In BEACON, a leak is defined as flow reported every hour in the 24-hours prior to the latest endpoint communication. BEACON detects leaks when it receives flow records from water meters by looking at the previous 24 hours of data. If flow of one gallon or more has been detected every hour in a 24-hour period, including hours divided into quarter-hourly segments by ORION Cellular LTE endpoints, a Leak Detected alert is triggered in the Flow Health module, which counts all of the leaks in your system. If flow drops to zero at any point during the 24-hour window, no Leak Detected alert will be triggered in the Flow Health module.
While leaks are calculated when data is received, once an hour the system sends Leak Alert emails and SMS text messages for newly discovered leaks, continuing leaks, and leaks that have stopped.
Note: Estimated reads are not included in leak detection alerts. Estimated reads will not cancel an existing Leak Alert, nor will they trigger a new Leak Alert.
Click the arrow in the Flow Health module next to the Leak Detected alert to see the extent of the leaks in your system.
The volume of each leak is displayed on the corresponding meter cards. The hourly flow rate displayed is the lowest hourly volume in the last 24 hours from the latest endpoint communication. For meters read at 15-minute intervals, the leak rate displayed on a card is the lowest quarter-hourly read during the last 24 hours from the latest endpoint communication multiplied by four.
When flow drops below the 1-gallon-per-hour threshold, the alert will clear after the next regular endpoint transmission. For ORION Cellular LTE endpoints that collect quarter-hourly reads, the lowest quarter hourly read in a given hour multiplied by four contributes to the 1-gallon-per-hour threshold. In other words, flow must be >0 and the lowest volume 15-minute flow segment in a given hour multiplied by four must be ≥1 gallon to contribute to a leak detected alert. If any 15-minute flow segment drops to 0, the leak alert will be canceled. For continuous flow alerts, if any 15-minute flow segment drops below low-flow threshold or exceeds a high-flow threshold, an alert will be sent.
Typically, there is a brief latency of a minute or two after a leak has been cleared. Network traffic and heavy system use can result in longer latency.
When continuous flow or intermittent flow is expected at a particular meter, and when flow exceeds a predetermined threshold, BEACON can send Flow Alert emails or SMS text notifications.
To receive leak notifications and reminders as email or SMS messages every day, 2 days or 3 days, use the procedure outlined here.
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