In compliant houses every new plumbing component will have an RFID tag. The tag may already be on the component (radiator, towel rack) or may be added by you hydraulic engineer (pipe, PTFE concretion).

At the point of commission, a web-enabled RFID scanner is used to enter location details of the stopcock nearest the component which is able to turn off the flow of water to that component. This takes the form of a typed instruction "end of the hall, under the third tile from the door" and a GPS reference. The scanner uploads all details to a convenient web-interface.

When you need future plumbing work done, or more likely, something is broken and leaking everywhere, it is now very fast to find the stopcock. Just swipe the point of problem and within seconds the RFID scanner will have downloaded stopcock location information from the web via WLAN, 3G or even SMS,
-- vincevincevince, Nov 09 2009

The GPS is more useful for larger structures, such as hospitals, hotels and factories. I also thought it would come in handy to help plumbers and the like make sure they are actually pulling up stuff from the right house... and it wasn't some cowboy component 'recycling' job that means the old radiator that kept leaking in one house is now the 'reconditioned' radiator in a new house.
-- vincevincevince, Nov 11 2009



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