For nearly all of my life a lot of my most treasured possessions (Electronics) have been in my shop in the basement of one home or another. Many of the houses have had less than desirable foundations and as such I have had my share of moisture and even a flood or two. These incidents of flooding and water in the work area has made me very sensitive and paranoid about basement flooding. The other day #1 son told me about a dental clinic, in Minnesota, where a pipe broke over the weekend and when the dentist came in to work on Monday his office was totally flooded and a lot of his equipment was ruined. This got me to thinking about the areas of vulnerability in my home.
There is the 20 year old water heater which has been making clunking noises recently.
There is the extra water line to the garage that was installed 15 years ago by a less than competent plumber (Me).
The laundry room with the old hoses on the washing machine are a potential leak area.
Though unlikely, there is always a possibility of a pipe rupture.
In the winter months the loss of heat can cause pipes to freeze and burst.
If any of these bad things occur while I am at home the damage would be minimized by a quick dash to the water service entrance and by shutting off the main water valve to the house.
However, if I was not at home or gone for a vacation who would be there to turn off the water before it ruined all my cool toys (Electronics). With this thought in mind, a plan was hatched to build a custom water leak and flood sensor system that would automatically react to water leaks and shut off the main feed to the house.
The electronics that I have learned from many of my friends on the E-14 forum over the last couple years will now be put to good use. The process for these build projects always begins with a general concept that forms a foundation and then as I attempt to build the components of the system the compromises, failures, and inspirations will appear and have to be dealt with.
Project Goals and Initial Ideas:
The control center will need to have a battery backup so that loss of power will not prevent the operation of the system and the closing of the main water valve if necessary. A simple sensor will be designed so that it will respond with a lot of sensitivity to the presence of water. The control box will need to have a battery charger and maintenance circuit. Tentatively I will attempt the build around 12 volts as this is a convenient voltage for lead acid gel batteries of which I have a few and can easily be used for the electronics which will be needed for the project. The electronics will have to react to the sensors and sound an audible alarm and light an alarm LED as well as triggering the action to close the main water valve. Closing the valve will be a challenge and I am currently looking at a number of different possibilities. As much as possible I want to use parts and pieces that I already have, to fabricate a mechanism, but I do not want to have to make a Rube Goldberg machine to accomplish the task. A preliminary test shows that about 10 Newton-meters of torque is required to move the water valve. This is not too high but it is not trivial either. To further complicate matters the valve is not optimally positioned and I will have to be careful not to interfere with or damage the water meter which sits close by.
I will begin this project with the design of the Water sensors. Watch for my next blog entitled " Automatic Water Shut Off System for the Home Chapter II (Sensors)" in a couple days.
John
Top Comments