Protection against water leaks in the apartment: device, components, choice

Plumbing emergencies are a nightmare for any homeowner. In a house or in an apartment, it is equally unpleasant and costly. Only in the case of an apartment, the need for conversations with neighbors from below and the costs of eliminating their losses are added. But here the situation is better in the sense that even if you are not at home, the neighbors below will achieve a shutdown of the water as soon as they notice signs of a flood. In the case of a private house, equipment that threatens to leak usually stands in seldom visited places – in basements, specially equipped pits. As long as the owner decides to visit the equipment, he can come to the pool. To avoid such situations, protection against water leaks is necessary. Although this equipment is not cheap, it is becoming more and more popular. The cost of acquiring and installing it is many times less than the losses that a flood can bring.

What is an anti-flood and how does water leakage protection work?

The anti-flood system consists of several elements: sensors for the presence of water, electrically controlled taps or valves, and a control unit. Sensors for monitoring the presence of water are placed in places of the most likely leaks. Electric taps are placed on risers with water, in key places of the water supply and heating system – in order to minimize the amount of spilled water in the event of an accident. Crane drives and sensors are connected to the control and management unit (controller). It processes the signals from the sensors and, in the event of an emergency signal, supplies power to the cranes. Those work by blocking the flow of water / coolant. Here, in a nutshell, is how water leakage protection works.

These systems are installed both for water supply – hot and cold, and for heating. After all, an accident in the heating system is probably even worse than on the water supply – hotter water causes more damage, and can also cause serious burns. In general, in order for flood protection to be effective, it is necessary to think carefully about the installation locations of sensors and taps.

Where to place sensors

Since water protection is designed to protect against flooding, it is necessary to place sensors in all places where water is most likely to appear. It often happens that the system worked with a delay precisely because of the wrong location of the sensors. By the time the water reached the sensor, it poured out a lot. Based on the experience of the owners, the following places can be recommended for installing water leakage sensors:

• Under each flexible hose. This is where emergencies most often occur.
• Under household appliances that use water during operation: dishwasher, washing machine. Please note: you need to slip the sensor under the device. Those. install not next to it, but under it.
• Catchment points are the lowest points where water will flow first.
  

• Under the boiler, heating boiler, next to the pumping station, in the pit where the pump is installed.
• Under the radiator, heated towel rail.
• Near (under) with a bath, shower, sink, toilet.

When installing water leakage sensors, try to position them so that water hits them first. For example, to control a faucet in the kitchen, you need to put the sensor not under the cabinet, but in the cabinet – under the siphon or somewhere in the area. If something happens to the faucet, the water will first be in the closet and only then will flow under it.

If you need to control leaks in household appliances – a washing machine, a dishwasher – put sensors under the appliances. Not next to, but directly next to the connection point of the drain hose.

Where to put taps / electric valves

With the installation of cranes is not easy. Specific installation locations vary by system design. If this is a small apartment with one or two risers – cold and hot water – everything is simple. We cover the outlets and everything. In more complex systems, it is necessary to think over the installation location of electric cranes.

In apartments

If the water supply is centralized, the taps of the system against leaks are placed at the entrance to the apartment / house. It is much better if the taps are up to the counter and filter. But with such an arrangement, operational services may not agree. They usually require an electric faucet after the meter. In this case, in the event of a leak, the junction of the meter and filter always remains under pressure. It will be impossible to eliminate the leakage at these points. You can stand your ground, but you have to prove your point of view.

Advice! Before installing a leak protection system, contact your management company and find out if there will be problems when sealing the meters if electric valves are installed in front of them.

In some layouts, the apartment may have four risers – two cold and two warm water. In this case, there are two solutions – more correct and more economical. That’s right – put two modules, each of which will serve its own zone. This is more convenient, since an accident will happen only on one of the risers / devices and it is unreasonable to turn off the opposite part. But two modules are double costs. To save money, you can put one control unit that will shut off the taps for 4 risers. But in this case, do not forget that you will have to pull the wires through the entire apartment.

In the case of heating, too, not everything is simple. In most of the high-rise buildings, vertical wiring is made. This is when a riser passes in every (or almost every) room and one or two radiators are fed from it. It turns out that at least one tap must be installed for each outlet – for supply. But then the water that is contained in the radiator and pipes will flow out. This, of course, is not so much, but sometimes a couple of liters is enough for the neighbors below to have a stain on the ceiling. On the other hand, putting two taps on each radiator is too expensive.

In a private house

In order to prevent the pump from pumping water in case of an accident, it is necessary to use a water leakage protection controller with a power relay. If power is supplied to the pump through the contacts of this relay, simultaneously with the signal to close the ball valves or valves, the power to the pump will be turned off. Why not just turn off the power to the pump? Because in this case, all the water that is in the system can pour out into the resulting gap. And that’s usually a lot.

To understand in which places of the water supply system of a private house it is necessary to install taps to prevent water leaks, you need to study the diagram. Most often, stopcocks with electric drives are installed after the pumping station and on the boiler.

Heating is a little more difficult. Do not block the movement of the coolant if it is impossible to immediately extinguish the boiler. That is, in systems with solid fuel boilers, it is possible to set water leakage control only if it does not block the circulation of the coolant. If there is a small circulation circuit, it is possible to set the taps so that this small circuit is working and the rest of the system is turned off. If a heat accumulator is installed in the system, it is necessary to install taps so that water does not spill out of it. These are large volume containers – at least 500 liters, and usually many times more. If all the liquid pours out, it will not seem enough.

In heating systems with automated boilers, taps can block circulation. If the water leakage protection works and cuts off the circulation, the boiler will stop due to overheating. It’s not exactly normal, but it’s not an emergency either.

Some technical points

Wired sensors are usually supplied with 2 meter cables. Electric ball valves are sold with the same cable length. This is not always enough. You can increase the length using the cable recommended by the manufacturer. Brands are usually indicated in the instruction manual. Only when buying, check the cross section of the wires. Unfortunately, very often the actual diameter is much smaller than the declared one.

Generally speaking, we can recommend the following extension cables:

• for wired sensors, a shielded twisted pair cable with a core cross section of at least 0,35 mm² is suitable;
• for cranes – a power cable in two-layer insulation with a core cross section of at least 0,75 mm².

It is desirable to make the connection serviceable. That is, if you are laying wires in a wall or floor, the connection must be made in a junction box. Connection method – any, reliable (soldering, contactors of any type, since the equipment is low-current). It is better to lay wires in walls or in the floor in cable channels or pipes. In this case, it will be possible to replace the damaged cable without opening the strobe.

Protection against water leaks: parameters and selection criteria

Deciding on the number of sensors and stopcocks is not so difficult, especially since many systems easily allow you to expand the area of ​​​​control. It is only important not to exceed the maximum allowable number of equipment. But choosing a manufacturer is much more difficult – you can’t change it. Below we will present the most popular systems on the Russian market: Aquastorg, Neptun and Hydrolok.

Food

First, let’s look at how power is supplied to different parts of the flood protection system:

• On the control unit, the voltage must be constant.
• Cranes with an electric drive are powered only for the period of operation – maximum – for 2 minutes (Hydroloc).
• For wired sensors – only for the period of status polling (very short period of time).
• Wireless sensors are battery operated.

The water leakage protection can work with 220V, 12V and 4,5V. Generally speaking, 12V or lower is the safest.

Types of nutrition

Some systems are built in such a way that the control unit is powered by 220 V, and the electric cranes and sensors are supplied with a safe voltage of 12 V or less. In other variants, 220 V can be supplied to the taps (some of the Neptune variants). Voltage is applied for a short time – only at the moment when it is necessary to turn off the water. This occurs after the detection of an accident and periodically – to check and maintain the health of the system. The rest of the time, the taps are de-energized. Which option suits you best is up to you.

Also pay attention to the presence of a backup power supply. If you have your own backup power system (batteries, generator), this parameter can be omitted. Otherwise, having a backup power supply is highly desirable. And you need to look at how long the equipment can work offline. In this sense, systems operating from 12 V are much more practical: if you wish, you can install a battery with suitable parameters and thereby extend the system’s offline performance. Although, some systems (Hydrolock, for example) on backup power (batteries) can work up to a year. During this time, the electricity will definitely turn on …

Electric cranes: which are better

Let’s say right away that there is protection against water leaks based on valves and ball valves. Ball valves are more reliable. They cost more, but they work much more reliably. When choosing, take the one whose water is blocked by ball valves, not valves. It’s without options.

But ball valves are different. Here are the requirements they must meet:

• Made from brass or stainless steel. Of these metals, there should be cases, rods and locking balls. Only in this case they will serve for a long time.
• Cranes are full bore. This means that in the open state, the cross section of the valve is not less than the cross section of the pipe on which it is installed. In this case, they do not interfere with the flow.

All market leaders – Aquastorage, Hydrolok and Neptun – use only such cranes. They can be produced by different companies, but are made of high quality metal. If the cheaper kits don’t list the material or type of faucet (full bore or not), look elsewhere.

Durability and closing time

We also need to talk about the parameters of electric drives. How reliable and durable they are depends on how reliable the protection against water leaks and how efficient the system is. Therefore, the gearbox and drive gears must be made of durable and reliable material. The most durable material that can be used here is metal. If we talk about the most famous systems, the following situation is observed on this item:

• In the Hydrolock system, the gearboxes and gears are made of metal.
• In the Aquaguard, the gears are made of metal in the latest versions of the system, the gearbox has remained plastic.
• Neptune does not cover drive materials.

Another important characteristic is the closing time of ball valves. In theory, the sooner the water supply is shut off during an accident, the better. Here the undisputed leader is Aquastorage – ball valves close in 2,5-3 seconds. But this speed is achieved:

• installation of additional gaskets, which reduces the friction of the ball, but increases the risk of leaks;
• a small torque, and the small force applied when closing the tap can result in the fact that if a foreign object (sand, scale, etc.) gets in or if it is overgrown with salts, the tap simply does not close.

Closing force and manual mode

If we talk about the magnitude of the torque, Hydrolock water leakage protection is the leader here. Its electric drives can develop force up to 450 kg/m. This is a very large indicator, but large-section cranes have such parameters, which are not used in apartments and houses. Nevertheless, half-inch and inch ones are also very powerful – they can develop a force of up to 100 kg / m. Moreover, the applied force increases stepwise – if necessary, increases from nominal to maximum.

There is one more point: the ability to shut off the electric valve in manual mode. Aquawatch and Hydrolock have parity in this regard: you need to remove the drive by unscrewing a few bolts (Hydrolock has 2, Aquawatch has 4), then manually turn the valve. Neptune is ahead in this regard: there is a lever on its drives, by turning which you manually open or close the water. But these cranes are equipped with the most expensive of the kits.

Features of the work algorithm

The principle of operation of any protection against water leakage is the same: when an alarm occurs, it shuts off the water supply and turns on the alarm. In this, all systems are similar, but there are certain features that some like, others do not.

The first feature is related to the processing of signals from sensors and cranes. Some systems monitor the integrity of the wires that go to taps and wired sensors. In addition, if there are wireless sensors, they are polled regularly. This is all great and such systems are more reliable, but the reaction to a “missing” sensor or a faulty wire can be different:

• on the Hydrolock control panel, the alarm for the loss of sensors or malfunction of taps lights up, but the water does not shut off;
• The water watchman, if any of the sensors or taps are lost, shuts off the water;
• at Neptune, only the response of the sensors is controlled and, based on the results, an alarm lights up without specifying the location.

Here everyone chooses for himself which of the options suits him best. Both ways of reacting are not ideal, so there is no single answer.

The second parameter for choosing a leak protection system is the frequency of checking the performance of taps. Since our water is far from the best quality, with a long idle time, the shut-off ball can “overgrow” with salts or, as they say, “boil”. To prevent this from happening, the controllers periodically “move” the cranes. Periodicity is different:

• protection against water leaks Gidrolock (Gidrolock) tests once a week;
• any Aquaguard controller turns ball valves once every two weeks;
• some variants of Neptune do not have this function, there are those that open / close the taps once every two weeks.

Some fear that faucet performance checks will find them in the shower. Of course, it is not pleasant to be soapy without water, but none of the owners has yet complained of such cases. So it’s not as dangerous as it seems.

Some features of popular systems

In order to somehow highlight their protection against water leaks, manufacturers are trying to increase reliability or come up with other moves. It is impossible to systematize these features, but it is better to know about them when choosing.

Features of one block

For different manufacturers, one control unit can control a different number of devices. So it doesn’t hurt to know.

• One Hydrolock controller can serve a large number of wired or wireless sensors (200 and 100, respectively) and up to 20 ball valves. This is great – at any time you can install additional sensors or put a few more cranes, but not always such a reserve of capacity is in demand.
• One Akastorgo controller can serve up to 12 wired sensors. To connect wireless, you need to install an additional unit (designed for 8 pieces of “Aquaguard Radio”). To increase the number of wired – put another module. This modular extension is more pragmatic.
• Neptune has control units of different power. The most inexpensive and simple are designed for 2 or 4 cranes, for 5 or 10 wired sensors. But they lack a crane health check and no backup power source.

As you can see, everyone’s approach is different. And these are just the leaders. There are even smaller campaigns and Chinese firms (where to be without them), which either repeat one of the above plans, or combine several.

Additional functions

Additional – not always unnecessary. For example, for those who are often on the road, the ability to control cranes from a distance is far from superfluous.

• Hydrolock and Aquatorozh have the ability to turn off water remotely. For this, a special button is placed at the front door. Come out for a long time – press, turn off the water. Aquawatch has two versions of this button: radio and wired. Hydrolock has only wired. The Aquastorge radio button can be used to determine the “visibility” of the wireless sensor installation location.
• Hydrolock, Aquaguard and some variants of Neptune can send signals to the dispatch service, security and fire alarms, and can be built into the “smart home” system.
• Hydrolock and Aquaguard check the integrity of the wiring to the taps and their position (some systems, not all). In Hydrolock, the position of the locking ball is controlled by an optical sensor. That is, when checking in the tap there is no voltage. Aquaguard has a contact pair, that is, at the time of checking, there is voltage. Protection against water leaks Neptune also monitors the position of taps using a contact pair.

The hydrolock can be controlled using a GSM module – via SMS (commands for switching on and off). Also, in the form of text messages, signals can be sent to the phone about accidents and “disappearances” of sensors, about cable breaks to electric cranes and from a malfunction.

On the issue of reliability: power and other points

Reliable operation does not only depend on the reliability of cranes and controllers. Much depends on the power supply, on how long each of the blocks can work offline.

• Aquawatch and Hydrolock have redundant power supplies. Both systems shut off the water before the standby power supply is fully discharged. Neptune has batteries only for the last two models of controllers, and then the taps do not close when discharged. The rest – earlier and less expensive models – are powered by 220 V and have no protection.
• Neptune’s wireless sensors operate at a frequency of 433 kHz. It happens that the control unit “does not see” them through the partitions.
• If the batteries in the Hydroloc’s wireless sensor run out, an alarm lights up on the controller, but the taps do not close. The signal is formed a few weeks before the battery is completely discharged, so there is time to change it. In a similar situation, Aquaguard shuts off the water. By the way, the Hydrolock battery is soldered. So changing it is not easy.
• Aquawatch has a lifetime warranty on any sensors.
• Neptune has wired sensors installed “flush” with the finishing material.

We have considered all the features of the three most popular manufacturers of water leakage protection systems. In short, the worst thing about Aquastorage is a plastic gearbox on the drive, while Hydrolock has a large system power and, accordingly, the price. Neptune – Inexpensive systems are powered by 220 V, do not have a backup power source and do not check the performance of cranes.

Naturally, there are Chinese leak protection systems, but they should be chosen with care.