Sälen, Dalarna, Sweden
Länsförsäkringar Dalarna, with Kurbit
A 400-mat installation in Sälen with central monitoring, delivered together with Kurbit and Länsförsäkringar Dalarna.
There is enormous preventive value in every detected leak that never gets the chance to become water damage.
The challenge
Sälen is a mountain resort area, so a large share of the kitchens stand empty for long stretches between stays. That is the worst case for a slow kitchen leak: a dripping dishwasher connection or a weeping trap can soak into the cabinet floor for weeks before anyone opens the door. About a third of water damage in Swedish homes starts in the kitchen, most of it from white goods often less than ten years old, according to RISE, and nobody is on site to notice the early signs. The housing association Stöten 1, 216 apartments, sits in the middle of the slope.
What was done
400 Dripspy mats were installed under sinks, dishwashers and fridges, with central monitoring so that alerts reach a team rather than an absent occupant. The project was delivered together with Kurbit and Länsförsäkringar Dalarna. The mat senses across its whole textile surface, so roughly five drops are enough to raise an alert, well before water pools.
The result
One day after the installation, the app raised an alarm: a leak under an older dishwasher, in an apartment that was empty at the time. That is precisely the leak the empty weeks hide, and it was found while it was still drips.
Every kitchen in the project now reports its status centrally, so a leak is seen before it is damage, and a mat that stops reporting is visible too.