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Leak Sensor under a Dishwasher?


Bill Morrow

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Posted (edited)

RF is half science and engineering, and half unknowns of field use. While metal can be a blocking factor,  it can also a reflecting factor in a positive way. There's no hard and fast rule to say that it will not work.

Placing a battery sensor, leak or open/close, under there and wait for the 24 hour heartbeat would be the definitive test. You can write a simple program, if the sensor heartbeat is turned on, send you a text or email. if you get an email a day for 2 or 3 days straight, I'd say it works. 

Paul

Edited by paulbates
Posted
18 minutes ago, Bill Morrow said:

Has anyone place a Leak Sensor under their Dishwasher? I'm just wondering if all the metal will block the signal.

I use this device from this fantastic American company called Floodstop: http://www.getfloodstop.com/   I then integrated a Open-Close sensor to its I/O ports. The reason I went this way is that the Floodstop unit serves three purposes for me.

One, if there is a leak the Floodstop will turn off the water supply. In turn the Floodstop will send a signal to the Insteon Open-Close sensor which allows the ISY Series Controller to fire off an email to me.

For more protection for (Human) there is a dual band Insteon ILL relay which kills the power to the dishwasher. Going this route ensures fail over, electrical protection, and reduced water damage to the home.

NOTE: I've been a long time customer with the Floodstop company. From personal experience this American company exudes customer service after the sale very much like UDI. I had small to large issues with the hardware and each time the person you see in the Advert came through each time.

He lives and breathes *Job One* in handling his customers and providing service after the sale.

 

Posted
1 hour ago, Bill Morrow said:

Has anyone place a Leak Sensor under their Dishwasher? I'm just wondering if all the metal will block the signal.

I had an Insteon Leak detector against the foot plate of my dishwasher for a few years. It got kicked around and kicked over many time. I had a leak that never triggered it as it ran out the side.

Fixing the leak damage I now have the LD under the dishwasher without any problems in the last year or so. I missed one heartbeat in that time. This unit turns off my well pump, rings local beepers, and notifies us four different ways. With 3000 feet of piping in my basement slab (open system) there is a fair residual pressure to drain off but the dishwasher is on the main floor and should dissapate the residual water quickly. I know there will still be water damage but I will not come home to a basement swimming pool.

The LD is surrounded by metal on the front face but the other three side are wood cabinet materials. It works fine.

Posted
2 hours ago, paulbates said:

RF is half science and engineering, and half unknowns of field use. While metal can be a blocking factor,  it can also a reflecting factor in a positive way. There's no hard and fast rule to say that it will not work.

Placing a battery sensor, leak or open/close, under there and wait for the 24 hour heartbeat would be the definitive test. You can write a simple program, if the sensor heartbeat is turned on, send you a text or email. if you get an email a day for 2 or 3 days straight, I'd say it works. 

Paul

Sadly I just recorded voices for 9 of them. I have written a simple version of the announcement programs, but I haven't played with the heartbeat stuff yet.

I did not realize that the Wet sensor stayed on, so when I went to test them all I had 9 announcements repeating every 30 seconds. ? I don't recommend testing new voice announcements at midnight  . LOL. I might end up sleeping with the ISY. 

Posted
1 hour ago, Teken said:

I use this device from this fantastic American company called Floodstop: http://www.getfloodstop.com/   I then integrated a Open-Close sensor to its I/O ports. The reason I went this way is that the Floodstop unit serves three purposes for me.

My mother overflowed the laundry sink three times. Grrr. Don't leave sh*t in the sink.

So the washer and dryer now have their own curb, EPDM under the tile and a new floor drain.

Yes, one of the leak sensors is going here. ?

Posted
31 minutes ago, larryllix said:

I had an Insteon Leak detector against the foot plate of my dishwasher for a few years. It got kicked around and kicked over many time. I had a leak that never triggered it as it ran out the side.

Fixing the leak damage I now have the LD under the dishwasher without any problems in the last year or so. I missed one heartbeat in that time. This unit turns off my well pump, rings local beepers, and notifies us four different ways. With 3000 feet of piping in my basement slab (open system) there is a fair residual pressure to drain off but the dishwasher is on the main floor and should dissapate the residual water quickly. I know there will still be water damage but I will not come home to a basement swimming pool.

The LD is surrounded by metal on the front face but the other three side are wood cabinet materials. It works fine.

Thanks Larry, that's helpful.

I was thinking the wood sides might allow for it to work.

Posted

I put one under the front of my dishwasher.

It saved my wooden floor the other day when a grape stem got caught in the door seal and caused a leak.... the sensor worked perfectly and we were able to clean it up before any damage occurred.

Posted
1 hour ago, MWareman said:

I put one under the front of my dishwasher.

It saved my wooden floor the other day when a grape stem got caught in the door seal and caused a leak.... the sensor worked perfectly and we were able to clean it up before any damage occurred.

This becomes much more critical with all the laminate flooring happening now. Most of it is a hard surface / wear layer of something backed by compressed cardboard. A bit of water plus an half an hour,  it's wrecked and all needs to be replaced. Now you pull up your baseboards and trim that will cost you four times the price of the cheap laminate.

Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Bill Morrow said:

Sadly I just recorded voices for 9 of them. I have written a simple version of the announcement programs, but I haven't played with the heartbeat stuff yet.

I did not realize that the Wet sensor stayed on, so when I went to test them all I had 9 announcements repeating every 30 seconds. ? I don't recommend testing new voice announcements at midnight  . LOL. I might end up sleeping with the ISY. 

Have your program use "If control <device> is switched on" instead of If status. It will only trigger when the message is sent

Paul

Edited by paulbates
Posted
3 hours ago, paulbates said:

Have your program use "If control <device> is switched on" instead of If status. It will only trigger when the message is sent

Paul

Thanks, but I actually want it to repeat, as I'm making voice announcements with a Raspberry Pi. My phone is on DnD at night, so an email at 3:00 AM is of no use to me. I do plan to send emails too, but will make sure they are after the Repeat 1.

Posted
7 hours ago, Bill Morrow said:

Sadly I just recorded voices for 9 of them. I have written a simple version of the announcement programs, but I haven't played with the heartbeat stuff yet.

I did not realize that the Wet sensor stayed on, so when I went to test them all I had 9 announcements repeating every 30 seconds. ? I don't recommend testing new voice announcements at midnight  . LOL. I might end up sleeping with the ISY. 

?:D

Posted

For what it's worth, I have a Stu's BuzzLinc in the bedroom. If any of my dozen or so Leak Sensors get wet, The BuzzLinc sounds off. That simple system provides an alert when email is useless.

Posted

I had used   ...  "If control <device> is switched on" instead of If status.    Yet the program triggered every 30seconds.

Found that the sensor itself sent Wet commands every 30 seconds or so once activated.   Used a variable to get around this.

This is a reason not to leave the sensor in the wet state for too long (hrs/days)  before resetting it as it will reduce your battery life.

 

Posted
1 hour ago, ELA said:

I had used   ...  "If control <device> is switched on" instead of If status.    Yet the program triggered every 30seconds.

Found that the sensor itself sent Wet commands every 30 seconds or so once activated.   Used a variable to get around this.

This is a reason not to leave the sensor in the wet state for too long (hrs/days)  before resetting it as it will reduce your battery life.

 

Control / switched would cause it to trigger every signal. Status will only trigger once.

In the Belias programs he gets around all these problems by setting a variable flag and then sensing the variable / flag state. You can only set a variable to X once and make it change. Works as a "Once and only once" logic.

  • 1 year later...
Posted (edited)

Very nice option and useful one, but there are already models with it in. Not so pricy and very good ones. I’ve bought mine on a web-site and never regretted about it! Very nice service with great prices and a lot offers to make your life better. My dishwasher is about five years old and works perfect till now. So, I do recommend to visit this store and just have a look. These guys are awesome ! Here is it ianboer.com.au

Edited by Galiodor
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