With commercial plumbing fixtures, one trend has been very clear over the past few years: the transition to hands-free operation. Users don't want to touch anything in restrooms, period. The other trend is water conservation. Unfortunately, these two trends are not always in sync.

False-flush is a fairly common occurrence with sensor-activated toilet and urinal flushometers. I've had toilets flush three times before I've even used them!

Kohler's hands-free WAVE technology, introduced in 2009, may help to solve this problem. You flush the toilet or urinal manually--without touching anything. By passing your hand over the top of the sensor (see photo), you break an infrared beam and activate the flush.

WAVE flushometers are available for line-pressure (as opposed to gravity-flush) toilets and urinals. The K-10673 is a water-saving 1.28 gallon per flush (gpf) toilet flushometer. The K-10675 is an 0.5 gpf urinal flushometer. A 0.5 gpf retrofit model is also available for older urinals. (WAVE flushometers in standard flush volumes are also available, both for new and retrofit toilets and urinals.)

For our GreenSpec Directory, the water efficiency criteria for urinals is 0.25 gpf, so the 0.5 gpf WAVE flushometers for urinals aren't listed in the directory, though it's still a good product for applications where hands-free operation is a requirement. We hope that the WAVE technology will eventually be offered for Kohler's eighth-gallon (0.125 gpf) Barden urinal. GreenSpec does list the WAVE flushometer for 1.28 gpf toilets.

One downside is that WAVE flushometers use 9-volt lithium batteries, which have to be replaced. All models have pushbutton overrides in case of battery failure.

A challenge with this product will be teaching users how it works, especially in locations with a lot of new users (in a restaurant or airport, for example). A simple graphic on the chrome flushometer cap tries to show how it works, but some users won't get it. This may make it more appropriate for office buildings, where most of the users will be building occupants.

WAVE flushometers are priced somewhat below standard Kohler sensor flushometers. New-fixture models carry a manufacturer's suggested list price of $482, and retrofit models list for $415, though prices through distribution channels are typically discounted. All models are available in polished chrome only.

For more information:

Kohler Company

Kohler, Wisconsin

800-456-4537

http://www.kohler.comI invite you to share comments on this blog.

Alex Wilson is the executive editor of Environmental Building News and founder of BuildingGreen, LLC. To keep up with his latest articles and musings, you can sign up for his Twitter feeds.

Photo of Kohler WAVE flushometer. Source: Kohler.

See more on this product in the GreenSpec Guide