FIVE MAINTENANCE-FREE YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG

Back in 2007 property manager Vesa Vapanen decided to contact Energo and ask if we could lower water consumption at Joensuun Elli, a limited company that produces, maintains and rents out student housing in Joensuu. It took six months to go through all 1288 student apartments, some of which had two toilets.

When asked about his motive for contacting Energo in the first place, he is quick to respond: “For us the financial aspect was the most important. We ended up saving around 30 percent in our water consumption, so the investment paid for itself in less than two years. The Energo solution also saves on heating energy, but it’s not so easy to estimate how much Energo saved us in this regard as we carried out a modernisation project on our heating and ventilation systems at the same time.”

STUDENTS HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE

“We knew in advance that we could expect good results, so it was to make the investment decision. Admittedly, a couple of landlords expressed their concern that the Energo solution would increase the amount of pressure in the water system and damage the seals, but this hasn’t happened.”

At the same time that the existing toilets were converted into dual flush toilets, they were also fully serviced. To date over 1300 toilets have functioned perfectly for five years without any additional maintenance. Only a few of the toilets have been serviced recently. The long maintenance intervals offer significant financial advantages,” Vapanen confirms.

The environmentally aware students were also very enthusiastic about the project. “When we informed them that the new showers would use just nine litres of water a minute, a couple of students did in fact ask whether that was sufficient for them to wash their hair properly. When I reassured them that the quality of the shower would be just as good as before, the response from the students was unanimous: If this can help save the world, then do it!”