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Automated Meter Reading Technology Comes To Pig Houses!
Businesses that have already started reviewing their water usage may well have already come across automated metre reading (AMR) technology in a bid to achieve maximum savings on this particular resource.
AMR is a technique that we here at H2O Building Services utilise to monitor water usage continuously across a site. You may also hear the process referred to as data logging and it really is a very effective way of spotting problems quickly to allow you to introduce water-saving solutions as your needs change over time.
A smart meter is installed at your place of business so you can see how much water is used at hourly intervals, just by measuring the water flow. If a sudden spike in flow is seen, we can check to see if there’s an issue, such as a water leak.
If data trends then change over time, it’s clear that the demands of your business have changed and efficiency strategies can then be amended accordingly so as to keep savings at the optimum level.
Pig house supplier ARM Buildings isn’t the first company to realise the benefits of AMR – and they certainly won’t be the last.
Speaking to Pig World magazine, the business’s environmental specialist Tim Miller explained that ARM is now fitting these meters as standard in all its new pig houses, saying that it helps them log how much the pigs are drinking, as well as tracking the effects of dietary changes and even potentially detecting possible changes in the health of the animals.
Thus far, water consumption from more than 72,000 pig houses have been monitored and it’s already yielded some interesting results. For example, it was seen that pigs don’t typically drink more during hot weather but prefer to quench their thirst in the morning or late in the evening. Sows, however, drink every hour in the farrowing house throughout the day and night.
“Water, often described as the ‘forgotten nutrient’, is vitally important for a pig’s health, growth and general wellbeing, yet we still know relatively little about its consumption. We will be analysing figures from a variety of piggeries and classes of stock to establish any significance in consumption patterns and correlate them to management systems,” Mr Miller went on to say.
If you install a smart meter, you’ll get a positive return on your investment in just a few weeks, ensuring that your billing is based on incredibly accurate readings. Analysis can be broken down by building, department, tenant and equipment, so you can see who is using water, what for, where and when.
The meter usually costs around £700, measuring the same basic data that your main billing meter will monitor. But the difference is that this data is then fed back into a reporting platform to provide evidence of water flow in close to real time. If you’d like to find out more, get in touch with us today.