South Cambridgeshire District Council has installed Vericon Systems’ BCM devices in tenants’ homes as part of a ‘connected boiler’ pilot project to remotely monitor the condition of boilers and predict when failures are likely.
The devices are monitored and managed via Vericon’s online portal, with performance data that can be recorded and analysed to predict and identify common failures such as low pressure, electrical or mechanical parts failures or frozen condensate pipes.
Chris Brown, senior heating surveyor, South Cambridgeshire District Council, said, “We’re particularly interested in new, smart technologies that make diagnosing and fixing boilers more efficient for us and effortless for our tenants.
“For example, with one tenant’s boiler, we were receiving numerous alerts each day but when our maintenance workers visited the home, they couldn’t find any problems with the boiler.
“During a video call with Vericon, I called the tenant to see if they could help to diagnose the problem. They explained that the boiler had been going off for several weeks and unbeknown to her, each time she pushed a button to try and resolve the problem, she was actually pressing the reset button. By using the Vericon portal during the call, I could see the boiler come back to life when she pushed the button, proving the system was working correctly. We were then able to arrange for our team to visit the tenant and make the repair in under 10 minutes, and the boiler hasn’t failed since.”
Bernard Cook, managing director, Vericon Systems, said, “Interfacing directly with the boiler’s control bus allows our BCM device to perform a range of actions not possible with a read-only ‘smart’ thermostat. Preventative maintenance programmes can be set up that not only save money in the long term, but also ensure that regulatory compliance is consistently maintained.”
