Subject: From: Date:

Re: [ECS] Re: Water Flow Detection/Shut-off Michael David Mon, 18 Jan 1999 03:14:22 -0500

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Hi folks!

Steve - sorry to hear about your water line break!  I hope you have good
insurance!

Something happened Friday that is, I suppose, apropos to this thread...

Our washing machine drains into a basin in the basement.  Twice within the
first year of moving into our house, that drain stopped up, and resulted in
30 or 40 gallons of water on the floor.  After several hours of constant
swearing while cleaning the mess up for the second time, I pledged that I
would never go through that again.

The next day, I purchased the "water bug" sensor from HAS, which consists of
a water sensor, and a small control unit which converts the analog input
from the sensor to a contact closure, which is wired to one of my redacs up
stairs.  The sensor is designed to be fastened to the floor.  I did this by
drilling a small hole through the tile into the slab, an mounted the sensor
with a concrete anchor.  I also purchased a second sensor, which I mounted
to the side of the vinyl basin with a small bolt.  I like to drill holes.
:)

Since then, that drain has stopped up several times.  When it does, ECS
turns off the washer, wakes up the house if we are asleep, pages us
throughout the house to tell us the basement is flooding, and chirps the
internal security alarm for a quarter of a second.  If we aren't home, it
pages us on our Alphanumeric pager.

Friday, during work, this happened while I was out at a lunch meeting.
Apparently, my wife wasn't home, since I got a notification by pager.  When
I got the page, one of my staff offered me their cell phone, assuming it was
a page from work.  I declined the use of their phone, with an unconcerned
"No, it's nothing.  My basement is flooding; it can wait."  Everyone at the
table couldn't believe I was not jumping up to run home to stop the flood.
I told them that the computer had taken care of the situation, and my wife
would, no doubt after receiving the same page, be home soon to verify that
things are under control.

They all got a kick out of the explanation about our automated home,
especially when I got a page shortly thereafter, signifying that Paula had
indeed returned home.

A few minutes later, I got another page from the wife, "All is fine - I love
your automation hobby!"

I love it too.  :)

Cheers!

Michael David
michael@michaeldavid.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <GREAMS@VIRON.com>
To: <ecs-list@netbloc.com>
Sent: Friday, January 15, 1999 7:12 PM
Subject: RE: [ECS] Re: Water Flow Detection/Shut-off


Another way of detecting water that I have seen is:
Use one of those little microswitches with the steel lever which pushes down
the microswitch, position the lever on top of an aspirin tablet laying on
the
floor.

A small amount of standing water melts aspirin tablet, allowing the
microswitch to close.

Steven Wegman ha scritto:
>

>  I have a house in NY, in which the kitchen sink
> water pipe broke last week.  The water ran for several days, before it was
> detected by a neighbor (when the water started flowing out the front
door),
> and has caused a lot of damage.  I would like to obtain this water shut
off
> controller and install it in my NY and MD house to prevent a future
> occurrence.

If you get to have a valve controlling the main water pipe, it's easy to
create a water sensor using just 2 copper wires or screws which touch
the floor and detect any conductive liquid between them. Both device can
be easyly connected to a PC.

--
Ciao,
Dario
--
ADPM Synthesis sas - Torino
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http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/2259

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