Flooded basement...almost

A few years back I picked up a water alarm that would detect water on my basement floor. Well last week it paid off. I had just sat down to eat supper when I started to hear an ear piercing squeal. It was loud enough I couldn't ignore so I went to check it out. I found water dripping from my water heater. The puddle was about a foot across. I shut off the gas and water supply to it. 15 minutes later no more dripping.

I had read a thread on this forum about how you should replace your water heater about every ten years before they surprise you with a flood. Some body mentioned about the alarms. I'm too cheap to replace a perfectly good heater so I bought one. Not being connected to a smart phone I got a simple squealer and hoped I would be home soon enough after it started alarming. I don't go down to the basement very often any more so without the alarm it could have been really bad.

I also have a super duper high efficiency house heater that puts out a lot of water so this alarm would also let me know if the condensate pump died and it started dumping water on the floor.

It was $20 I am very glad I spent. :)

Oh and the old water heater was installed about 1988.

Nice. Glad to hear you caught it early.

If you're a cheap bastad and handy with a soldering iron, take apart a smoke detector and solder wires to either side of the test switch.

Run the wires down onto the floor, and for the price of a smoke detector (that you should have in your basement anyway) you've got a smoke AND water detector.

O2

Thank you for posting this, just orderd 2 alarms that I have been meaning to orderfor the last 5 years.

I ordered three devices that sit on the floor two months ago from Orbit, for $100 they came with a router and track temperature as well. They are web based so notifications come to my phone regardless of my location. Not a bad deal.

Surprise flood sucks.

Better than getting a call from the wife asking why there is no hot water for her bath and what is the fountain sound coming from the basement?

talk to your insurance agent. They gave me a number of these kinds of things for free, just as a precautionary measure to protect us (and themselves) from insurance claims.

Same thing has saved my ass before. When I get around to it I plan on cutting a sump into the basement floor. Rather than use a kit, I think I'll use a $80 1/2HP pump I already have, and hook it up to a simple mechanical float switch, then I'll run 3/4" pex and link into the drainage system outside I previously installed. (most of my floods are related to having a septic lifting station, so I have to presume the drainage itself is backed up) Because that "what if" only works when we're home.

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Originally Posted by Sawin

talk to your insurance agent. They gave me a number of these kinds of things for free, just as a precautionary measure to protect us (and themselves) from insurance claims.

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Great advice! Yes its worth asking... USAA sent me 4 Honeywell WiFi leak detectors free of charge a couple of years ago. They paid for themselves twice last year when our incoming water line broke and also when the dishwasher drain line split and we caught them both right away.

Don’t use the word flood if you plan on an insurance claim for water heater replacement and or water damage from it claim.

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Originally Posted by SideShow Bob

Don’t use the word flood if you plan on an insurance claim for water heater replacement and or water damage from it claim.

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That's generally true, but EVERYONE that files a water loss claim calls it a flood, and it's never denied because of how they describe it. In general, "flooding" is not covered on a standard insurance policy, but "water loss" is.

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Originally Posted by SAnd

Oh and the old water heater was installed about 1988.

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Sounds like you and the water heater had a good run.

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Originally Posted by Irving

That's generally true, but EVERYONE that files a water loss claim calls it a flood, and it's never denied because of how they describe it. In general, "flooding" is not covered on a standard insurance policy, but "water loss" is.

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Now, if you've been through a hurricane, really avoid all that flood language

If you want to be extra careful you can wire an alarm to a solenoid in the main water line. When the sensor detects water, the solenoid closes and shut the water off.

Good thing you were home to catch it but imagine if you weren't home or.. even worse... out-of-town for the weekend. Yikes!

That's why I added a Z-Wave valve shut-off to my smart home setup plus several Z-Wave flood sensors mounted all over our house in wet areas. Using a smart home automation controller (I use a Vera Plus) you can set up a number of "scenes" for various events to do whatever you want. I have mine set so that if any of the flood sensors detect water they will automatically shut off the water main w/o any additional intervention from me. Doesn't matter if I'm home, sleeping, out-of-the-country or whatever. Should this happen, I have it set to notify me as well. This allows me to further inspect (if I'm at home or via camera where possible when away) the alarm trigger and possibly turn the water back on when all-clear. Very useful.

Reading events like this reminds me of how good of an investment on time and money a smart home automation system can be.

Or in your vacation home where the last time someone was there was for Thanksgiving, didn't shut the water down, and showed up for New Years to find a burst pipe had been spraying at full pressure for months.

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Originally Posted by Irving

Or in your vacation home where the last time someone was there was for Thanksgiving, didn't shut the water down, and showed up for New Years to find a burst pipe had been spraying at full pressure for months.

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That would be horrible. I bet some handyman can make a great $$ just managing houses in aspen/snowmass area.

Great idea to have vacation home at places that doesn't go lower than 32-28f.

Replace a (China made) water heater every ten years simply on betting odds? I thought you were supposed to wait until it actually fails, and leaks. Our water heater was manufactured in March 1965, for Montgomery Ward. Yep, still works fine, year after year. Paid for long ago. I have high expectations. American made, it should outlive me.

Sure, I'd like to have a high tech system like Jer's and I probably should hire someone saavy to build it.

I recently installed three basement sump pump systems with battery backup and will soon add a sewer lift station for a new bath. When the power goes out I can't pump flood water or run sprinklers to suppress fire. The outage during the 2013 flood and the recent fire related outage makes apparent the need for an auto backup generator. I have a gen set but it won't work when we've evacuated. It has to run automatically off a large propane tank. It's all on the punch list for next spring.