Leakproofing at a glance

Beth Werner

The technicians in Ishøj Municipality are enthusiastic about the combination of the leakage protection system and the Alarm and Energy Registration System

It gives a great overview and is reasonably simple to use. The two CTS technicians, Jeanette Bøgh and Hans Runge in Technical Operations in Ishøj Municipality are in no doubt about the many benefits of DanTaet’s Alarm and Energy Registration System (AERS®).

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Ishøj Municipality chose last fall to have AERS® installed at the municipality’s two care centers, Kærbo and Torsbo, says Peter Sandberg, Service Manager in Technical Operations, and adds With the good experience we already have with the system, the plan is to install AERS® in all the buildings where leakage protection systems are currently installed on the water systems.

CTS technicians, Jeanette Bøgh and Hans Runge in Technical Operations in Ishøj Municipality.

Alarms in one system

At Kærbo Plejecenter, a total of 13 leakage protection systems have been installed to protect against water seepage and leaks and to automatically sound an alarm and shut off the water in the event of an accident.

With AERS®, alarms from all 13 sites are gathered in one alarm system, making it easy and clear to assess how to react to an alarm and possibly reopen via AERS.

Alarms registered in AERS® are sent via SMS and/or email to the technician on duty. There are six technicians assigned to the two care centers and they take turns on the technical shift for one week at a time.

Jeanette Høgh and Hans Runge, as super users of AERS®, have been responsible for introduction and training in the system
to technicians.

As with anything new with new and smart features, it’s all about daring to try the possibilities that are built in
in a new system. And technicians have actually become quite good at it
says Hans Runge.

Records energy consumption

In addition to detecting and relaying alarms from the leak detection systems, AERS® also records the evolution of water consumption in the two care centers.

Jeanette Høgh points to the screen she has just called up, which shows a graphical representation of water consumption at Kærbo.

The system makes it easy, for example, to follow the development in Kærbo’s water consumption hour by hour, over a day, a week, a month or a year, she explains.

The solution was leakage protection systems, which have so far been installed in two nursing homes, a sports center, four schools and two day care centers. In addition, leak protection is planned for the fifth and last school in the municipality and the Town Hall. In the longer term, the plan is to connect AERS® in all buildings where leakage protection systems are installed on the water systems.

We may have spent a lot of money on leakage protection systems and AERS®, but on the other hand, this is an investment that can quickly pay for itself, says the service manager.

Leaking pipe under sink became a costly affair

Until 2016, Ishøj Municipality had not given much thought to leak-proofing the water systems in municipal institutions and buildings.

Kf we can do something to avoid this kind of expenditure, of course we must

A relatively trivial situation, a leak in a pipe under a sink at Kærbo Care Center, led the municipality to start thinking much more about leak proofing.

The consequential damage following the water damage turned out to be around DKK 1 million. Shortly afterwards, we were again unlucky with water damage at one of our other institutions. This time with consequential damages of just under half a million DKK, Peter Sandberg says and adds:

Our municipality, like most other municipalities, is self-insured, so if we can do something to avoid these kinds of costs, of course we should.

 

It does cost money to protect against water damage, but in the long term it is an investment that can quickly pay for itself, explains Service Manager Peter Sandberg, here in front of Brohuset, where Technical Operations is housed in part of the building.