I have been positively surprised by how quickly leaks can be detected with the help of the service

Tampere, located on the shores of Lake Näsijärvi, is the third largest city in Finland. Artti Elonen, who has a long history of working in building automation, is the forward-looking Service Manager of Tampere Real Estate Services that is responsible for the hundreds of properties owned by the city.

“We are always actively piloting new technologies to keep up with the developments in property maintenance,” Elonen underlines. “We have introduced heat pumps and LED solutions. Regarding water use, we have had some issues with meter reading and consumption monitoring so we decided to test the Smartvatten remote monitoring service.”

Significant Savings Through Consumption Monitoring

The remote monitoring service was implemented in March 2016 in ten properties where the meters had previously been checked monthly on-site. The properties include schools, office buildings, and exercise facilities, in which the water fittings and network are used heavily and, for many parts, in need of replacing.

With the help of real-time remote monitoring of water consumption, within the first three months, 53 water fitting leaks were discovered that were leaking 20,000 euros’ worth of water into the sewer each month. The monthly reading and recording of the water meters was eliminated as the information is now automatically recorded into the maintenance log system. Based on these results, the Tampere Real Estate Services decided to expand the remote monitoring pilot within its properties.

Property Maintenance Fixes Leaks Quickly

The properties of the Tampere Real Estate Services have tens of thousands of water fittings and their condition is impossible to constantly monitor on-site. Therefore, the remote monitoring service has proved to be a good tool for correctly directing the limited resources available to property maintenance.

“I have been positively surprised by how quickly leaks can be detected with the help of the service. Our maintenance workers can detect and eliminate leaks immediately after receiving an alert. The cooperation with Envera has been smooth and I have recommended the system to neighboring municipalities,” Elonen says.