A few weeks ago I noticed there was no hot water. Hmm… I went down into the basement to see if the water heater breaker had blown. YIKES! There was 6 inches of water on the floor of the basement and water was pouring out of the side of the water heater. I quickly shut off the water main and hooked up a pump to start pumping the water out.
I had been working in the basement a few days before and luckily, I had brought up all my tools the day before. (A number of them had been sitting on the floor.) While the pump was pumping away… I looked for a solution so this won’t happen again. About every two or three years, we get some kind of leak that ends up with water on the floor of the basement.
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The solution is pretty cool. I ordered a wi-fi valve that will shut off the main water line coming into the house. After a bit of research, I ended up ordering the DOME Z-wave valve controller. It clamps onto the existing pipe and a lever turns the existing ball valve on and off.
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So, with this controller, I can turn on and off my water main with my phone. But… that only works when I know there is a leak. I added one more gadget that senses water. I put the “SmartThings Water Sensor” on the basement floor. When it senses water, it automatically sends a signal to the Dome Water Shut-off and tells is to CLOSE. It also sends me a text saying it is sensing water.
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I connected the valve, programmed my SmartThings hub to turn off the water when it sensed it, decided to give it a test. I had a container of water I was going to put the water sensor in… but never needed to use it. When I picked up the sensor, my hand was wet. I immediately sent the signal to turn off the valve. The valve shut off and I received a text before I even had a chance to put the sensor in water. AMAZING!
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Here are the techie gizmos. I also linked to the pump I used. It has come in handy a number of times! AND… the SmartThings hub I use to control everything in my house.
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$87.97
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