Forum discussion
NC-2009 WEp1: Water Use Reduction—20% Reduction
How do you enter a variable flow shower head in the template?
The American Standard flowise 3 function showerhead is a great example:
3 spray settings:
- Turbine spray at 1.5 gpm
Max. Flow rate
- Full spray at 2.0 gpm Max.
flow rate
- Combination spray at 2.0 gpm
Max. Flow Rate
Auto return feature defaults at 1.5 gpm
Do I have to enter 2gpm into the template, even though folks may never even change it from the default of 1.5gpm?
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Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11477 thumbs up
April 29, 2010 - 11:58 am
I could see USGBC going either way on this. As Bill Swanson said to me in an email, it could be similar to lighting where we are forced to count the watts of the maximum rating of the socket.On the other hand, since it defaults to 1.5 gpm you could justify using that, or using some scheduled combination in which you "guesstimate" how it will be used.Let us know what approach you take and how it pans out—and I hope the credit isn't hinging on this.
April Ambrose
Business Development ManagerEntegrity
230 thumbs up
April 29, 2010 - 3:44 pm
Thanks, Tristan.
I was preemptive in asking this question as the owner is currently testing shower heads from a few vendors. We have tested this one (owner installed it at home) and highly recommended it to the owner. However, they have not chosen one yet.
If the owner uses this one, I will let you know how it goes! If we did submit it, I think we would do so at the 1.5gpm rate. Our reasoning is this: The owner has flipped the switch to the 2.0gpm and could not tell a difference. Plus, his wife didn't even know that was an option!
Neil Rosen
Director of SustainabilityNorthwell Health
68 thumbs up
May 5, 2010 - 7:38 am
If you go with that showerhead, you should be putting 2gpm in the form. You have to go with the worst case.
Landon Chapman
Graduate Architect, LEED APMSKTD & Associates, Inc.
20 thumbs up
December 19, 2011 - 9:01 am
April, if you don't mind me asking, how did this turn out for you? I'm in the exact same situation currently.
April Ambrose
Business Development ManagerEntegrity
230 thumbs up
December 19, 2011 - 4:44 pm
Unfortunately, we ended up going with a straight 1.5gpm shower. This was going in a college dorm and the owner wanted the simplest fixtures with lowest maintenance and moving parts to potentially break. So, they decided to pay a bit more to not have a variable flow. So, unfortunately, we still don't know the answer to this question.