A simple solution to detect running toilets

7. June 2022

Solution provider

Aguardio mission: To reduce water and energy consumption through nudging.

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Challenge

An estimated 5 to 8 % of all toilets worldwide leak clean freshwater down the drain. Water trickles or runs down the inner backside of the toilet pan, and then straight out in the sewer.

Even a leak invisible to the human eye, where the water surface in the toilet pan remains calm, can use around 274 liters daily, 100 m3 yearly. A visible leak, where the water surface is visibly disturbed, is using around 1096 liters daily or 400 m3 yearly. These quantities of water waste are for just one toilet, in just one day. Considering these figures, the amount of unnecessary water waste in toilets worldwide, is staggeringly high.

Solution

We beep for a reason

This easy plug and play sensor from Aguardio, beeps when it detects a toilet leaking clean water. Press the button on the side of the Aguardio Leak Sensor to mute the alarm for 24 hours. When the water leak is fixed, the alarm stops recurring. Another option is to connect the Aguardio Leak Sensor to a gateway, to receive remote notifications of water leaks while away.

Small, but powerful

The sensor’s potential to reduce water waste is enormous. It has already won several awards, as well as been nominated for the upcoming Danish Design Award 2022.

Result

Already within the first week of installing Leak Sensors, several running toilets are usually detected. A particular example is a local housing association in Denmark:

The housing association has already chosen chosen to buy Aguardio Leak Sensors again based on the positive results from their first installation, where they located several running toilets within the first ten days. This means a very short payback time on the sensors themselves, due to the water and energy waste that was avoided. In fact, the estimated yearly water waste of the leaks discovered by means of the Aguardio Leak Sensor, would be much more costly than the price of the sensors, if the leaks had been left unnoticed.

The housing association has emphasis on helping residents, and saving resources. They want to reduce the risk of large, unexpected water utility bills e.g. for the elderly, caused by running toilets. Unexpected, large water bills are only too common in Denmark, also for housing associations.

Visit the news section to read more Aguardio Leak Sensor case stories.