Water damage and flooding are one of a home owner's worst nightmares. The cleanup is messy and often expensive while the damage can destroy precious family treasures. If there is a slow water leak you might not even realize it until you finally pay attention to any changes in your utility bill. A house or property full of plumbing is always vulnerable to some sort of water damage.
Even worse, what if you are away on a trip and have no idea of what is happening back home? Insurance claims are difficult to deal with at the best of times and some types of flood damage are not covered by certain policies.
Water can come from malfunctioning plumbing systems or backed up sewer lines.
As a child my parent's home was flooded and the cleanup was a mess. The front yard was full of water damaged belongings and the carpet that was ripped out smelled horribly. They had no warning that anything was wrong. It was sad to see our home, that was supposed to be a safe haven, ripped apart by this devastating event.
Recently when my husband and I began upgrading our home with smart automation devices. Flood detection was one of the first things I looked into. It was great to learn that there are a lot of devices available for homeowners to use in their smart home system, both to detect and prevent flooding.
Smart Flood Leak Detector
Flood detection devices are quite simple and effective. A small discrete unit, like this one from Honeywell, is mounted on the wall and a cord drops down from it to the floor. At the bottom of the cord there are two prongs that, if connected by water, can set off an alert. Your smart phone can send you a notification or your smart home system or home assistant can alert anyone in the home that something is wrong.
A smart flood leak detector is ideally located in parts of the home vulnerable to water damage like the basement, laundry or boiler room and other places where flooring is possible.
In a commercial setting, like a restaurant, putting one of these in a walk-in cooler, by a dish washing unit or even behind a bar could save thousands in water damages.
Smart Water Valve
Water leaks through the plumbing system can be sneaky, occuring in pips that you can't see until it's too late. Appliances and bathroom plumbing can provide another way for slow leaks to happen. A toilet that is left running while you are on a two week vacation will give you a nasty surprise on your next water bill.
With automation products like StreamLabs Control get an alert the instant water starts moving through your plumbing system and shut down your main water line in response with just the touch of a button. Even if you yourself can't get the alert just set the system to "Away Mode" and it can automatically shut it all of for you.
You can instantly stop everything from appliance failures to running toilets. The app even lets you know if your pips are in danger of freezing, if you have a slow leak and provides you with comparative usage charts.
Smart Space is excited to begin bringing these types of home saving product to our clients, helping to make homes smart in the most practical and meaningful ways.