Hello, I have received a comment from a reviewer stating we needed to use the a duration of 30 seconds on a metered faucet. I don't know many people who wash hands for 30 seconds. What is the point of installing metered faucets, if the duration is required to bet set at 30 seconds? How can we gain water reduction credits, if we can't gain savings from installing metered faucets? We have already specified the lowest flow fixtures and we can no longer hit the 40% reduction without some savings from the metered faucets. HELP!

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Michelle Rosenberger

Partner

ArchEcology

LEEDuser Premium Member

421 thumbs up

Fri, 09/14/2018 - 21:14

Hi Lisa, This was very painful change in v4 for all of our projects. The USGBC decided that metered faucets basically did not result in water reduction benefit, so we can't take credit for them anymore. The addition of more water reduction thresholds turned out to be fairly useless to most of our projects because low flow fixtures are most often not enough anymore and you need rainwater collection or municipal non-potable water to get any significant reductions.

emily reese moody

Sustainability Director, Certifications & Compliance

Jacobs

LEEDuser Expert

469 thumbs up

Tue, 09/18/2018 - 19:35

Agreed here. We were/are very dismayed at this change between versions. Our most recent regular ol' office fitout was only able to eek by barely above 40% by having 1.1 toilets, 0.125 urinals, 0.35 lavs (metered), 1.5 showers, and 1.75 kitchen sinks.

Erin Rowe

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Mon, 06/10/2019 - 07:01

Hi - I just want to follow-up on this to find out where exactly its stated v4 that you cannot use metered faucets with lower durations? I can't seem to find this language in the LEED v4 C&I Reference Guide. Thanks, Erin

Emily Purcell

Sustainable Design Lead

CannonDesign

LEEDuser Expert

379 thumbs up

Mon, 06/10/2019 - 13:37

It's in Changes from LEED v2009:

Duration-based savings from autocontrol faucets with automatic fixture sensors or metering controls are no longer allowed in the design case. Studies have shown that autocontrol faucets do not save water because users frequently reactivate the faucet after initial use or stop washing before the cycle ends.

emily reese moody

Sustainability Director, Certifications & Compliance

Jacobs

LEEDuser Expert

469 thumbs up

Mon, 06/10/2019 - 23:08

Erin, just for clarity, you can use metered faucets in your projects; what changed is the way they are allowed to be calculated in the prereq/credit documentation. You must now count them at their full duration, whereas in v3 you could convert to a 12-second cycle.

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