Review on 💧 WaterCop LeakStopPlus: The Ultimate 3/4 In. Solution for Leak Protection by John Castle

Like everyone else, I've heard many scary stories about broken washing machine water hoses and quickly flooding the house. I always turn off the water faucets, washing machines when they're not in use, but I still worry about faucet hoses, dishwashers, ice maker lines, and various other sources that could potentially cause water damage to expensive household items like hardwood floors, especially if something happens when no one's home to to quickly shut off the water. The obvious solution for me was to install an electrically operated water valve on the house water line that connected to sensors wherever I wanted to detect leaks. The following story should help any of the approach I have chosen benefits, remember that you are usually there s get what you pay for (sometimes a lot less than you pay for). Ash models tend to be less reliable, and it will certainly be frustrating if one of them fails just when you need it. WaterCop is a great product and brand that I started a few years ago. It's well built, simple, reliable and can be bought with a lead free valve which I find absolutely essential for your home water supply if you drink water and cook with it (WCLSLF - WaterCop model). , LeakStop, lead-free). This brand is more expensive than some and less expensive than others. It is available in multiple sizes from ½" to 1-1/4" and in multiple versions, the newest and most convenient being the wireless version which greatly simplifies probe/probe placement. Of course, there are batteries that need to be replaced if a 120V outlet for the power supply isn't nearby, as well as additional electronics with each sensor that can fail. Wireless can also be quite expensive, especially when you want to cover every potential source of water leaks: toilets, sink faucets, dishwashers, washing machines, ice makers, water heaters, etc. As an electrical engineer, my favorite thing to do is engineer the things I design and/or build, and this system is no exception. I laid out a system to cover all the water treatment devices in the house (listed above) and decided to build a system using wired sensors. The wired version of the WaterCop valve is called LeakStop and has two probes attached. I've found the drive circuitry to work with both the several hundred feet of wire in the loop and the relatively short sensor wires that come with it (I connected a 500 foot spool of wire between the drive and the sensor and it only worked so good). ). My main water line enters the house in the basement, so I ran a 4-wire cable (safety wire) from that point to every faucet, toilet, kettle, dishwasher, ice maker, washing machine, etc. I used 4 core cable, although you only need two cores for this because 1) I had some and 2) he provided a spare pair of cores at each point on the off chance that one is ever needed. Since we have an unfinished basement, I was able to run the cables either up from the basement or down the walls from the attic without too much trouble. I connected everything in parallel by running a pair of wires back to the actuator where I cut off one of the sensors and connected it to the actuator. In terms of sensors, I wanted something extremely sensitive, customizable, and maintenance-free. I bought a roll of very narrow adhesive-backed copper foil tape ($5 plus shipping on eBay) and made my sensors by gluing two pieces of this metal tape to a surface, side-to-side about 1/32 inch apart. by soldering a wire to the end of each strip. They can be easily taped to a tiled floor just below a toilet water valve/hose, tucked in a cupboard under tap water valves etc. and of course they can be as long or short as required for area coverage. Since they are actually on the floor or underside of the cabinet, even the tiniest splash of water connecting two strips anywhere will provide enough conductivity to power the actuator long before a puddle of water forms (which is usually detected by an off-the-shelf probe should be recognized). ). A little labor intensive, but cheap and extremely effective. This device is sufficient to turn off the water supply, but I was also concerned about the approximately 3 gallons of water in our pipes, which initially still have 55 pounds of pressure when the supply is shut off. On the first floor in particular, any leak will continue until that pressure is relieved and possibly until some water drains from the second floor and a few gallons more than enough to damage the floor. I decided to buy a second LeakStop motorized valve to relieve that pressure. I removed the valve body from the actuator body, rotated it 90 degrees, and reinstalled it so that it would actually close when the actuator thought it was open (the "normal" or "green" actuator state). These valves are simple ball valves and every 90 degree turn will open or close them. I then cut off one of the probes and connected the wires to the relay contacts on the primary shutoff valve so that when the supply valve is activated (closed) this secondary valve is also activated (opened). I then added a little plumbing by inserting a tee into the low point of our copper tubing and connecting the outlet side of the valve to another piece of copper tubing that "exits" through the basement wall and outside of the house. Everyday configuration, the water supply valve is open to bring water into the house and that extra valve is closed (although its Watercop drive module thinks it's open because I rotated the mount). If a leak is detected in the house, the main valve closes to shut off the water and this secondary valve opens (assuming it is closing) allowing residual water in the plumbing system to flow through the valve and out. The system works very well as it only takes a few seconds to release the water pressure. Any leak detected will be stopped almost immediately, except for gravity flow into the line where the leak is located. In any case, the damage should be zero or minimal. One more note: I decided to connect two of my valves to a small uninterruptible power supply (UPS) designed for home computer systems. The likelihood of a water leak during one of our rare power outages is probably as close as can be, but that would just be my luck, so I decided to rule out that possibility with a UPS that was sitting idle. . You can buy them on sale for around $50 or less. This is a great product that you can count on. You may never have a water leak in your house, but if it ever happens and you don't install one of these systems, you'll remember this little note... :-)