Looking for an Automatic Emergency Water Shutoff - Does it exist?

Question

Our MHP is located in Maine. Water is submetered, but a tenant in the throes of eviction had a pipe burst, didn't do anything about it and now I'm on the hook for a hefty water bill.

Since we're in Maine, freezing pipes is a big concern. Does anyone know of any auto water shutoff valve or similar way to monitor for freezing pipes?  (It's a BIG water bill.)

Thanks!

JD Martin · Answer

You would really be looking for something closer to this:

https://meetflo.com/how-it-works/

Most of the automatic valves out there work off of sensing standing water somewhere, which isn't going to do any good if the line breaks someplace you can't leave a sensor. This device monitors usage, so it would (should) recognize the large spike in consumption that a main break would create.

Ben Sears · Answer

@JD Martin I like this one too. Probably a better option for the reasons you stated.

Marc Winter · Answer

There are several types.  One has a sensor on the floor which will send a signal to an electronically activated shut off valve when it gets wet.

Best use for that type would be to shut down water main in front of sub meters (assuming you don't need constant supply of water for steam boiler-type heating systems).

Then you would get calls from other tenants about no running water, send maintenance, and get problem resolved.

Here in NEPA, it can get chilly too.  We often opt for insulation, sealing all cracks/drafts, rotating/circulating fan, and thermostatically controlled space heater (all on house meter).

JD Martin · Answer

@Ryan Murdock Yes, that's a problem you northern guys deal with way more than us. Although I have my own frozen story - back almost 20 years ago I moved out of state for a couple of years for a job. The first winter, I had my house on the market and the realtor insisted on keeping the water on for showing clients, and said he'd make sure the heat stayed on. Nope. A vent pipe came loose on the furnace, which wouldn't allow it to fire. We got a record one week cold spell, and when the water guys came out to read the meter they saw mine flying. They turned off the water and called me; I got in my car and drove 8 hours back to the house, to find a glacier a foot thick and 5 feet wide, and the height of my house (two story on that side) attached to the brick. Every pipe inside the house (cpvc) had frozen and busted and run a million gallons of water through the finished basement. Needless to say, it was an insurance claim. The clean up crew brought in these massive dehumidifiers and fans; I slept in the house that night and it was like sleeping inside a tornado. The electric bill for running the cleanup stuff for a week was over $1,000.

The best you could hope for in a situation like what you described above would be for the main line to freeze so as to create a block in the pipe. A frozen slug in a pipe can hold back an amazing amount of water - but your baseboard stuff, yeah that would be toast for sure!

Ryan Murdock · Answer

@JD Martin I'm definitely a big fan of PEX and am always happy when I inspect a home and find that it has already been replumbed with it. Any new plumbing we do is always PEX. While obviously much more forgiving than any other material when frozen the weak point then becomes the fixtures themselves, or, in the case of anything with hot water baseboard, the baseboards are always still copper and will split quickly once they freeze.

When cold enough I've seen interior pipes split within a matter of a couple hours of a heating system failure.

I'm veering a little off track now but when you live in a climate that sustains -20F for weeks on end you get pretty well versed in the freeze threshold of a lot of different materials.

This toilet took longer than a couple hours to finally give up but it's pretty good example of the kind of damage that can result. I found this in a foreclosure a couple years ago and it's a common sight. Now picture water gushing out of that toilet, unrestricted, until someone notices a frozen river creeping down the street.

Ben Sears · Answer

Saw this in a recent trade magazine but have no experience with it. Costly but probably cheaper than your water bill and clean up costs. Some of them are WiFi enabled so I'm not sure how that fits in with your situation.

https://leaksmart.com/

Chris Ebert · Answer

@Mindy Jensen, you mentioned that your water is submetered already. I would look into digital meters with a service like Conservice or PayLease. That way you can get realtime updates and alerts for irregular usage. Plus, if you use RentManager, the readings can feed directly into the software.

Matthew Nicklin · Answer

Similar to @JD Martin I would look at it from the usage view point. One of the condo associations I am involved in uses http://watersignal.com and I would highly recommend it. It works great and has already paid for it self as we have been able to find leaks quickly.

Jeremy A. · Answer

lets all invent a device and patent it. i propose we call it  tenant wrecking water flow control terminator device or t-wrexs for short.

Looking for an Automatic Emergency Water Shutoff - Does it exist?

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