Water damages in HVAC, tap water and sewage systems in cold climates

¹ Division of Building Services, Department of Building and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00, Lund, Sweden
² Division of Building Physics, Department of Building and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00, Lund, Sweden

^* Corresponding author: christian.mattsson@hvac.lth.se

Abstract

Water damages in buildings in the Nordic countries results in costs amounting to several billion Euros each year as well as a great deal of unpleasantness. The vast majority of the water damages cost in Sweden is caused by leaks from buildings services in the form of piping such as tap water, sewage, drainage and heating, as well as through insufficiently waterproof layers in wet rooms. The economic potential for making measures to prevent water damages on building services and wet rooms is enormous and savings could be used for other sustainability measures in the built environment. The aim of this paper is to review statistics of damages caused in cold outdoor climates. This is done by an analyse of empirical damage statistics by a literature review of both scientific literature and in retrievable cases from practical experience. The result will be a help to focus on the right damage types in colder climate and will make a foundation for future research on how to prevent water damages. The cold climate in the Nordic countries seems to be a factor for the number of water damages due to freezing that are described in the statistics and it could be established that the impact of the climate should be considered and that it need to be constructed and designed for in a larger extent.