Want to save on your water bill? This SLO start-up has an app for that
A San Luis Obispo start-up company has created a product that its creators say could revolutionize how people monitor their water consumption.
The Flume Smart Water System allows customers to measure their home water usage with up-to-the-minute data.
Currently, SLO residents can buy the product from the company Flume for $10 as part of a water conservation study. Flume’s real time water monitoring device has a market-rate price of $199.
The system uses an innovative wifi-connected sensor that simply straps around the existing water meter and utilizes a companion app for homeowners to follow their water-use results.
The device is designed to save residents money, conserve water and prevent damage from leaks while offering a better understanding of home water use.
The water savings will be particularly welcomed in arid communities that face shortages when water supplies decline in drought conditions, according to company officials.
Three former Cal Poly engineering graduate students — James Fazio, Eric Adler and Jeff Hufford — came up with the idea during the height of the latest drought, launching the company in 2016.
“Our product could potentially save customers from a $600 or $700 water bill in a month if they have a leak they don’t catch,” said Fazio, the company’s chief technology officer and co-founder.
How it works and how much it costs
The Flume Smart Water System is attached to a residential water meter, which measures the same information that utilities assess to determine water bills.
The data is available to customers who sign up for Flume’s app, making it easy for people to see their results on their smart phone or computers, even when they’re away from home.
Currently, a limited number of Flume systems are available to San Luis Obispo city residents for $10 on a first-come basis on the website link www.flumetech.com/slocity as part of a study sponsored by an insurance company.
A total of 250 units were made available, some of which have already been sold.
SLO has made no monetary investment to the program.
“Before, you’d get your water bill at the end of the month and you might see that it was higher,” Fazio said. “But you wouldn’t have had an idea of what caused it. We want to identify every opportunity possible to help people save money, conserve water and gain peace of mind.”
How its brand is spreading and being used
Flume also has partnered with water authorities serving Las Vegas, San Antonio, north San Diego County and elsewhere to encourage use of the product through customer discounts offered through subsidies.
On average, the company has seen reductions in water usage of about 10 percent among its customers, who tend to check their usage on a weekly basis at the minimum. The company has about 1,700 customers in all.
Some people monitor their use more often, especially after first receiving the product, according to company representatives.
A recent demonstration of the program revealed high water usage from a local Flume user, a company employee, between 2 and 5 a.m. when the property’s sprinklers were known to be turned on.
The device doesn’t pinpoint precisely where on a property a leak might be occurring. But it does record when and how much water is used, and app users can generally figure out what caused a spike, whether it was watering the lawn or even a toilet flush or shower — or a dreaded leak, company officials said.
The Flume also alerts customers to unusual spikes so the problem can be quickly addressed, whether it’s a low- or high-flow leak.
“Flume’s central innovation is the patent-pending Flume sensor,” the company said in a statement. “When water flows through a household water meter, a magnetic disc spins inside of the meter. The rate at which the disc spins correlates directly to a water flow rate.”
The Flume sensor measures this magnetic field from the meter, then sends the information to the app by way of a radio frequency signal, the company stated.
“We believe that Flume can be the last piece of the smart-home puzzle, complementing items that people today take for granted —such as fire alarms — as well as newer innovations such as Ring for home security and Nest for energy efficiency,” Alder said.
City governments, universities and insurance companies take interest
Many city governments with dry climates throughout the Southwest have taken interest in the product, Flume officials say.
Some insurance companies also have subsidized the product to help reduce water damage claims.
“Because of the subsidies offering that contribute anywhere from $99 to $150 per product, the item is available to customers at $30 to $40,” said Joe Fazio, the company’s vice president of customer success, James’ father. “At that price, this really makes this a no-brainer for people to try out.”
Flume’s device has been tested in an independent study by the University of Utah researchers, and it’s shown to be 99 percent accurate, according to James Fazio.
Flume operates out of a SLO business complex at the intersection of Madonna Road and South Higuera Street, currently housing 25 employees, in office space of Cal Poly’s Center For Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The SLO-based conservation study led by Professor Lynne Slivovsky of Cal Poly’s Electrical Engineering Department will include identifying the percentage of homeowners who detect leaks upon installation and determine which percentage of those take action to fix their leaks.
“We are excited to be staging this study here in our hometown of San Luis Obispo, in partnership with our alma mater,” James Fazio said. “Flume is already a proven system, but we are always seeking new data.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2019 at 11:24 AM.
%20Cropped.jpg)