Restroom Products Keep Performance High, Water Usage Low
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Installing low water-consumption Flushometers in high-use restrooms — such as the M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens — can deliver fast water savings due to the dramatic and immediate drop in water usage. Photo courtesy of Sloan Valve Co.
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by John Watson
March 3, 2008
Emerging standards for high-efficiency toilets and urinals may ease the minds of specifiers, who need to substantiate the effectiveness of low-consumption plumbing products.
As plumbing products continue to become more water efficient, including 1.0 gallon-per-flush (gpf) water closets and urinals utilizing only 1 pint of water to flush, specifiers are showing greater interest in low-consumption fixtures — as long as they perform effectively. While no “official” definition has yet emerged in an approved standard, high-efficiency urinal (HEU) and high-efficiency toilet (HET) products are already impacting purchase decisions.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) will likely provide those definitions when it next updates the ASME A.112.19.2 standard. For now, HEUs and HETs can be defined as follows:
An HEU is a urinal that performs to the current ASME A.112.19.2 performance standards while using no more than 0.5 gpf/1.9 Lpf to flush. This is a reduction from the current standard of 1.0 gpf/3.8 Lpf as required by the Energy Policy Act of 1992. By this definition, waterfree urinals are categorized as HEUs.
An HET is a water closet that meets the current performance requirements outlined in ASME A.112.19.2, but does so by either flushing at a maximum of 1.28 gpf/4.8 Lpf or by deploying a dual-flush device, which, based on a typical 2:1 liquid/solid use ratio, averages a total flush volume of 1.28 gpf.
Dual-Flush Meets the Challenge
Dual-flush Flushometers are rising in popularity, partly because they easily meet HET performance standards as proven by independent testing. Once sold on dual-flush functionality, the fixture choice then becomes: manual or electronic?
In smaller buildings, it may be more advantageous to install manual dual-flush Flushometers in restrooms because they have a regular set of users. These users are more familiar with and conscientious about the facility, which means they are more likely to learn how to manually operate a dual-flush Flushometer to its full potential. In a large commercial building with a transient population, however, it is more difficult to train users on proper fixture usage. For these restrooms, a better product selection would be the new electronic dual-flush Flushometers, which automatically initiate the appropriate flush cycle, depending on the amount of time the user remains in the sensor range.
Because facility owners can’t count on restroom visitors to use water responsibly, it’s in their interest to take advantage of today’s water-efficient products that reduce water consumption automatically.
Calculate the Savings of Water-Efficient Plumbing
Most specifiers are open to retrofitting their restrooms with water-efficient products — if they come out on top financially. So, when does it make better dollar sense to replace higher water-consuming water closets and urinals with more efficient models? Each facility should do its homework to determine usage and the potential cost savings of installing HETs and HEUs. Calculate a commercial building’s potential water savings for low-consumption urinals and water closets by plugging in how many males and females work in the building, price per gallon for water and sewer services, water consumption of fixtures being replaced and number of work days per year at: www.waterefficiency.com/calc_commercial/index.html. There are also calculators on that site for determining water savings at hotels and residences. Installing low water-consumption Flushometers in high-use restrooms — such as the M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens — can deliver fast water savings due to the dramatic and immediate drop in water usage. Photo courtesy of Sloan Valve Co. For more information on Flushometers from Sloan Valve Co., visit www.sloanvalve.com or circle reader service no. 165.
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