I noticed in the US, many products aimed at notifying home owners to water leaks and wastage - flow meters that can be programmed to signal an alert at time of day or after a certain quantity has passed.
I would have bought one, but of course would have the issue of converting NPT to BSP… But looking on Google, all such alarms seem to be American. Given that these alarms are in the $300 bracket and way above what an average EU or UK would consider, I understand!
Might anyone in the plumbing world - Corona maybe - know of any such product that is compatible with EU plumbing, or must I go down the conversion route?
Might we worth discussing with your Water Provider. I know that our WP is changing all the meters to “clever” ones (like the Linky electric meters). These new meters will transmit readings (nonstop) automatically, notify any unusual water usage etc etc. All of which is aimed at avoiding wastage and finding leaks (amost) before they happen.
I have one of those which are compulsory now on new builds. Saves a lot of trying to read meters down in the ground and taking photos as proof of readings I can tell you plus coping with all the nasties that used to live in my old house meter chamber. I get updates from the water company locally on what my consommation is and whether they need to up the monthly payments to cover any increase in usage.
Yes their are a couple I have come across, I might even still have the details in a file of useful products in my office. I will take a look later but they do exist.
There are lots on the French market, but equally a lot of the individual water companies provide this service if you have a fairly recent meter. Check your espace client before you spend money on somthing tiy may not need.
I’ve been using these to detect leaks for years. They picked up a roof leak during very heavy rain some years ago and a leaking chauffe eau before things got messy. Inexpensive and simple to set up. I bought them on Amazon US but they don’t seem to ship them to France anymore. Though Yolink’s own website still seems to. They also do more sophisticated cut off systems..
By the time they tell you it’s too late for any internal issues Jane. All I’ve ever had them do (twice) is to write to me telling me my water consumption had unexpectedly risen. They were right and I had a couple of leaks in the garden. They reimbursed me for the overusage when I sent them a copy of the invoice for the repairs. I now have a cheap Veolia policy to cover that sort of thing.
My buddy did say that smart meters were being rolled out across the US. I asked briefly here, but just got a quizzical look in response, so guessed it is a way off where we are.
I do though like the idea of an automatic shut off capability, so will explore this one a bit furter. Thanks Corona. (that one is quite natty, pity though it is battery - but I gues it could be modified for a power supply?)
Just a mention to the world in general… if we are absent for more than 2 days … OH turns off the water supply to the house (a tap in the cellar and easily accessed).
and, as Jane says, I was told that with the new meters it would be “instantly reported” if there was anything suspicious… but we only have the old system at the moment, hence OH’s actions..
I’ve had a few internal leaks (if you’ll pardon the expression) in my time Jane and I wouldn’t be confident any meter sensor would have been sensitive enough to detect them. The two serious ones were due to tiny, tiny splits in frozen copper pipes. It’s goutte-à-goutte and I was very surprised at just how much damage such a little leak could do over a short period.
Even though it rarely freezes down here and my pipes are well insulated, and the two leaks mentioned above were in different houses much further north, I still have frost stat heaters in the garage and cave here. Just in case.
I’m sure the meter based sensors can detect if something big let’s go but the Yolink ones catch everything, including a leaking roof or water accumulating in the cave, which obviously the meter has no idea about. And the batteries seem to have a virtually unlimited lifespan. We use them for three properties, two of which are empty 90% of the time. I think they’re good.
if we are absent for more than 2 days … OH turns off the water supply to the house (a tap in the cellar and easily accessed).