Simplifying Life Through Technology
SoundVision LLC is a lifestyle technology company located in Mooresville, North Carolina. We interview vendors, clients and staff with the purpose of demystifying the capabilties of new technologies for your home or business and sometimes highlighting local content that is important to our community.
Simplifying Life Through Technology
Water Leak Detection Systems with Automation
On this episode of “SoundVision Tech Talks,” Mark and Andrew sit down to discuss Water Leak Detection and Protection.
Water damage is one of the most costly and disruptive problems a homeowner can face—but it’s also one of the most preventable. We explore how advanced water leak detection systems can integrate seamlessly into your home automation setup to provide unmatched protection and peace of mind.
We share real-life stories, including one about a family in Virginia, whose lives were turned upside down by a simple toilet mishap that led to six months of displacement. You’ll also hear about the financial impact of water damage claims and learn how the right technology can help you avoid becoming part of those numbers.
From strategic sensor placement in vulnerable areas to automated actuators that can shut off your water supply in an emergency, we discuss the essential components of an effective leak detection system. We also cover the benefits of activating “vacation mode” when you’re away and how these systems can even provide potential savings on your home insurance.
Whether you’re safeguarding your primary residence or a vacation home, this episode offers practical advice and product recommendations to help you stay prepared and protect your property from costly catastrophes. Don’t miss this essential guide to smarter, safer living through water detection and automation technology!
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Welcome to SoundVision's Tech Talks, where we dive into trending topics and expert advice to help you make informed decisions about your home entertainment, automation and more. Whether you're planning a new project or just curious about the possibilities, tech Talks is your go-to source for staying updated on all things technology All right. So today we're going to be talking about water leak protection and detection.
Speaker 2:Protection and detection. Protection and detection.
Speaker 1:And how that can interface with your home automation system.
Speaker 2:I don't know how many folks that listen have had in their lifetime a water issue in their home. You know, worst case obviously being flooded could be a toilet over flooding. I'll give you an example. I have a really good friend in Ashburn, virginia, and his son. This couple of years ago his son, in the middle of the night, got up to go to the bathroom and went to the bathroom and then went back to bed. Well, the toilet never stopped running and this was on the second floor. He's got a basement.
Speaker 2:So it's a three-floor house and it literally and this is probably 6,500 square feet, so it's a big place it literally flooded all night long and got to every level, and so they wake up the next morning, literally step out of the bed into water. Oh my gosh Right. I don't know how this is going to come off in the podcast, but because he had gone to the bathroom and it over flooded, it became an issue with environmental EPA so they had to move out of the house six months. They had to remove all the drywall. Obviously, all the floors were ruined, yeah, and any kind of flooring, carpet, whatever.
Speaker 1:So they were out of their house for six months and was that because just flooding in general, or because of where the water came from?
Speaker 2:partially both. Okay, it was because of where the water came from. Yes, it was also just because of the extensive nature of the flooding so you know. The other thing about this is we are told a lot that water damage is by far the most insurance claims.
Speaker 1:It's the most prevalent insurance issue with ownership.
Speaker 2:So, with that as kind of the backdrop, there are alternatives out there that you can use to detect water. And then, even more important than that, like you detect, detect it, but you got to shut the water off, right. So in the case of, hey, you're in the bathroom and the toilet overflows, like you fix it while you're there, right. But if you're sleeping, like in my example before, or you're not there or you have a second home that's in the mountains and it's cold and a pipe bursts and right. We had another one where, literally, a family had a second home and they're not there that often and they employed a handyman to go over there and fix some stuff. And the guy went over there and had to call them because their basement was eight feet deep in water. It had been flooding for a month, oh, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yes, how did that happen. How does that happen? Right, how does that happen? He goes downstairs and he's like I need scuba gear, literally to get Where's my swim trunk. Yeah, so kind of the least issue of that is if you're on city water, that can be thousands of dollars in a water bill on top of the damage.
Speaker 2:So there are products out there that detect water and then also can shut off the water, and so I've been doing this for a while in my home. We thought it would be interesting to at least let people know that these products exist. There's a few different companies, but in the most simple sense there's two parts. There's a valve, there's a piece that basically sits on your main water line and can turn it on and off, just like if you were doing it with your hand.
Speaker 1:Right, okay.
Speaker 2:It's just an actuator and a motor and it just turns it on and off.
Speaker 2:And then there are sensors that you would put in areas where you could have water leak and they sense water.
Speaker 2:So probably the most popular of those is in some kind of a like a hot water heater pan or a furnace or a washer washing machine, behind a toilet, behind a refrigerator, under a vanity, under a kitchen sink, like you start going around your house and you're like, oh my gosh, there's actually a lot of them when you start thinking like where water could possibly come from and you put those sensors in and then they sense when water's there. Depending on how you then communicate with this will kind of be dependent on what they do. So the most simple one is you have an app on your phone, right, and these sensors will alert you just like a notification, like you get for a text or whatever right. And these sensors will alert you just like a notification like you get for a text or whatever right. And then you can go in and and manually press a button and have the valve turn and turn the water off, or you can physically go and turn it off but you can from your phone, just one tap done you can from your phone.
Speaker 2:If you have the valve on on your main water line which does need to be installed by a plumber, you can absolutely turn it off.
Speaker 1:Take a moment to engage with us. Use the hashtag SoundVisionPod on social media, drop a comment, share your thoughts or just let us know you're out there. Fire up those social media accounts and hit us up with hashtag SoundVisionPod. That's SoundVision P-O-D and let's make this a podcast community. We can't wait to hear from you. So you were saying how, in the different areas say the bathroom, say the kitchen do you need an individual sensor detection equipment in each of those areas? You do.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of up to you on how crazy you go with this. You know, for example, in a bathroom here's a perfect example In a bathroom, just a really standard basic bathroom you really have kind of three places for water you have underneath the vanity, you have the toilet and then if you have a shower or a tub Now the shower or the tub is probably getting a little crazy it's going to have water in all the time. So as long as it's not leaking, but the vanity, if it leaks there, like the toilet sensor, is not going to pick it up. And in a lot of cases you have two vanities. You know you have dual vanities and they're under different cabinets, so if the left one's leaking, the right one's not going to pick it up and vice versa. So this is one of those things where you can go crazy.
Speaker 2:But if you think you know in the average home that we're in the value of those homes and the value of what that renovation would be I mean, we're talking about pennies on the dollar to do this and it's very easy to implement. Now we talked about the basic way, but the cool, cool thing is when you are using an automation system. Here's another kind of power of automation. So in my home I've got it where the same setup, but that goes through the automation system. So when the sensor is triggered it's actually labeled.
Speaker 2:So it'll say like guest room vanity and it will send me a push notification that will tell me that it's detecting water and where it's detecting water, and it will automatically turn the valve off. So I don't have to do anything If I want to turn it back on. It could be inconvenience, but that's okay, like I'd rather err on the side of caution. Absolutely, it'll turn the valve off automatically and let me know that as well. So that's one thing. The other thing that's cool is, say, leaving the home, vacation mode, whatever. So now we're going away for a while. So now I just have a button that says vacation or leaving the home, and when I click that button it turns off all the lights and it puts the shades down and it might turn on the security system or whatever it turns the tvs off temperature sure, all that stuff.
Speaker 2:On top of that, it now turns the main water valve off. Oh, because we're going to be gone, there's no need for water. There's no need for water, I mean, there's still water in the pipe. So that'd be the worst case scenario is, whatever's still left in the pipe? Yeah, turns all that off. And then, when we're coming back, when we say, hey, you know, going back home now, temperature goes back to normal, system disarms and the water turns back on. Wow, that's really cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you have that peace of mind and I haven't checked, but I do know. With security systems, your insurance company will give you two breaks. One is having a security system, one is having a monitored security system. I can't imagine that there aren't breaks for some sort of water protection because it is saving them money. Well, I probably should have researched that before we came on here. On the podcast, I would say that calling your agent and at least mentioning that you have this is a worthwhile exercise to find out if in fact there is, and I will be doing that now that I've reminded myself.
Speaker 2:So you have this in your home, I do, I have it in mine and when I also have it in the condo that we have. And I've used two different companies in two different places just because I wanted to try two different things, but they essentially work the same way it's? They're basically agnostic. The control for the automation platform talks to both of them. It doesn't really matter, but we, soundvision, do offer these products as an add-on. Maybe worth giving us a plumber either someone you know, or we're happy to recommend somebody to actually come in and professionally install that Same thing, like when we do heating and air automation, which we do all the time. We're always selling thermostats but we're not installing the thermostats. We're having a heating and air company that we partner with come in and do that so that that's professionally done. That's their world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they know what they're doing.
Speaker 2:let them take care of it yep, we know how to automate it, but we're not a heating and air company, so does it have to be automated? Well, no, I started with the fact that it's on an app. Now, obviously, it's not worth doing it. If you're not going to be notified, right, no reason to have it. So at the very least it's on an app, which I would call that light automation yeah the ability that you can go in and just turn the valve on and off that's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, ipad computer, whatever the heavier automation would be to have it do this stuff without you even right, you can set it that's right, that's right very cool.
Speaker 1:Well, like you said, if anyone's interested in learning a little more about this or actually getting in their own home, feel free to reach out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, reach out. We'd love to help.
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right, till next time. Thanks for joining us for Simplifying Life Through Technology. To learn more about SoundVision, visit our website at soundvisionlakenormancom. You can follow us on X at SoundVisionLKN. Find us on Instagram, facebook and YouTube at Soundvisionlakenormancom. You can follow us on X at Sound Vision LKN. Find us on Instagram, facebook and YouTube at Sound Vision LLC.
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