Water leak detection in Washington for commercial and multifamily buildings

Managed leak detection, 24/7 monitoring and automatic shutoff for condos, Class A offices and commercial buildings across the DMV.

Cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin with the Washington Monument
150,000+
active smart devices in the field
$2.26M
in water costs saved in 2025
24/7
monitoring center

Why Washington buildings carry water risk

Washington grew out instead of up. The 1910 Height Act ties building height to street width, up to 130 feet on commercial streets and 90 feet on residential ones, and virtually all of downtown is built to that limit. Office floors often run 90 to 120 feet from window to core, so a supply line that fails on one floor can soak a lot of finished space before anyone sees it. Older apartment buildings cluster along the old streetcar corridors up 14th Street and Connecticut Avenue, and nearly a third of the District's homes were built before 1940.

The newer stock carries different risk, not less. The ZIP codes covering NoMa, Union Market, Navy Yard and the Capitol Riverfront led the nation for new apartments delivered from 2017 to 2022. Downtown, a 20-year tax abatement for office-to-residential conversions is part of a push that counts thousands of homes completed, under construction or in the pipeline. Each conversion needs new distributed plumbing risers and often a complete mechanical replacement, inside a building that was designed for desks.

Then winter tests all of it. The 2025 to 2026 winter gave Washington nine straight days with highs at or below freezing, the longest run since 1989 to 1990. 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 Washington buildings

New risers in converted office buildings

Downtown conversions put kitchens and bathrooms into buildings designed for desks, and each one needs new distributed plumbing risers and often a complete mechanical replacement. That is a lot of new plumbing in buildings that never carried it. Monitoring watches it from the first day water runs.

Nine straight days below freezing

Washington's 2025 to 2026 winter brought nine straight days with highs at or below freezing, the longest run since 1989 to 1990. Pipes along outside walls and in unheated spaces are the most exposed. Flow monitoring flags the burst the moment water starts to move.

Lease-up towers in NoMa and Navy Yard

The ZIP codes covering NoMa, Union Market, Navy Yard and the Capitol Riverfront led the nation in new apartments from 2017 to 2022. New buildings leak too, at plumbing fixtures, toilets and air conditioning units. In a lease-up tower that water lands in finished ceilings and new residents' homes.

Prewar apartments on the streetcar corridors

Nearly a third of the District's homes were built before 1940, many in the apartment corridors that grew along the streetcar lines up 14th Street and Connecticut Avenue. Supply lines and drains that old fail slowly, behind plaster. Point-of-leak sensors catch the water at the source, before a stain shows up a floor below.

Smart leak detection in Washington

A smart water leak detection system pairs wireless sensors and smart meters with automatic shutoff, so a Washington 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 Washington building.

Cold snaps put Washington's supply lines in exterior walls at risk, and in high-end condos and Class A offices one leak can damage a lot of premium space. 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 Washington 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.

Unit leaks land on the master policy in DC

DC's Condominium Act requires the association's property insurance in a building with stacked units to cover the units, not only the common elements, so a supply line that fails inside one unit becomes a claim on the master policy. The bylaws decide who pays the deductible. If they are silent, the owner of the unit where the damage started can be assessed up to $5,000 of it, provided the association gave notice first. Documented monitoring shows where a leak began and when it was stopped, a record both the board and the owner will want.

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 Class A and high-value condo stock

Eddy protects exactly the kind of premium office and residential buildings the DMV is full of, with escalation and 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.

Washington water leak detection FAQ

  • Do you serve Washington, DC and the DMV?

    Yes. Eddy protects commercial and multifamily buildings across the District and the surrounding Maryland and Virginia metro, including Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Tysons and Reston. The 24/7 monitoring center in Toronto watches every building around the clock.

  • Can Eddy protect a Class A office tower?

    Yes. Eddy watches flow and the presence of water across floors, risers and mechanical spaces, acts on alerts at the monitoring center and can shut off water automatically or on a remote command before a leak spreads. That matters on DC floorplates that run 90 to 120 feet from window to core, where a leak behind a tenant wall can run far from anyone who would notice it.

  • We are converting an office building to housing. When should monitoring go in?

    During construction. The same system covers a building from construction through occupancy, so the new risers a conversion requires are watched from the day water first runs through them. Water damage accounts for nearly one third of general contractors' risk losses.

  • Does monitoring help with DC's benchmarking law?

    DC requires private buildings over 10,000 square feet to report their energy and water use to DOEE every year by May 1, and the results are made public. A leak that runs for weeks shows up in those numbers. Flow monitoring catches the abnormal run early and documents what happened.

  • Will monitoring help our condo's insurance in DC?

    Eddy's technology is approved by most insurers across North America to provide deductible or premium savings. Programs have documented premium savings of up to 20%, and deductible reductions of up to 80% have been documented at individual properties. Because DC's Condominium Act puts the units of a stacked building on the master policy, fewer water claims help every owner in the building.

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 Washington, DC metro. 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 Washington, DC metro?

    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 Washington, DC metro, 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 Washington, DC metro, 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

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