I’m based on the East Coast, and in my role leading product and system solutions, I often have the good fortune to be on-site with new customers up and down the eastern seaboard. This recently took me to Bronx, NY to train a customer on our toilet leak sensor solution. Picture a 1960’s era, 20-story residential building, with newly installed toilet leak sensors in every unit, ready to detect unseen water waste. What makes the solution remarkable is not that it can discern the differences between a normal flush, a slow leak, and a stuck open flapper. It provides precise info about where the leaks are – which building, floor, unit, toilet, all from one convenient dashboard and supported by alerts.
We had recently completed their custom installation (as we do for every customer), adjusting settings for the particular needs of their on-site maintenance team. I was there to train the team on the SI-Dash and mobile app.
During an informal office meeting with the building owner representative and management staff, I began to check the dashboard for any relevant examples because I’ve found using the property’s own real-time data is the most effective way to onboard. Right away, SI-Dash surfaces two work orders with the precise details of the apartments that triggered the leak alerts.
“Yeah! This is why they bought our solution,” I thought. But much to my chagrin, the alerts had been ignored and the work orders remained open. Faced with this timely opportunity, I bet the maintenance superintendent a Smashburger lunch that we would find leaks in those 2 units.
That did the trick. As we entered the first apartment, I could hear water running. My trained ears know water whispers, and I was convinced that the sound I was hearing resulted from a failed fill valve, and the water was being dumped into the overflow tube. Upon visual inspection, the maintenance super commented there was no issue as he did not see water filling the bowl.
I’ve learned that a visual inspection can miss a lot. Some of the biggest toilet leak events we’ve uncovered passed visual inspections until SI-Dash uncovered the unseen waste. The leak repair was an easy fix and we swiftly closed the work order via the app, but more importantly, addressed an ongoing leak. As it turns out, the toilet had been leaking for months and consumed over 175,000 gallons of water. Our next apartment revealed another toilet leak responsible for a loss of 25,000 gallons.
If your building has toilets, you have leaks. It’s not if, but when. Not convinced? Don’t take our word for it, read more about what the experts have to say here.
While I always enjoy my time with customers (we consider ourselves “water warriors”), this experience reminded me that it’s not enough to buy water technology. Properties need access to water expertise. Whether you own or operate luxury apartments, affordable housing, hotels, senior living, or student housing, you are the expert in your properties. We are expert in water in multi-unit dwellings and relish the opportunity to find and eliminate water waste at scale.
Most property owners and operators are surprised to learn how much unseen water waste is costing them in net operating income (NOI). If you’re curious, check out our savings calculator, or book a meeting to get a customized analysis.