Leak Detection & Shutoff System advice??

[Andy Y]

Having spent a lot of time in the US and in the home automation and controls industry I became accustomed to this product:
http://www.watercop.com
This device enables locally 'zoned' moisture detectors to be connected to a control unit to operate a solenoid valve in the incoming domestic water line and thus shut it off to prevent excessive water damage due to leaks.
Although Amazon UK used to sell this product they no longer do so and I'm guessing there's maybe some issue with product approval for it to be legitimately sold in the UK. The fact that Amazon do not properly research technical products for local markets and that Watercop is only compatible with imperial pipe sizes may have also caught up with them
I could simply pick this up in the US with a couple feet of 1/2" pipe and then adapt same to metric fittings. Done it before with US-made domestic fittings. It's a pain, but not impossible to achieve.

However Watercop has one main failing to my mind: It is not fail safe! i.e. if the power goes out it doesn't close automatically. OK, so it's a really bad day if you lose power and get a burst pipe at the same time but these systems are not cheap and to justify the investment I'd want the water shut off and to stay off until manually reset. (Actually, I can readily perceive of a 'leak-situation' whereby sufficient water escapes to cause circuit breakers or a main ground fault trip to go out.)

I have found one UK based manufacturer that makes a zoned detection system and more importantly, with a fail-safe solenoid valve.
http://www.wayscale.com

So ..... just wondered if anyone on the forum has any real-world experience with Wayscale or equally would want to suggest an alternative manufacturer. (btw: Not interested in the 'Screwfix- solution' - mostly because it isn't a solution for me!)
Ideally I would also like to interface control of the solenoid with my home automation system but if that functionality is not included it's not a deal- breaker and wouldn't be impossible to adapt it accordingly.

Thanks in advance for sharing any thoughts / advice.
Andy

 

[marvoni]

I've got limited experience with environmental monitoring in an IT environment which covers temperature, humidity etc but the commercial products, whilst being more flexible, are hellish expensive. They would however be able to accomodate your desire to have water outages as well every time the power trips ie 'failsafe' option.

There's loads of these types of things springing up almost daily for the domestic market that work with ZigBee and other PAN protocols most of which are highly eager to leak you **** collection and banking details onto the internet and maybe prevent floods as well.
Flood - Z-Wave Products UK
SAMSUNG SmartThings Moisture Sensor. Even Grohe do a range of sensors that work with an app that might be able to integrate with zigbee actuators.

You also get suitable actuators aimed at the domestic DIY'er that retrofit to standard ball valves etc.

 

[Andy Y]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. The high-end commercial systems are indeed very versatile & costly but they are clearly designed for the protection of high value plant rooms, etc, where there is most likely to be BMS / control room monitoring.
In my view a domestic leak detection system should be:
a) Hard wired - i.e. the sensors should not rely on batteries (other than for backup) or wireless communication.
b) Capable of shutting off the main water supply.
c) Fail safe (i.e. shuts down water supply in the event of power failure).
d) Able to send alerts by email / SMS.
For my requirement (a), (b) and (c) are essential and I can accommodate (d) with monitoring by my home automation system.
This is the type of system I am considering:
http://www.cmrelectrical.com
Not an over-the-top specification but does appear to provide for reliable performance. I guess time & testing will tell!