Auto water shutoff for a house?

[PapaPerk]

Hello,

Anyone ever installed an automatic water shutoff for a house? I think this would be great insurance if a toilet floods or a washer hose breaks. Water can wreck a house really quick especially if you have wood flooring, etc.

Any info would be appreciated!

 

[J_J]

There are a bunch of auto shut off valves out there.

Watercop automatic water shut-off system

FloLogic: Automatic Water Shutoff System to protect your home from water damage

New Technology: Automatic Whole-House Water Shut-Off Devices - Archives - PMEngineer

 

[Bird]

One of the greeters at our nearest Walmart told me Monday that he and his wife went somewhere, just for the day, and got home that evening (one day this past weekend) to find a couple of inches of water throughout most of the house. A flexible line from the water shut-off valve to the faucet in a bathroom lavatory burst.

I've never thought about an automatic shut-off, but when we're going to be gone overnight, I usually shut off the water at the meter and shut off the breaker for the water heater.

 

[MoKelly]

I've never thought about an automatic shut-off, but when we're going to be gone overnight, I usually shut off the water at the meter and shut off the breaker for the water heater.

I do this also and my wife rolls her eyes every time. I thought maybe I was the only one. It is nice tio have company.

MoKelly

 

[PapaPerk]

I do that too. But not for going to the store, etc. It doesn't take much water to screw stuff up! Trust me!

 

[Bird]

I do this also and my wife rolls her eyes every time. I thought maybe I was the only one. It is nice tio have company.

MoKelly

Yep, we'd rather they roll their eyes than us come home to a disaster.:laughing: Our first house was built about 1950 and we bought it in 1968. The next summer, I was working nights and sleeping in the daytime when my wife came screaming in the bedroom one day and I jumped up and ran into the kitchen to see the top of a kitchen sink faucet had come off and water was shooting straight up, hitting the bottom of the cabinet and going everywhere. I ran out in the garage, got a crescent wrench, and went out and shut off the water at the meter (no valve under the sink as we're accustomed to now). And since that time, I've always kept a water meter shut off tool on the wall just inside the garage door.

Two or three years ago, my wife came running in the house to tell me the lady next door said their house was flooding, so I ran over there with that tool and shut off the water at the meter, then went inside to find it was the water heater that had let go, but there was a valve there that I turned off and showed that lady, so I could turn the water back on at the meter and they'd have water; just no hot water until the water heater was replaced.

 

[Bird]

I do that too. But not for going to the store, etc. It doesn't take much water to screw stuff up! Trust me!

OK, I trust you, 'cause I know how right you are.:laughing:

 

[dfkrug]

Water can wreck a house really quick especially if you have wood flooring, etc.

This just happend to me a few weeks ago! A flex supply line blew under
a sink at 2:15AM. Flooded our house. We got it mostly cleaned up by
4:40AM, but I got water in my heating ducts and my furnace (which is
still disassembled).

When I built the house, I opted for braided stainless steel flex lines, from
a plumbing supply place, and not the fiberglass ones from Home Depot. The
failure was not in the middle of the hose; the brass inner part sheared off
inside the end fitting. No one I know has heard of this particular kind
of failure.

Many years ago, I had a toilet supply hose burst in a previous house, and
a brass corrugated compression supply line fail at another time.

In my current house, I use quarter-turn ball valves under every sink and
toilet, and the house has a big main ball valve on a 1.25" copper line. Since
this failure happened a couple of days before we were leaving for a week,
we shut off the main, but this also shuts off the fire sprinklers (bad).

BTW, auto-disconnects are forbidden by building code if fire sprinklers are
mandated.

 

[PapaPerk]

This just happend to me a few weeks ago! A flex supply line blew under
a sink at 2:15AM. Flooded our house. We got it mostly cleaned up by
4:40AM, but I got water in my heating ducts and my furnace (which is
still disassembled).

When I built the house, I opted for braided stainless steel flex lines, from
a plumbing supply place, and not the fiberglass ones from Home Depot. The
failure was not in the middle of the hose; the brass inner part sheared off
inside the end fitting. No one I know has heard of this particular kind
of failure.

Many years ago, I had a toilet supply hose burst in a previous house, and
a brass corrugated compression supply line fail at another time.

In my current house, I use quarter-turn ball valves under every sink and
toilet, and the house has a big main ball valve on a 1.25" copper line. Since
this failure happened a couple of days before we were leaving for a week,
we shut off the main, but this also shuts off the fire sprinklers (bad).

BTW, auto-disconnects are forbidden by building code if fire sprinklers are
mandated.

I have no sprinklers. So I'm good to go. Sorry to hear of your failure. My kitchen is currently gutted because of water damage! Multiple ten's of thousands of dollars of damage. Grrrr. I plan to countermeasure this problem!

 

[srs]

Hello,

Anyone ever installed an automatic water shutoff for a house? I think this would be great insurance if a toilet floods or a washer hose breaks. Water can wreck a house really quick especially if you have wood flooring, etc.

Any info would be appreciated!

I was wondering if for example you go on a vacation should you turn off BOTH the water main and also the circuit breaker for the well pump?