Basement water alarms? (Page 1/1)
2.5 APR 01, 11:41 AM
Anyone recommend a certain water alarm? Usually battery operated device that senses water and sounds an alarm. There seem to be tons out there. I've never had one, could use a few. Mostly it looks like when the battery is low it sounds the alarm to replace the battery. The usual complaint is the alarm goes off due to dead battery more often than 6 months. The longer the better...
Doesnt have to be crazy loud. A/C powered would be nice too, no batteries.
williegoat APR 01, 01:09 PM
I am a fan of the Ring system. They make a flood sensor, but you would have to have the Ring alarm system in order to make use of the flood sensor. I would guess that other alarm systems make something similar.

The advantage is that you could be notified of an event on your phone, wherever you might be. It would also notify you of a low battery and it uses the same battery as the door and window sensors, which last several years.
Synthesis APR 01, 01:11 PM
The best solution is a system that will alert your phone/email.

I have the Moen Flo water valve and sensors, which is a standalone system. I love it.

I also have some other sensors that tie into Z-Wave.

Both methods alert on the phone, email, and you can even arrange for a phone call to occur using some services.

Current Z-Wave sensors have very good battery life and only check in to report battery status.
https://www.amazon.com/Zwav...Things/dp/B08VJ9TWBB

You also need a Z-Wave hub. I recommend the Hubitat. It's local (no cloud, unless you opt in), and acts as the Z-Wave bridge to get the sensor connected.
https://us.amazon.com/Hubit...on-Hub/dp/B07D19VVTX

It's the first step in adding temperature, motion, humidity, and other monitoring control to your home.
TheDigitalAlchemist APR 01, 03:01 PM
We got these and they have been great:

Zircon Leak Alert Water Leak Detector & Flood Sensor Alarm
https://www.amazon.com/Zirc...XOVI?ref_=ast_sto_dp

got a "bulk pack" at a better price... like 9 bucks a pop.

I think we replace the batteries every three years...

low tech, simple design.

[This message has been edited by TheDigitalAlchemist (edited 04-01-2022).]

2.5 APR 01, 03:41 PM
Thanks for the quick ideas! I'll have to decide on simplicity, cost, and phone notification / etc.
cvxjet APR 01, 04:29 PM
I want to add something; I slapped my shower water off- seemed like a louder thunk.....an hour later I was filling a glass from the kitchen faucet, low water pressure...gears grinding.....thinking....thinking....Suddenly a thought occures to me, and I ran down to see basement 3 inches deep in water!

The drain faucet on the water heater had shattered....it was PLASTIC! An easy upgrade to inexpensive water heaters is to change out the plastic drain for a brass one. Check and make sure you don't have a plastic drain faucet on your water heater (They should not even be allowed)
Jake_Dragon APR 01, 05:10 PM
You could make your own.
williegoat APR 01, 05:34 PM

quote
Originally posted by Jake_Dragon:

You could make your own.


Cool, have fun and learn something along the way.
theogre APR 01, 08:25 PM
Battery units often have short battery life for many reasons...

Arduino boards/kits even when use Sleep Modes have parts on most boards that runs full power all the time. Even 1 LED On can drain a battery fast.

Is why LED for smoke detector only blink every X seconds.

If you make one using any raw "Arduino" MCU, there are ways to use the MCU and have longer battery life but small batteries still drain.
If you use USB battery packs to run Arduino boards even large ones can drain dead in 1 to a few days depending what else pull power like LCD shown in above link.

DIY and many water alarms are very simple and doesn't need MCU.
Many are based on transistor/mosfet switching on some type of buzzer since the '70s... many use water connecting 2 "wires" same as above.
Other just use a float switch that turn on the buzzer. While That doesn't drain the battery, many batteries have a shorter life just sitting vs others.

If you have a "home security" system... most have flood modules to "plug in" to them. Many systems can set a zone etc so knows is a "flood" not Fire or Theft trip.

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