Water leak detection in Chicago for commercial and multifamily buildings

Managed leak detection, 24/7 monitoring and automatic shutoff for high-rises, condos and commercial buildings across Chicagoland.

Chicago skyline
150,000+
active smart devices in the field
$2.26M
in water costs saved in 2025
24/7
monitoring center

Why Chicago buildings carry water risk

Along the lakefront on Sheridan Road in Edgewater, the first condos arrived with a high-rise building boom in the mid-1960s. Citywide, about a quarter of the homes in buildings of 50 or more units date from 1960 to 1979. The city's plumbing code has long required copper pipe for drinking water, and where a tower still runs its original risers, they are now 45 to 65 years old. When one lets go high in a building, the water finds every floor below it.

The newer stock carries different risk, not less. More than a third of Chicago's homes in buildings of 50 or more units have gone up since 2000, and new rental towers are starting in the West Loop and the South Loop. In the Loop, the city has proposed help for projects that would put new apartments into underused office buildings, including towers from 1913 and 1975. Every conversion needs new distributed plumbing risers, and new plumbing leaks too, at fixtures, toilets and air conditioning units.

Then comes winter. Chicago stayed below freezing from mid-January into early February 2026, its longest freezing streak since 2007, and O'Hare fell to 11 below zero on January 23. Pipes along outside walls and in unheated spaces are the most exposed. Eddy's 24/7 monitoring center in Toronto confirms every alert, calls the building's contacts through the escalation protocol within minutes of the SMS, email and app alerts and can close a valve remotely when the building's response plan calls for it.

Where leaks start in Chicago buildings

Copper risers in 1960s and 1970s towers

About a quarter of Chicago's homes in buildings of 50 or more units date from 1960 to 1979, and the city's code has long required copper pipe for drinking water. Where original risers remain, they are now 45 to 65 years old. Monitoring catches a slow leak before it reaches the units below.

Weeks below freezing

Chicago stayed below freezing from mid-January into early February 2026, its longest freezing streak since 2007. Pipes along outside walls and in unheated spaces are the most exposed. Flow monitoring flags the burst the moment water starts to move, and water can shut off automatically or on a remote command.

Office towers turning into apartments

The city has proposed help for Loop projects that would put new apartments into underused office buildings, including towers from 1913 and 1975. Each conversion needs new distributed plumbing risers. Monitoring watches that new plumbing from the first day water runs through it.

Water billed three ways

Metered Chicago buildings pay the water rate, a sewer charge equal to it and a water-sewer tax on every 1,000 gallons. The water rate resets with inflation every June and has nearly quadrupled since 2007. A leak that never stains a ceiling still shows up on the bill.

Smart leak detection in Chicago

A smart water leak detection system pairs wireless sensors and smart meters with automatic shutoff, so a Chicago building catches a leak in seconds instead of discovering it from a ceiling stain. Eddy runs the full stack as one managed program with a staffed 24/7 monitoring center on the chain.

Sensors plus flow intelligence

3-in-1 wireless sensors watch high-risk spaces for water, temperature and humidity while smart meters flag abnormal flow against thresholds learned from the building's own baseline.

No building Wi-Fi needed

Devices run on Eddy's own LoRaWAN network at 915 MHz, a long-range radio that holds a signal through concrete. Gateways backhaul over Ethernet or LTE cellular, and with cellular backhaul monitoring stays up even if building internet goes down.

Shutoff plus a live response

Automatic valves close the moment a configured rule fires, and Eddy's monitoring center calls the building's contacts within minutes of every alert. Every confirmed event closes with a Leak Incident Report.

See how the Eddy system works, from sensor placement to the monitoring center.

Coverage map

How Eddy works in a Chicago building.

Chicago's long freezes put supply lines in exterior walls at risk, and in a tall lakefront tower one upper-floor failure can damage dozens of units. Turn the building to see where sensors, meters and valves sit, then run a leak through the system, from the first drop to the monitoring center's response.

Cutaway model of an occupied mid-rise showing Eddy sensors in the suites and risers, meters and shutoff valves in the basement mechanical room, and the rooftop gateway linked through Eddy's cloud to the 24/7 monitoring centerCutaway model of an occupied mid-rise showing Eddy sensors in the suites and risers, meters and shutoff valves in the basement mechanical room, and the rooftop gateway linked through Eddy's cloud to the 24/7 monitoring center

Occupied building · Business hours

Drag to turn the building. Select a label, or run a leak through the system.

Interactive 3D section of an occupied mid-rise, from the domestic main in the basement to the suites, risers and rooftop mechanical. It shows where Eddy places its sensors, smart meters, shutoff valves and LoRaWAN gateway, and how alerts travel through Eddy's cloud to the 24/7 monitoring center.

The system

Detect, control and respond, in one managed program.

Sensors sit where leaks start and meters watch the flow. Valves close on the rules you set, and a 24/7 monitoring center follows each alert until your team has eyes on it.

3 layers and 16 close-ups in this building

Detect

Two ways to find a leak before it finds a unit.

Sensors sit where leaks start, and meters watch the flow for the leaks no sensor can reach.

8 close-ups · select one to zoom in

Point-of-leak

Flow-based

Control

Valves that close the water before it closes the unit.

Valves close on the rules you set, automatically on a threshold or remotely from the dashboard.

4 close-ups · select one to zoom in

Respond

A live monitoring center that closes the loop.

Alerts go through Eddy's cloud to a 24/7 monitoring center, and an operator calls your team until someone has eyes on the water.

4 close-ups · select one to zoom in

What happens in a leak, step by step
  1. A washing machine supply hose bursts in a suite upstairs.
  2. Eddy H2O under the washer detects water and sends the alert over LoRaWAN.
  3. The building's gateway relays it. Your team and the 24/7 monitoring center are alerted at the same time.
  4. A shutoff rule closes the suite's Eddy IQ valve. The water stops at the source.
  5. An operator confirms the alert and calls your on-site team through the escalation protocol.

Automatic shutoff is configured per building. Some sites use operator-coordinated isolation instead.

Smart sensors at every leak point

Eddy places point-of-leak sensors and smart flow meters where water damage actually starts in Chicago buildings, from the mechanical room to a laundry hose, so a leak is caught at the source and shut off before it spreads.

Eddy smart leak detection in a building mechanical rooms setting

Mechanical rooms

Boilers, water heaters and main risers, where a single failure floods fast.

Eddy smart leak detection in a building hvac and fan coils setting

HVAC and fan coils

Heat exchangers and condensate lines that drip behind walls and ceilings.

Eddy smart leak detection in a building kitchens setting

Kitchens

Supply lines, shutoffs and appliance connections under and behind the sink.

Eddy smart leak detection in a building bathrooms setting

Bathrooms

Toilets, vanities and concealed in-wall fixtures on every floor.

Eddy smart leak detection in a building laundry setting

Laundry

Washer hoses and laundry connections, a top source of overnight leaks.

Detect fast, act fast

Every minute changes the bill.

A leak gets bigger the longer it runs. Eddy detects in seconds and the monitoring center escalates within minutes, so the same failure is contained around minute two. Unmonitored, an after-hours leak runs six to eight hours before anyone arrives.

One leak, two outcomesMinutes since the leak started
0 minmin elapsed
Eddy containedUnmonitored
Eddy isolatingminute 2
Without monitoringrunning · 0 min
min 101 hr2 hr4 hr6 hr8 hr

The leak starts at minute zero. Eddy contains it around minute two. Unmonitored, the same leak runs six to eight hours before staff arrive, and that red stretch is the avoided claim.

Build your system

Design your building's leak protection.

Two minutes of quick questions gets your building the right protection, previewed instantly.

  • Sized to your asset class and budget
  • Modular. Adjust anything before pricing
  • An Eddy team member calls soon after you submit

Sensors, meters and shutoff, backed by a 24/7 monitoring center.

Deductibles and reserves under Illinois condo law

The Illinois Condominium Property Act requires the association's property insurance to cover the units as well as the common elements, generally including each unit's bare walls, floors and ceilings. After a claim, the board can pay the deductible as a common expense or require the owners of the affected units to pay it. After notice and a hearing, it can also assess the deductible against the owner from whose unit the damage originated. Budgets must provide reasonable reserves for repairing and replacing the common elements. A documented event record shows where a leak started.

A team behind every alert

A 3 a.m. alert is one chime. Nobody is awake to hear it.

Fast response is not just the hardware. The technology sees the water in seconds, and the managed service behind it, a monitoring center that calls your team within minutes, turns that into a contained event before it becomes a claim.

Tuned by real events

Built over a decade in operating buildings.

Eddy has been inside buildings since 2014. Sensor placement, alert thresholds and the monitoring-center playbook are tuned by what real water events across our monitored properties keep teaching us.

Built for the building

Sized to how the water system behaves.

Multi-family stacks, commercial towers, hospitality suites, course-of-construction projects. Each water system has its own failure pattern. The coverage map, response chain and shutoff sequence are scoped to the property in front of us, not a template.

Detect, contain, document

Every event leads to a closed incident.

Sensors find where water escaped. Automatic shutoff isolates the affected zone. The 24/7 monitoring center calls your team within minutes and stays on it until it's closed, with a Leak Incident Report on file.

Built for high-rise vertical stock

Eddy protects exactly the kind of dense, high-value towers Chicago is full of, with escalation and automatic or remote shutoff handled around the clock by the monitoring center.

Solutions for every building

Eddy protects every asset type the same way, with monitoring and shutoff tuned to how each building's water system behaves.

  • Multifamily and condos

    Protect every suite and riser across high-rise and mid-rise residential.

  • Commercial

    Keep Class A offices and mixed-use towers dry, floor by floor.

  • Construction

    Cover active sites where water damage is a leading cause of loss.

  • Hospitality

    Guard guest floors and back-of-house without disrupting the stay.

  • Institutional

    Safeguard campuses, hospitals and labs where contents are irreplaceable.

  • Industrial

    Watch process water and facility systems around the clock.

Chicago water leak detection FAQ

  • Do you serve Chicagoland?

    Yes. Eddy protects commercial and multifamily buildings across Chicago and the suburbs, from Evanston, Skokie and Oak Park to Schaumburg, Oak Brook and Naperville. The 24/7 monitoring center in Toronto watches every building around the clock.

  • How does Eddy handle a burst pipe on a freezing night?

    Flow monitoring sees the abnormal run the moment a frozen line lets go, and water can shut off automatically or on a remote command. The monitoring center confirms the alert and calls the building's contacts through the escalation protocol within minutes of the SMS, email and app alerts, any hour of the night.

  • Can you protect an older high-rise condo?

    Yes. Eddy layers onto the risers and branch lines a 1960s or 1970s tower already has, without a plumbing overhaul. Wireless point-of-leak sensors on a LoRaWAN network install with no drywall cuts, and Eddy provisions and configures the automatic shutoff valves.

  • Who pays the deductible when a leak starts in one unit?

    Under the Illinois Condominium Property Act, the board can pay it as a common expense, require the owners of the affected units to pay it or, after notice and a hearing, assess it against the owner from whose unit the damage originated. A documented event record shows where the water started, and that is the fact the decision turns on.

  • Does monitoring fit Illinois reserve planning?

    It complements it. Illinois condo budgets must provide reasonable reserves, and boards weigh the repair and replacement cost and useful life of components such as mechanical systems. Monitoring gives the board and its reserve specialist real data on how the risers and valves are behaving, and catching failures early protects the reserve from the losses that drain it.

How Eddy works

  • What is Eddy Solutions?

    Eddy Solutions is managed water leak detection for builders, commercial asset managers and property managers, hospitals, hotels and conference centers, data centers and multifamily residential buildings across the Greater Chicago Area. It combines point-of-leak and flow sensors, automatic shutoff, building wireless connectivity, a 24/7 monitoring center and insurance-grade reporting into one program from one vendor, so a leak is detected, contained, escalated and documented without your team running the response.

    Eddy monitors 150,000+ active devices across North America and has prevented an estimated $98M (USD) in property damage last year alone. Aon's independent study found Eddy would have positively affected 58% of water-loss claims in commercial real estate.

  • How do we choose a commercial water leak detection company in the Greater Chicago Area?

    Look for five things. Sensors where leaks start, not only a meter on the main. Shutoff valves that close on their own when water runs. A staffed monitoring center that calls your team instead of only sending an app alert. Wireless coverage that holds a signal through concrete to mechanical rooms and parking levels. And a documented record of every event that your insurer can read.

    Eddy covers all five for buildings across the Greater Chicago Area, from a single tower to a full portfolio, with 150,000+ active devices in the field.

  • What happens after hours?

    The 24/7 monitoring center is the after-hours response. Trained operators confirm every alert, escalate per the building's contact list, support the on-call contact, and stay on the line until the water is off and the response is verified.

  • Will this affect our insurance?

    Yes. Eddy Solutions' technology is approved by most insurers across North America to provide deductible or premium savings. Given differences in asset types and building risk profiles, insurance incentives are not uniform. For specific insurance questions related to your property in the Greater Chicago Area, please reach out directly to sghanbarian@eddysolutions.com.

  • How is the system sized for a building, and what does it cost?

    Eddy's team walks the building, or reviews the construction drawings, and produces a tiered design matched to the asset class, water systems and insurance program. Our first step is an exploratory call with the relevant stakeholders to understand the problem you are looking to solve. Proposals come from our technical team in 7 days or less.

    You can also get started immediately with our Build Your System tool at eddysolutions.com/build-your-system.

  • Do we have to open walls to install Eddy?

    No. Sensor installs need no drywall cuts. Wireless sensors sit where leaks start, at fixtures, appliances, fan coils and the foot of each riser, and Eddy provisions and configures the meters and valves on the lines that need them.

  • What is smart water leak detection?

    Smart water leak detection uses connected sensors and flow meters to watch a building's plumbing in real time, instead of waiting for someone to find a leak. Point-of-leak sensors catch water at the source and smart flow meters spot an abnormal run or a burst riser, and the system can shut the water off automatically or on a remote command. With Eddy, a 24/7 monitoring center acts on every alert, so detection turns into a response, not just a notification.

  • How is commercial water leak detection different from a home leak detector?

    A home leak detector is usually a single sensor that pings an app. Commercial and multifamily leak detection has to cover dozens of risers, suites and mechanical rooms, hold a signal through concrete and steel and produce the documented response insurers expect. Eddy is built for that scale, with building-grade LoRaWAN wireless, point-of-leak and flow coverage across the property, automatic shutoff up to building mains and a managed 24/7 monitoring center.

  • What is the difference between leak detection and water leak protection?

    Leak detection finds the water. Water leak protection stops the loss. Detection on its own is an alert that still needs someone to act on it. Eddy pairs detection with automatic shutoff and a 24/7 monitoring center that escalates the alert and closes the water, so the building is protected, not just alerted.

  • Does Eddy work for both multifamily and commercial buildings?

    Yes. Eddy protects multifamily and condo towers, Class A offices and mixed-use buildings, hospitality, institutional and industrial properties and active construction sites. The same managed program tunes the sensor density, shutoff strategy and reporting to how each building's water system behaves. See the full product suite at eddysolutions.com/products.

Sources and further reading

Nearby areas we serve

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