CountryByNet.com Forums :: Flood detection device

LazyJ, Your aproach certainly sounds good. The single appliance per separate solenoid is easier to market as most folks aren't as analytical as you and miss the big picture. Your solution actually requires REAL plumbing and not just unscrewing a hose connection, inserting the control, and screwing everything back together. Simple for you but out of the question for the majority of folks.

About the aspirin and clothes pin... It doesn't lack sensitivity and the actuation time is quite fast. A shortcoming is that over time humidity can deteriorate the aspirin and you get a "false alarm." Live and learn. I hadn't heard about the dry sponge or salt crystal but had considered a dry piece of gelatin.

It can be hard to retrofit in some instances but the "pan" under the appliance is good for water heaters and washers, especially if you provide the drain during initial construction.

I like the central valve as you can add sensors to your heart's content rather easily, even if you have to use remore RF telemetry like the wireless doorbells. IF there were any good "catchall" locations where most plumbing leaks mioght be detected like a low spot under the hoiuse or whatever you could put a sensor there.

I have a friend who was away from home for months and had shut off the valves to his dishwasher and clothes washer but on his return he discovered the sheetrock in his kitchen ceiling was in the floor, the kitchen was wet, and there was fully saturated carpet and pad in the dining room, living room, and den.

The culprit was a copper tube running from behind and under the sink, up through the wall, over the ceiling joists, and down through the wall on the other side to provide water to the ice maker. This copper water line was run during initialo construction and was undamaged and just laying on the joists. For whatever reason the copper tube developed a pinhole and the spray saturated the kitchen ceiling and then dripped enough to wet three rooms of carpeting.

Within a week another friend had a pin hole open up in a copper water line that was run inside a plastic tube to shield it from contact with the concrete of the slab. Water was running out of both ends of the plastic sleeve and ruining the sheetrock near the floor behind his toilet.

From these samples I have decided to not use copper for water lines if it can be avoided in any reasonable way. Appareltly there is a failure mode for copper pipe to just develop a hole with no abraision, flex, or physical abuse and just plain tap water running inside. In both instances the pipe was over 15 years old. I'd rather use some of the plastics which are known to last nearly forever. PEX for instance.

Pat

"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

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