Do I have to use the 3.5 gpf for baseline and installed blow out fixture if installed fixture is lower than 1.6 gpf. (3.5 gpf seems to be a mandatory requirement if fixture, tipically blow out fixture, is higher than 1.6gpf).
If so can I use 1.6gpf for baseline case and the installed value (lower than 1.6 gpf) for installed case?.
If not, if we had to employ 3.5gpf both for baseline and for insalled case, it is a very hard (nearly imposible without using nonpotable water reuse) task to comply with 20 % savings due to the higher amount of water required for flush fixture in relation to flow fixture water reqeuirtement ( up to 10/1th ) and even imposible if building roof area is not big enough to collect rain for nonpotable uses.
And as 20% is a Prerequisite it would be not posible to certify a small roof surface building if blow out fixture are used.
Here in Spain Blow out fixture can have tipical values of 1.6-2.3 gpf and smaller and are required by local rules when it is required to reduce water use in public WC instead of water closet WC!!
Carlie Bullock-Jones
PrincipalEcoworks Studio
LEEDuser Expert
220 thumbs up
April 24, 2013 - 1:52 pm
Hi Oscar,
Unless manufacturer data indicates that the fixture is considered a blow-out water closet, then it appears that the fixture you describe is a typical / conventional water closet with a 1.6 gpf baseline.
OSCAR DE LA RED
LEED AP BD+CPROMEC
1 thumbs up
April 25, 2013 - 3:57 am
The problem is that technically it is really a blow out fixture (it works by means of water pressure instead than by gravity ) not a water closet (they have no tank) but related to water consumption values it is nearer to a water closet with 1.6gpf than to a LEED baseline blow out fixture with 3.5 gpf and above all at least here in Spain, they are even required by local regulation to great consumers (Health centers, Great office buildings, etc..) as a mean to reduce water consumption instead of water closet but LEED certification does not take this water reduction into account for blow fixture and so penalize its use and makes very hard to comply with the WEP1 Prerequisite (specially in high office buildings in urban sites with high compacity and so with small roof area)! All this seems not to be very coherent.