August 2020
Water leaks are a primary cause of serious damage in high-rise buildings. A single undetected leak can damage an affected unit plus common areas and units that are below and along the path water takes to reach the lowest point in the building. Too many water damage claims, regardless of fault, can result in higher insurance premiums, higher deductibles or cancellation of insurance coverage.
Technology is available to avoid many of these problems.
For individual units, Roost is a smart leak detector; a 5 cm by 7 cm oval disk. Set the temperature and humidity level you want to monitor for. Place it anywhere a water leak is likely to occur. In a condo unit this can be under sink pipes or a washing machine, or in an air conditioning system water tray.
If the disk detects water or high humidity it sounds an alarm and sends a message to your smartphone. Early warning of a water leak in your home prevents it from turning into a major issue and causing property damage. On receiving a warning message, a call to condo management and requested check of your unit by them can avoid the potential disaster of serious water damage to your unit, those of neighbours and common areas. While travelling or on vacation alerts can be redirected to friends, family or condo management.
Roost can also be used to notify if pipes are at risk of freezing. It can be set at a 2 Celsius threshold to inform if the temperature around pipes is likely to cause water in them to freeze. Roost, which runs on AAA batteries and costs about $120, offers a simple single unit solution.
Aquazen and Aware specialize in comprehensive building-wide solutions for detecting and repairing water leaks.
