10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
The PPE exam has 60 questions and runs 2 hours 30 minutes.
These 10 free PPE questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the Plumbing Plans Examiner (PPE) blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
A specification for a PVC drainage and vent system calls for a rough-in test using compressed air at 5 psi for 15 minutes. The contractor says the stated pressure and duration match the code. Under the unamended 2021 IPC, how should this test specification be evaluated?
Correct answer: B - Reject the air-test method because plastic drainage and vent piping cannot be tested with air.
A business office has a calculated occupant load of 246, allocated equally between male and female occupants. Separate facilities are provided, no urinals replace water closets, and no fixture-count exception applies. Using the business-occupancy ratios in the 2021 IPC, what is the minimum number of water closets and lavatories required for EACH sex?
Correct answer: D - 4 water closets and 3 lavatories
An adult single-user accessible toilet room in a NEW building is designed to ICC A117.1-2017. The plan provides a circular turning space, with no alternative T-shaped turning space. The following dimensions are clear of obstructions, and all other requirements have been satisfied. Which dimension prevents approval?
Correct answer: C - Circular turning space: 64 inches in diameter
A mechanical-room detail combines the 3/4-inch temperature-and-pressure relief outlets of two storage water heaters into one 1-1/2-inch discharge header. The header has no valves, drains by gravity, and terminates through a visible air gap at a floor receptor in the same room. What must change to satisfy the 2021 IPC?
Correct answer: B - Run a separate discharge pipe from each relief valve to its air-gap termination.
After a pressure-reducing valve is installed, a building's downstream pressure stays at 58 psi while the water heater is idle. With all fixtures closed, pressure rises gradually to 98 psi during each heating cycle and immediately returns to 58 psi when a faucet opens. The heater maintains its specified water temperature. For a corrective design under the 2021 IPC, which finding and remedy best fit this pattern?
Correct answer: C - Thermal expansion; add a properly sized expansion tank on the heater side of the pressure-reducing valve.
A hydronic boiler will receive chemical conditioning agents. Its automatic potable-water makeup connection remains continuously pressurized, and the boiler side can exceed the potable supply pressure. The design uses an in-line backflow assembly rather than an air-gap supply arrangement. Which assembly is suitable under the 2021 IPC?
Correct answer: B - An ASSE 1013 reduced-pressure-principle backflow prevention assembly
For a proposed siphonic flushometer-valve water closet, a service test records 78 psi static pressure and 58 psi minimum flowing pressure at the design demand. The fixture is 28 feet above the service, and the calculated meter, device and pipe-friction losses total 17 psi. Use 0.433 psi of pressure loss per foot of elevation rise. The 2021 IPC requires 35 psi flowing pressure at this fixture. Which assessment should the examiner make?
Correct answer: A - About 29 psi remains; the proposed design fails the pressure requirement.
The drainage plans for a new building show basement fixtures on a floor at elevation 94 feet and first-floor fixtures at elevation 106 feet. The next upstream public-sewer manhole cover is at elevation 102 feet. Both fixture groups can drain by gravity. Which backwater-valve layout is consistent with the 2021 IPC?
Correct answer: A - Protect the basement branch before it joins the unprotected first-floor drainage.
Two bathroom groups on the same floor share an otherwise compliant horizontal wet vent. A separately vented clothes-washer drain joins the wet-vented segment between bathroom fixture connections. Under the 2021 IPC, which revision preserves the permitted bathroom wet-vent arrangement?
Correct answer: A - Move the washer connection downstream of all the wet-vented bathroom fixtures.
An indirect waste pipe from a restaurant's dedicated raw-vegetable preparation sink terminates inside a floor sink. Its open end is below the receptor's flood-level rim but above the water held in the receptor's trap. There is no sealed connection between the pipe and receptor. How does the 2021 IPC classify and evaluate this discharge arrangement?
Correct answer: C - It is an air break; this food-handling waste requires an air gap above the receptor's flood-level rim.
The PPE exam also covers these domains. Drill them in the full free practice test:
The full bank has 1,020 more PPE questions with explanations.
Continue in the free practice test →
View plans