Automatic shut off to 1930's Apartment block - London

Automatic shut off to 1930’s Apartment block – London

Posted by Sarah Wakley — 28 February 2024

This 1930’s block has been subdivided over time into 40 luxury apartments.  The property has suffered from a series of plumbing modifications and additions over many years, that has resulted in a patchwork of plumbing that is extremely difficult to identify and follow.  The block has experienced a number of costly leaks from bathrooms in the apartments.

Due to the history of sub-division and modifications, the building managers cannot identify any internal stopcocks serving individual apartments and there are no common risers serving either the apartments or floors within the block.  The managers asked Leaksafe to propose a leak detection system to shut off water to the building if the volume of water being used would indicate a leak and provide the means of shutting off the incoming mains in the event of an emergency.

Leaksafe installed an xFlow system on the incoming mains supply to the building that consists of a motorised shut off valve, a flow meter and the xFlow Control panel.

As soon as the system was installed it was put into an audit mode to measure the volume of water used in a rolling hour over a 7-day period to take the guess work out programming the normal water usage, and thereby reduce the likelihood of nuisance shut off.

Once the audit was completed, the system was programmed so that usage above the audited volume would indicate a leak or burst and the system will immediately shut the water off to the building.

The building has 24/7 concierge service so that if the water is shut down, investigation can take place immediately, and water restored as soon as possible.

Leaksafe work with a number of leading insurers, brokers and their clients to reduce the risk associated with water damage