
Service center Kattem
For us, safety is most important!
At Kattem in Trondheim, six housing associations with a total of over 4,000 residents have installed Apurgo M3 . It provides increased security and cleaner water.
The Kattem service center operates everything from water, heating, caretaker services and other technical assistance to the residents. 13 people work here, including general manager Tom Fossum and technical manager Erling Trønsdal
– Increased safety means a lot to us who work with technical operations. Residents must be safe from legionella outbreaks. At the same time, we here at the Service Center must be sure that the preventive measures do not damage pipes, radiators and other equipment, says Fossum.
District heating and heat pumps
Borettslagene’s 1,384 apartments are heated with radiators that draw energy from Statkraft’s waste incineration plant in Trondheim. The service center at Kattem is among the best in the city to utilize the district heating from here.
– We have a delta T of 60, says Tom Fossum.
For those of us who are not plumbing experts, this means loosely translated: There is very little heat loss here.
In 2018, the housing associations at Kattem installed new CO 2 heat pumps from Winns in the parking basements to operate even more energy efficiently. The heat pumps provide 90 percent of the energy needed to heat tap water for the six housing associations, the remaining 10 percent comes from district heating.

The risk increased
In order to store hot water and portion it out when the residents need it, they have installed accumulation tanks that hold 500 liters each. In such thoughts, the growth conditions can become ideal for the legionella bacteria. This means an increased risk of the spread of infection.
– Previously, we used hot water and flushing to prevent Legionella, but we had no control over whether the residents actually followed up their cleaning routines inside the apartments.
As the risk increased, the preventive measures had to be upgraded. The choice fell on Apurgo.
– Apurgo M3 gives us increased security against Legionella. What’s more, the measurements we make show that the tap water is constantly getting cleaner, says Erling Trønsdal.

Apurgo M3 gives us increased security against Legionella. In addition, the measurements we make show that the tap water is constantly getting cleaner,
– Erling Trønsdal, Technical Manager at Service Center Kattem
Housing associations and condominium owners’ responsibilities
Many people are probably not aware of this, but the boards of condominiums and housing associations have formal responsibility for preventing legionella infection.
Regulation on environmental health protection section 11a applies to plumbing systems in condominiums and housing associations, among other things. It requires condominiums and housing associations to provide “satisfactory protection against the spread of Legionella via aerosol”. This involves, among other things, making risk assessments and introducing routines for operation and maintenance.
The Institute of Public Health’s legionella guide should be used as a basis when planning preventive measures.