Does anyone know if the inserts to reduce flow in faucets is recognized by the USGBC? The sink currently submitted to us comes stock with a 2.2 GPM aerator, but there are inserts available to knock it down to .5 GPM. Will the USGBC recognize the sink as .5 GPM with the insert, even though it is easily removable? Thanks for the help, Mark Update: I have learned that they do count.

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Tristan Roberts

Representative

Vermont House of Representatives

LEEDuser Expert

7780 thumbs up

Fri, 12/06/2013 - 20:36

Mark, thanks for the update. Had I gotten to your question earlier that would have been my guess. In practice I think the less removable the better, but I haven't seen USGBC splitting hairs over this.

HOUCINE TLEMSANI

Mechanical Designer

MEP Engineering Solutions, Inc

LEEDuser Basic Member

8 thumbs up

Wed, 01/08/2014 - 15:55

yes the insert is acceptable if the faucet does not come with the 0.5 gpm flow rate. all that is good for lavatories not for kitchen sink. the kitchen sink minimum flow I believe is 1.8gpm. the reason is that if you need to fill a bottle of water you going to be there as long as it takes. note that you will have to provide the insert cut sheet from the same manufacturer or a letter from the manufacturer saying that the insert is compatible with the faucets.

Charles Nepps

NH Green Consulting

LEEDuser Premium Member

80 thumbs up

Wed, 05/28/2014 - 16:48

Houcine, can you tell me where you found minimum flow rates for kitchen faucets? I have a slightly different situation; the kitchen sink/faucet will be in an office breakroom. We had thought we could drop the flow rate, with an approved aerator, to below 1 gpm and improve our WE c1 numbers, but now I'm worried it will be rejected during review, if there is indeed a minimum.

HOUCINE TLEMSANI

Mechanical Designer

MEP Engineering Solutions, Inc

LEEDuser Basic Member

8 thumbs up

Wed, 05/28/2014 - 20:20

For the kitchen faucets the minimum is in the LEED manual and on the credit form. The minimum you can use is 1.8 gpm using a low flow type, and you can select that on the form.

Michelle Rosenberger

Partner

ArchEcology

LEEDuser Premium Member

421 thumbs up

Wed, 05/28/2014 - 20:32

Hi Houcine, I'm not quite sure where you are getting that information from. We have many times used lower flow kitchen sink fixtures. 1.5 gpm is typical for our projects, and we have used 0.5 gpm before. Aerators are often employed. We have never had any comments or issues about this. Having said that, there are sinks that are not included in normal water calculations like mop sinks where you are filling buckets and commercial kitchen process water uses.

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