Page 41 - Green Builder Magazine Sept-Oct 2017

Reducing Demand
Just as a high-performance home
reduces energy demand before The Scoop on NSF 350
adding solar panels, The Flex House NSF/ANSI 350 and 350-1 establish material, design, construction and
shrinks its water footprint by first performance requirements for onsite residential and commercial water
reducing demand with efficient reuse treatment systems and set water quality requirements for the reduction
faucets and fixtures provided by of chemical and microbiological contaminants for non-potable water use.
American Standard. Treated wastewater can be used for restricted indoor water use, such as toilet
Both the toilet and lavatory faucet and urinal flushing, (and in California, for laundry washing) and unrestricted
are certified by the EPA WaterSense outdoor water use, including lawn irrigation and vehicle washing. Several
program. By definition, WaterSense- CREDIT: BOSCH USA codes, including the International Residential Code (IRC) and Universal
labeled products use 20 percent Plumbing Code (UPC) recognized NSF 350 in the 2015 code cycle.
less water than their conventional
counterparts, but these products go
even further. The contemporary- Numbers (not) up. Lack of a Using Water Twice
style faucet uses 1.2 gallons per dedicated return line and The Flex House also demonstrates a graywater system from
minute (gpm), while the toilet uses inclusion of a recirculation Nexus eWater, consisting of a NEXtreater graywater treatment
1.1 gallons per flush (gpf), exceeding pump helps the Bosch unit and a Recycle Ready Assembly, a pre-assembled graywater
the WaterSense standards of 1.5 gpm Greentherm 9000 series collection system. Such systems typically capture two out of
tankless water heater
and 1.28 gpf, respectively. save 11,000 gallons a year every three gallons of indoor water for reuse in landscaping and
In the kitchen, the sleek Beale per household. for toilet flushing.
pull-down “touchless” faucet enables www.bosch-home.com/us/ The appliance-like NEXtreater uses floatation, physical and car-
hands-free operation and can be turned on or off by waving a hand in bon filtration and UV disinfection to treat graywater to NSF 350
front of the sensor; sliding the door over the sensor enables manual standards. Developed by NSF International, this standard estab-
mode. The faucet’s maximum flow is 1.5 gpm, below the maximum lishes requirements and water
threshold of 1.8 gpm for kitchen faucets set by the stringent Cal- quality standards for onsite re-
Green program. (At present, use systems. California adopt-
the WaterSense program does ed NSF 350 into the California
not certify kitchen faucets.) Plumbing Code in 2013, which
The company is maintaining opened up opportunities for
performance with these lower mainstreaming graywater re-
flows through technological use throughout the state. The
innovations and high-quality NEXtreater was the first gray-
manufacturing. water product to receive this
“Performance with conserva- certification and remains the
only one widely available in
tion—that’s what I like to tell
CREDIT: AMERICAN STANDARD people,” says James Walsh, vice California. With its products, Ready to Go. The Recycle Ready CREDIT: NEXUS
Nexus eWater has positioned
president of product manage-
ment at LIXIL Americas, the
itself to provide market-ready
and code-compliant systems
business unit under which
includes a 75-gallon holding tank
Wise idea. The FloWise three- American Standard operates. to builders, developers and Assembly from Nexus eWater
homeowners across California.
He cites products such as the
and a 200-gallon reservoir for
function showerhead from FloWise three-function shower- “We’ve taken a produc- treated graywater.
American Standard automatically www.nexusewater.com
reverts to the 1.5-gpm head as an example of a prod- tized, modular approach to
water-saving mode. uct that combines performance onsite graywater recycling,” explains Tom Wood, CEO for Nexus
www.americanstandard-us.com with water savings. The show- eWater. “The Recycle Ready Assembly makes installation simple
erhead includes a 1.5-gpm water-saving mode that uses a turbine for builders and contractors—there are just five connections—and
to rotate the head, providing the user with a full, satisfying spray. the NEXtreater was designed to be as simple to use as an air con-
The Greentherm condensing gas tankless water heater from Bosch ditioner.”
also helps save water. Models in the Greentherm 9000 series include The Recycle Ready Assembly includes a holding tank for untreated
a built-in recirculation pump and require no dedicated return line. graywater and a larger reservoir for treated graywater. The company
This drastically reduces the time spent waiting for hot water at the is advocating that new construction with dual plumbing go a step
tap, and the company claims this feature can save an estimated further and add a Recycle Ready Assembly.
11,000 gallons a year per household. The compact appliance is also Dual plumbing keeps graywater from showers, sinks and washing
a good fit for this smaller-footprint home. machines separate from the wastewater from dishwashing and

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