Minor losses (also called local losses) are caused by the added turbulence that occurs at bends and fittings. The importance of including such losses will depend on the layout of the pipe network and the degree of accuracy required. In water distribution systems, minor losses are typically small compared to pipe friction losses. However, these losses can be significant in heating and cooling systems. InfoWater allows each pipe and valve to have a minor loss coefficient associated with it. It computes the resulting headloss from the following formula:
Where hL is the headloss in feet, K is a minor loss coefficient, q is flow rate in cfs, and d is diameter in ft. The following table provides values for loss coefficient, K, for several kinds of components.
| Component | Loss Coefficient |
| Globe valve, fully open | 10.0 |
| Angle valve, fully open | 5.0 |
| Swing check valve, fully open | 2.5 |
| Gate valve, fully open | 0.2 |
| Butterfly valve, fully open | 0.3 |
| Diaphragm valve, fully open | 2.3 |
| Short-radius elbow | 0.9 |
| Medium-radius elbow | 0.8 |
| Long-radius elbow | 0.6 |
| Standard tee, 90o Turn | 1.8 |
| 45° elbow | 0.4 |
| Closed return bend | 2.2 |
| Standard tee - flow through run | 0.6 |
| Standard tee - flow through branch | 1.8 |
| Square entrance | 0.5 |
| Exit | 1.0 |