High-tech system prevents flooding in Miami University buildings

Miami Universitys state-of-the-art building automation system helped prevent major water problems experienced at other colleges and universities this past week.

Several houses and buildings in the region suffered fractured water mains and pipes when sub zero temperature rose to the mid-40s the past few days.

On Wednesday, Miami University reported minor pipe bursting problems due to a broken sprinkler system. There also was water that escaped from a fractured frozen pipe in an attic space at Porter Hall, according to university building maintenance officials.

Earlier this week, approximately 50 Wright State University students were evacuated from Cimarron Woods, an apartment building, following a water main break. This past Tuesday, several buildings at the University of Dayton suffered flooding.

Thanks to our monitoring system we were able to respond immediately, minimize damage and isolate the situation to get it cleaned up before any loss of property or damage to student rooms, said Jeremy Davis, director of building maintenance for Miami University.

Approximately 80 employees monitor the building automation system 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They keep a close eye on building temperatures and conditions.

If they get out of parameters they send an alarm and we respondwe use the system to increase temperatures during the times when temperature is cold outside so that we can reduce any failures to our system, said Davis.

Workers are also equipped with iPads to help them diagnose problems remotely.

The system helps conserve energy, indicates if theres a loss of water flow and protects building assets, according to university officials.

Its cutting edge. Its the greatest thing we have going. It saves us a lot of money, we use it for trouble shooting, for maintenance repair and for utilities costs, Davis said.

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High-tech system prevents flooding in Miami University buildings