Case study: Evotech and Airthings for Business

Background

As part of the Evotech Technical Services Group, a national HVAC engineering company founded in 2003, Evotech Air Quality (Evotech) is a growing team of engineers, technicians and data scientists passionate about the air we breathe. Evotech helps UK businesses and organizations create safe working environments by transforming indoor air quality. They began offering the Airthings for Business solution in June 2020 for accurate, accessible air quality data. In this case study, we shall explore their installation at No1. Whitehall in Leeds.

"Airthings share our belief that everyone has the right to breathe clean air, and today the importance of indoor quality has never been greater. Using their industry leading sensor platform, we have been able to provide our customers not only with enhanced indoor environmental surveillance, but, by integrating their technology with other 3rd party systems, we are creating greater end user value through improved building performance and optimization’’- Evotech

Contents

1. The challenge

2. Key challenges 

3. The solution

4. Evotech's results

The challenge

Evotech saw indoor air quality, pre Covid-19, becoming the next asbestos health crisis. In the UK, we have legislation for electric, gas, water hygiene and safety etc. but not for air quality. Then Covid-19 struck and indoor air quality (IAQ) became even more important.

Their objective was to help their clients provide safe, healthy indoor spaces, using IOT technology advancements. To do this, they provide enhanced environmental sensors above and beyond what a traditional building management system provides. By utilizing real time data from Airthings IAQ sensors, they can optimize how buildings perform and achieve greater levels of energy efficiency. What’s more, Airthings sensors can alert them to issues with the HVAC system, so they could resolve it quickly, even before clients reported it. 

Key challenges:

1. Improving operational management and energy efficiency 
2. Ensuring the health and wellbeing of employees and visitors

The solution

Evotech really does offer the best to their clients, while drawing data from the Airthings solution via our API, they can also integrate with other IOT solutions and to tailor to the needs of each client. For No. 1 Whitehall, Airthings air quality data enabled them to optimize a building management system using accurate IOT environmental data, monitor in real-time how the building performs, and respond to environmental changes and HVAC plant failures proactively. 

“Live monitoring of environmental conditions has since given our operational team real-time insight into HVAC performance on-site and provides our client with confidence their indoor spaces are safe and healthy.”
- Evotech

In early September, Evotech installed 22 Space Radon (formerly Wave Plus for Business) sensors at their client site, No.1 Whitehall Riverside Leeds, a circa 12,000 sq.m modern multi-tenanted office building. Let’s see how they got on!

Evotech's Results: 

Insights, confidence and comfort. Live monitoring of environmental conditions has given Evotech’s operational team real-time insight into on-site HVAC performance and provides their client with the confidence that their indoor spaces are safe and healthy.

“Our team has been able to react to indoor environmental changes as they occur. Thus improving occupant comfort and reducing traditional complaints received” - Evotech

1. Low humidity levels fixed quickly

No. 1 Whitehall uses humidifiers designed to condition incoming fresh air in order to keep indoor humidity at optimal levels. These are maintained in line with SFG20 guidelines, and Evotech visits them quarterly throughout the year to undertake scheduled maintenance to ensure that building occupants enjoy the healthiest air. 

However, in early December 2020, the Airthings sensors reported low humidity levels throughout the building. After investigating, it was found that some of the humidifiers had stopped due to component failure. This can happen to anyone. The best part? Evotech knew instantly and ordered parts to replace them quickly. They got the humidifiers back online before the humidity levels dropped even lower. They demonstrated excellent foresight and a quick turnaround time simply by being able to access air quality data remotely thanks to the Airthings Dashboard and API integration. 

“Without the deployment of the Airthings sensors on site this HVAC plant failure would have gone unnoticed until our next scheduled planned maintenance visit, due many weeks later, or possibly until we attended site following occupant complaint(s).” - Evotech

2. A common problem, easily resolved: High temperatures indoors

In May 2021, the Airthings sensors reported the unusually warm readings of 29 degrees celsius at No. 1 Whitehall. As a result, an engineer was instantly deployed and a pressure issue was found in the chilled water system, which they were able to rectify immediately, allowing the air temperature to return to normal levels. 

Similarly, high temperatures were reported by the Airthings sensors in June 2021 on several floors in the building. Again, Evotech’s engineering team were immediately sent to investigate and identified a small refrigerant leak in one of the chiller circuits. 

Without the air quality data, they would have had to rely on tenant complaints. Instead, using the air quality data, they were proactive and returned the comfort cooling system back to full use. Acting immediately reduced the amount of refrigerant wasted and prevented the system from expending extra energy trying to cool a building without a fully functioning chiller.