Whole House Leak Protection

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pipefighter

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I am searching for a good leak protection system for my own home. i have seen Water Cop, Flood Master, Neptune so far. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good system?/
 

hj

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There is no such thing. If they monitor flow a small leak may not activate it. If it measures the time of continual flow, the damage may be done before it shuts off. And if it measures water on the floor, it could also be too late to prevent damage by the time it activates. The only "good" system is a valve, manual or electric, that is turned off when leaving the building.
 

pipefighter

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There is no such thing. If they monitor flow a small leak may not activate it. If it measures the time of continual flow, the damage may be done before it shuts off. And if it measures water on the floor, it could also be too late to prevent damage by the time it activates. The only "good" system is a valve, manual or electric, that is turned off when leaving the building.

The systems I have looked at can also do that by hitting a switch when exiting the building. but with sensors located in the bathroom, under the kitchen sink and in basement, they can shut off the main when water is detected by a sensor. I am looking for someone familiar with such systems to determine which might be best for my situation.
 

hj

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Those depend on the electricity NOT failing at the same time. A better system would be a normally closed valve that is held OPEN, until a switch opens and shuts the valve.
 

Nukeman

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And even then..you would want some kind of manual override or bypass so that you can still have water on (when you want it) if power does go out.

As hj says, there are trade-offs between any of the systems. Either they won't work when needed (faulty sensor, no power, not enough flow to trigger, etc.), will work too late (leak in an area where you don't have the sensors), or will cause nuisance trips with regular use (causing you to disarm the thing because you are tired of resetting it all the time).

With enough complexity, a system could a devised that was 'fail-safe', but it would be complex, expensive, and you would need sensors all over the place. Remember, that a leak may not only develop at a sink, tub, etc., but could be anywhere in the house where plumbing is ran. You could have a connector fail, pinholes develop, a screw that was put into the copper pipe by the drywall crew finally rust enough to leak, etc.

If you worry about it, just make sure that you have good insurance that will cover everything you need it to (including dealing with mold) and just don't worry about it. The truth is that even if you perfectly protected everything from piping leaks, you could still flood and these devices won't help you (sewer backup, heavy rains, failed sump pump/ground water, etc.).
 

DonL

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I think a lot of insurance companies are giving discounts for having them systems, If they work or not.

I got a %20 discount for having a alarm system.

People will install BS systems just for the insurance discount.


Someone at the house 24/7 with a 12 Gauge Shotgun is the best protection.
 
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