In a commercial, multistory building, you can “chase” the origin of a leak for hundreds of feet across, then up and down any number of 20,000 square foot floorplates before you locate the leak source. You’ll find spaces in your building you never knew existed! But all the while the leak continues its drip, drip, drip waiting to become a flood. And your worst friend ever, mold, is sinking its ugly tentacles into drywall, carpets, cabinets, and ceiling tiles. Insurance companies are acutely aware of the issue as they pay out on over $10 billion annually in water damage claims – more than fire and theft combined.
One such insurance company, FM Global, through its internationally recognized testing laboratories, FM Approval, recently updated their FM Approval Standard 7745 to better accommodate leak detection systems for water and hydrocarbons. And they included strict standards for the application of 21st century, IoT wireless technology for identifying water leaks in commercial buildings.
At The Detection Group, we applaud FM Approvals for introducing more stringent standards for wireless water leak detection. Not just because The Detection Group’s Trident Wireless Water Leak Detection platform is the first and only system to receive FM Approval, but because wireless detection and remote monitoring of water leaks is the future. Here is why:
1. The Trident IoT, cloud-based, wireless system water leak detection platform is easy and inexpensive to install in any size or age of building. Modular systems like ours are perfect for retrofitting older buildings where leaks may be more prevalent.
2. Valuable engineering time will be saved because the ‘chase’ to find the leak is over quickly. The Trident system lets you know precisely what is leaking and where to find it. In some cases, the system may have optional auto-shut off capabilities which instantly stops water supply to the leak.
3. Building owners will save the large amounts paid for damage deductibles and lost tenant income, allowing for a positive ROI on the cost of the system. Insurance company damage losses will also be reduced dramatically, ensuring loss ratios will be low and in-line with stated risk management objectives.
4. Minimizing water damage claims not only saves carriers and insureds money, but critically allows continuation of insurance coverage at normal property rates versus rates that reflect losses from water damage.
5. Trident’s IoT cloud-based remote monitoring capability means critical personnel are notified, day or night, whether they are working from home or while they are on property, whenever there is a water event taking place.
6. Leaks are reported and fixed immediately, verifying to insurance carriers they are ‘sudden and accidental’ and have not been an ongoing, deferred maintenance which might negate payment of some future claim.
7. There is increasing interest by insurance carriers to make wireless water leak detection systems like the Trident platform a policy prerequisite, perhaps even granting premium discounts.
Every commercial, corporate, hotel, or medical facility should have a wireless water leak detection system installed. Leaks are a universal problem that almost every property manager or building owner has experienced. Interior water damage can result anywhere water flows in a facility, including from plumbing; boilers; water tanks; HVAC systems ; sprinklers; fire risers: toilets; restroom and kitchen sinks; ice makers and refrigerators — anything that has a water supply. In the past 3 years, the Trident system identified over 11,000 water events for its customers.
Three weeks after the installation of the Trident wireless system in a 38-story office building in San Francisco, the building engineer called to tell us he received an alert at 5:30pm on a Friday afternoon. A toilet was overflowing in a 17th floor restroom, which was not equipped with a floor drain. The engineer believed the water would have migrated down to the lobby before anyone discovered the overflow. By preventing just one disaster, the system paid for itself many times over.
Be prepared. If you have experienced a catastrophic water event, you know how disastrous and expensive it can be. If you haven’t, odds are you will. But there is no reason you should have to with today’s wireless, remote sensing technology that can be installed in any size or age building.
Call me anytime with technical questions or to set up an in person or virtual demonstration of the Trident platform.
Laurie Conner
President & CEO
The Detection Group
lconner@thedetectiongroup.com
415-941-LEAK