Case Studies
CUSTOMER: Elementary school, westerville OH
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CHALLENGE:
An analysis of the Real-Time electrical interval data of an Elementary school revealed an increase in the total baseload of 25kW. The additional load started in early October and had continued to run through early March. SOLUTION: The LEAP Team investigated the root cause and discovered that during a very cold day in October approximately 10 electric wall heaters were manually turned on and set to run at full capacity. They identified that the heaters were never turned off after the cold snap had passed. Once the heaters were set back to their proper settings the baseload dropped. RESULT: A savings of $1,500 a month. |
CUSTOMER: West MIDDLE SCHOOL, commercial point oh
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CHALLENGE:
Identify why the newly constructed middle school which is energy efficient had water usage four times more than expected. Limbach engineers began tracking electric, natural gas and water bills from the first day the school opened and benchmarked them against peer buildings. SOLUTION: Through detailed investigation, Limbach quickly eliminated field irrigation and leaks as possible culprits and discovered along with the water company an error in the water company's automated meter reading. the water meter's data template had been set up incorrectly and the High-Flow reading reported ten times the actual usage into the billing system. RESULT: When the error was corrected, the new school's water usage settled into the expected benchmark resulting in a refund of $7,000 in overcharges. |
CUSTOMER: East middle school, ashville OH
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CHALLENGE:
Identify why shortly after the water meter was replaced the school's water bill skyrocketed with meter readings showing very high increase in water usage. The District's staff could not find any leaks and there had been no changes in the building's operation. the local water company confirmed the meter registered accurately on both Low-Flow and High-Flow dials. SOLUTION: Through benchmarking and detailed investigation, Limbach’s engineer determined that while the mechanical meter readings were correct, an error occurred in the data transfer between the meter readings and the water company’s billing system. The billing system switched the Low-Flow and High-Flow readings, resulting in the high bills. RESULT: The school district recovered $33,000 (70%) in overcharges. |
Customer: Limbach Company LP, Pontiac MI
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CHALLENGE:
Identify why the building electrical usage consistently varies between 9 kW and 14 kW during the unoccupied periods. SOLUTION: LEAP team utilized Real-time monitoring and discovered the difference in electrical usage was due to the lights in the training room not being shut off on certain nights. Motion sensing lights were installed. RESULT: An estimated $2,000 in annual savings. |
CUSTOMER: Harper Limbach, Lake Mary FL
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CHALLENGE:
Identify why the building water usage drastically increased from 5,000 gallons a day to 18,000 gallons a day.. SOLUTION: LEAP team discovered the increase during the monthly monitoring of utility bills and notified the customer immediately. After investigating, it was determined there was a leak at the backflow preventer (downstream of the irrigation water meter) had generated a leak. RESULT: The quick repair avoided $3,500 in wasted water and by identifying the problem early on, the LEAP team helped the customer avoid water and sewer charges that could have quickly added up to $13,000. |