Nowadays, in case of plumbing design two basic types of plumbing system layouts are usually used. The types of these plumbing designs are loosely divided into typical residential piping, series plumbed and branched. Naturally these types also have many variations and combinations but the main idea is usually quite recognizable.
When considering a series plumbed system, it means that the water lines go from one fixture to the next, then from that fixture to the next, etc. These are not used as often as branched water pipe systems.
Usually the plumber has the druthers to figure out and design the best way to plumb the particular household. Commonly, as the result of this, the plumbing layout that is chosen in the end, might not be the best choice after all.
Very often hot water pipes are designed to be in the attics, behind walls or in some other hidden place. That's why it is better to make some tests to find out the type of your plumbing system. The test is easy: you just have to measure the time how long it takes for a hot water to reach each fixture so that you can see whether it cools down on the way or not. After discovering that it actually cools down on the way, you might consider redesigning water pipes in your household.
