Condo Media - December 2018 - 26

Water nightmare
A PROACTIVE APPROACH
In the past, the industry had been reactive-association managers and board
members did their best to maintain
piping and appliances and monitor
water bills. If a pipe broke, managers
reacted as soon as possible. If a water
bill seemed off, it was talked about at
the board meetings, a few units were
checked, and managers would do their
best to address the problem. Most
times though, water leaks destroyed
buildings and drove up bills.
Now associations can be proactive
and use technology to detect catastrophic leaks earlier and shut off the
water before it seeps into five other
units. It is possible to monitor water
consumption in real-time to know
about an undetected leak NOW, not
when unusually high quarterly water
bills arrive months later.
Leak detection systems are rapidly
being adopted by condo associations
across the country. They can be broken
down into two different types:
● Moisture Sensor Systems consist
of sensors that are placed around a
unit or building. If water hits one of
these sensors, then a customer is notified (by sound, text, or e-mail) and
the water may be automatically shut
off. These systems protect certain

areas of a unit against damage from
catastrophic water leaks but full
coverage is not possible.
● Whole Home Leak Detection Systems monitor flow or pressure to detect a leak, for example based on high
flow rates or continuous duration
of flow. These systems detect both
catastrophic and costly water leaks
and many insurance carriers provide
discounts for their installation.
LEAK DETECTION FOR
CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATIONS
Associations are rapidly adopting these
systems for three reasons:
Water bills are a variable and
significant expense. Many
communities take the responsibility of
paying for the water bills of residents as
it is typically only metered at one point.
This means there is a disincentive for
residents to fix costly water leaks and
leads to a high and constantly increasing water bill for an association. Installing leak detection helps to decrease and
stabilize this high water cost.

water leak to impact five or more units in
a building, forcing many tenants out of
their home at one time. Leak detection
greatly reduces the damage from a catastrophic plumbing failure.
Associations can be financially
positioned to roll out leak
detection. Many associations opt to
fund the rollout of whole-home leak detection systems through their strategic
reserve. It is then replenished over a
period of time with insurance premium
savings (due to no more leak claims and
premium discounts for leak detection
systems) and from lower water bills.
BEST FIT FOR LEAK DETECTION
Generally, the condo associations that
are most interested in leak detection are
those that have either high, increasing,
or highly variable water bills or have had
significant problems with water leaks. If
you're a manager or board member and
either of these two topics has come up
at a board meeting in the last 12 months,
your association is a good candidate for a
leak detection system.
■ DAN FINK IS THE VP OF

Catastrophic leaks impact multiple units. In a condominium or
a townhome layout, units are positioned
on top of each other. It is common for one

OPERATIONS AT WATER HERO, INC.

LEAK DETECTION SOLUTIONS
Effectiveness
at Preventing
Catastrophic Damage

System Option

Description

Effectiveness at
Lowering Water Bills

High Level Monitoring

Installed as water enters a
floor or a building on a pipe
that feeds 20+ units

Alerts of leak or high water usage but difficult to determine
location of high water usage

Mitigates small portion
of damage from very
catastrophic water leaks

Multiple Unit Detection

Installed on a pipe that
feeds 5+ units

Alerts of leak or high water
usage and narrows down the
location of high water usage

Mitigates moderate portion
of damage from
catastrophic water leaks

Single Unit Protection

Installed as water enters
each individual unit

Alerts of leak or high water
usage and identifies exact
location of high water usage

Mitigates large majority
of damage from
catastrophic water leaks

(Feeding 20 Units)

(Feeding 5 Units)

(Feeding 1 Unit)

CONDOMEDIA December 2018

Condo Media - December 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - December 2018