Article appeared August, 2019 on the MachineQ Website
August, 19, 2019 – Author: Jessica Phillips
The MachineQ team visited H2O Degree’s submetering deployment at a large apartment complex, studying the placement of sensors and the LoRaWAN coverage provided by a singular MachineQ gateway.
MachineQ met with its client, H2O Degree, at one of their deployments in Yardley, PA to see the installed LoRaWAN® network in action as well as the placement of sensors throughout the location. The property is a garden style apartment complex with a clubhouse and 11 residential buildings with units ranging from 1-3 bedrooms.
H2O Degree provides LoRa-based submetering, which allows the property owner/operator to be able to charge tenants for actual water use. Without it, a property manager either absorbs the entire water bill or must allocate costs based on bedroom count, not actual to tenants. With the installation of H2O’s pulse counter, a landlord can easily and accurately measure water billing per unit.
H2O Degree is installing meters and pulse counters in phases across the property. The MachineQ team is always impressed to see their networks in use and the range it covers. H2O Degree installed one MachineQ indoor gateway inside an IT closet in the property’s main clubhouse, located centrally on the property. A 3-foot external antenna was added, also located in the closet, to improve range. This gateway configuration covered the 30-acre property with a strong signal, and it could likely cover a property over double its size.
H2O Degree’s business consists of 40% new construction where they provide a new meter and a 2-channel LoRaWAN pulse counter. The other 60% of the business is comprised of retrofits. In the retrofit scenario, the main driver, 95% of the time, is for building owners to bill tenants accurately and directly. Billing drives the sale for most landlords; leak detection is a nice extra. H2O Degree sells on a compelling ROI – the payback is often under 18 months!
We were excited to find out that H2O Degree is developing a remote water shutoff valve using LoRaWAN and the MachineQ network. This will provide additional applications in various commercial buildings. It’s always beneficial to see our network and management platform in action at a long-standing successful deployment. H2O Degree has been a great MachineQ partner with an exciting LoRaWAN roadmap ahead. We are excited to continue to support their growth in buildings across the US.