.9 Billion for States to Replace Lead Service Lines
On May 20, the EPA released $2.9 billion in Drinking Water State Revolving Fund money — plus another $18 million in reallocated unused funds — to help states identify, plan for, and replace lead service lines. The allocation is based on "the best available information on the location of approximately 4 million lead service lines across the country," and funds can be used for the full lifecycle: locating lines, designing replacement programs, and the dig itself. For plumbers, this is the largest single push of lead-line money to date — and it lands as states are still mid-inventory under the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, meaning service-line replacement work is about to ramp hard everywhere from Newark to small-town Pennsylvania...
🎓 PHCC and Bernzomatic Launch 50 New Scholarships for Plumbing and HVAC Students
Bernzomatic — the torch and fuel-products manufacturer that's been on contractor trucks since 1876 — has committed to fund 50 new scholarships through the PHCC Educational Foundation, extending through 2029 and aimed at students entering plumbing or HVAC apprenticeships, service-tech training, or trade-related degree programs. Combined with existing PHCC awards, the Foundation now plans to issue 80 scholarships in 2026 with up to $200,000 in total funding available. The partnership also opens up new contractor-facing programming at PHCC national events. If you've got an apprentice, a kid, or an employee considering the trades, this is a real, immediate funding source worth pointing them at...
🔥 DOE Commercial Water Heater Rule Takes Effect October 6 — Here's What Changes
The DOE's final rule on commercial water heater efficiency lands in less than five months — on October 6, 2026, any commercial gas storage unit manufactured after that date must hit 95% thermal efficiency, and tankless products must hit 96%. In practice, that means condensing technology is now the floor for everything covered, and many of the high-input "residential" units used in light commercial applications (anything >75,000 BTU/hr) can no longer be built to the old spec. Inventory of non-compliant pre-Oct-6 stock will still be legal to install — but if you're quoting fall or winter jobs that won't get equipment until after the cutoff, your distributor's catalog is about to look very different. Now is the moment to verify what your suppliers will actually have on the shelf in Q4...
We hope you enjoyed this week's edition of The Pipeline. Stay tuned for more updates, and as always, keep the pipes flowing! 🔧💧
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