Solution allows property managers to monitor data continuously.
05/28/2019
When the seals fail on 5-year-old pumps, the conventional approach is to arrange for repair. But one property management group decided to replace the pumps completely. Following a recent scheduled shutdown of the air-condition system in a west Toronto condominium building (13 floors, housing 303 owners), the system would not restart. An investigation revealed that both pumps were leaking badly, and it was not the first time there had been issues.
Image 1. Pump control capabilities include advanced algorithms for senseless technology. (Images courtesy of Armstrong Fluid Technology)
Dan Barnabic, author of “The Condo Bible,” provided his assessment of the expected useful life of building systems in an article from HuffPost in 2015. After analyzing a chunk of data, he estimated that cooling systems should function trouble-free for at least 12 years, heating for more than 20 years, and plumbing for close to 50 years. An instance of equipment failing and rusting out after just five years should be considered an anomaly. There are a few possible explanations, but in this case, the team suspected overzealous cost-cutting.
“We guessed they were cheap pumps that the builder had put in to cut costs,” said Erika Elbert, property manager for Dell Properties in North York, Ontario. “It was frustrating that both pumps were leaking and one was shaking so badly I had to shut it down. If they both failed, our residents would be without heating and cooling.”