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Read a Fitting
Established by the plumbing trade to assure that there is a standard to go by, the
following "rules" will give you a good idea of how to read a fitting:

Elbows are fairly simple; they are full size or reducing. Tees and wyes are a little
different; they have an inlet, outlet, and branch. Look at Figure (b) below; see the inlet
labeled A, the outlet labeled B, and the branch labeled C. If the inlet, outlet, and branch
sizes are of the same diameter, you need only read the one size.  
Example, a ¾” elbow has a ¾” socket on both ends.  A 2” tee would have 2” sockets at all
three openings.
If an elbow has two different diameters, it’s called a “reducing elbow.” Read the larger
diameter socket first,  then the smaller diameter socket. Example: a 1” x ¾” reducer ell
would have a 1” socket and a ¾” socket.  
See (a) on the illustration. When reading tees and "wyes", read the larger socket first,
and the straight through  socket next. Then, read the branch diameter. Refer to view (b).
If the first and second sockets on a tee or wye have the same diameter, you need only
state the size once, as shown in views (c) and (d). If the second socket and the branch
are the same size, you must still identify the size separately, as shown in (e). If the  
branch size is larger than the size of the first and second sockets, the fitting is called
bullheaded. You must  still read the fitting according to Rule 3 above.