The movement of water around a house takes place behind walls, out of sight of the people living inside. Usually the only information people have about their water use is the total volume consumed that is shown on their monthly bill.

We wanted to go a step further and understand where water was being used in different parts of the house.

To achieve this we installed nine Vortex Flow Sensors from Grundfos Direct Sensors that gather accurate flow and temperature data as water passes through various points in the pipe system.

The data from these sensors shows the volume of water being supplied by either the mains connection or the rainwater tank, and the usage of water in various rooms in the house.

This information means we can ensure the rainwater tank is functioning as it should, and we can be alerted to any areas of the house where water is being wasted due to leaking taps.

Grundfos sensors are also used to measure temperature of water flowing around the solar hot water system, providing all the information required to measure energy used and ensure reliable and efficient operation of the system.

And as well as immediate visibility of water performance in the house, logging data from the Grundfos Direct Sensors over time allows us to look at behavioural and seasonal patterns within the home and identify opportunities for further efficiencies.

The full water performance content will be released in early 2014. Over summer we'll be adding realtime feeds from the Grundfos sensors onto the website so you can see exactly how the house is performing. 

In the meantime, you can view the water phase of content from construction here.

If you'd like to know when the water performance content goes live, subscribe using one of the methods in the footer.