I'm putting a laundry room in on the second floor. In the first house I ever owned I put off replacing a bubbling supply hose on my washer (which was in the basement) and came home one night to 3 feet of water in my basement and a small electrical fire (so small I literally blew it out). The concept of that much water released on the 2nd floor makes me shutter.
So, I want reliable, redundant protection.
To that end (and as per code), the washer will be placed in a steel pan with a drain (a floor drain is not an option). We're going to put some sort of stands in the pan for the washer to sit on so it can be removed for service as we plan to install a counter over top, which would otherwise make it nearly impossible to lift the washer out of the pan for service. Strangely a google search turned up no solutions or even discussion of that issue. It makes me wonder if there are a bunch of people having to remove counter tops when their washer breaks... Anyway, the pan and drain would hopefully protect against a mechanical failure in the washing machine, but no way would it handle a supply line failure in which water would probably spray all over the room, so it's clearly not enough protection!
I also plan to buy the best supply hoses I can find, which appear to be the "Floodcheks."
We also plan to manually turn the water off after we run laundry every time--but I'm skeptical that we'll remember to do this. It's an easy thing to do, but an even easier thing to forget to do.
So, the final layer of proctectionI'd like (and the reason for this post) is water detection and a water shutoff valve (local rather than whole-home would be OK by me). I've investigated a number of options. My plumber recommended Floodstop, which is reasonably priced and very simple, but reviews on Amazon and Smarthome suggest it's poorly made--and not something I'd be confident to trust. I also looked at the Watts Intelliflow, but the reviews on Amazon are horrendous. And of course there is Waterstop, Pipeburst (expensive!), and a few others (there is a comparison chart here: http://www.diycontrols.com/t-automatic-water-shut-off-valves.aspx). But once you get into that price range, the Elk WSV (in conjuction with probably 2 GRI 2600 sensors--one in the pan and one on the floor) that so many here seem to have looks like the best option.
That leads me to my questions. First, do I need to worry about the water in the machine, in which case I'd have to shut power off to the washer? A drain failure could cause the machine to dump water on the floor (hopefully into the pan), and shutting off the water supply would do nothing to stop that. I'm not sure how much water the average front loader holds, but presumably it's enough to cause some damage. The pan will tie into a different drain, so I'm thinking it's OK to leave the washer power on even if a leak is detected--any thoughts?
The other big question is whether I can use the Elk WSV without buying an M1, and if so, how? I do hope to buy an M1 at some point, but it's an expense I don't need to add right now. My current panel is an ADT-installed Safewatch Pro 3000 (the Honeywell Vista-20P). I'm fine with not tying the WSV into my panel as long as the water is shut off. Obviously the alerting is nice, but it's something I'd be fine with adding later when I can convince my wife to get the M1.
I'm also concerned about setting up the WSV. I've done some basic HA in the past which was just X10 lighting controls (does that even count?), but I'm way over my head relative to many of you. I'm intrigued by the challenge, but fearful of having the WSV and the 2600's installed but not wired up as I try to figure out how to do it--or worse yet just getting it wrong.
Thanks for any help you can provide!
So, I want reliable, redundant protection.
To that end (and as per code), the washer will be placed in a steel pan with a drain (a floor drain is not an option). We're going to put some sort of stands in the pan for the washer to sit on so it can be removed for service as we plan to install a counter over top, which would otherwise make it nearly impossible to lift the washer out of the pan for service. Strangely a google search turned up no solutions or even discussion of that issue. It makes me wonder if there are a bunch of people having to remove counter tops when their washer breaks... Anyway, the pan and drain would hopefully protect against a mechanical failure in the washing machine, but no way would it handle a supply line failure in which water would probably spray all over the room, so it's clearly not enough protection!
I also plan to buy the best supply hoses I can find, which appear to be the "Floodcheks."
We also plan to manually turn the water off after we run laundry every time--but I'm skeptical that we'll remember to do this. It's an easy thing to do, but an even easier thing to forget to do.
So, the final layer of proctectionI'd like (and the reason for this post) is water detection and a water shutoff valve (local rather than whole-home would be OK by me). I've investigated a number of options. My plumber recommended Floodstop, which is reasonably priced and very simple, but reviews on Amazon and Smarthome suggest it's poorly made--and not something I'd be confident to trust. I also looked at the Watts Intelliflow, but the reviews on Amazon are horrendous. And of course there is Waterstop, Pipeburst (expensive!), and a few others (there is a comparison chart here: http://www.diycontrols.com/t-automatic-water-shut-off-valves.aspx). But once you get into that price range, the Elk WSV (in conjuction with probably 2 GRI 2600 sensors--one in the pan and one on the floor) that so many here seem to have looks like the best option.
That leads me to my questions. First, do I need to worry about the water in the machine, in which case I'd have to shut power off to the washer? A drain failure could cause the machine to dump water on the floor (hopefully into the pan), and shutting off the water supply would do nothing to stop that. I'm not sure how much water the average front loader holds, but presumably it's enough to cause some damage. The pan will tie into a different drain, so I'm thinking it's OK to leave the washer power on even if a leak is detected--any thoughts?
The other big question is whether I can use the Elk WSV without buying an M1, and if so, how? I do hope to buy an M1 at some point, but it's an expense I don't need to add right now. My current panel is an ADT-installed Safewatch Pro 3000 (the Honeywell Vista-20P). I'm fine with not tying the WSV into my panel as long as the water is shut off. Obviously the alerting is nice, but it's something I'd be fine with adding later when I can convince my wife to get the M1.
I'm also concerned about setting up the WSV. I've done some basic HA in the past which was just X10 lighting controls (does that even count?), but I'm way over my head relative to many of you. I'm intrigued by the challenge, but fearful of having the WSV and the 2600's installed but not wired up as I try to figure out how to do it--or worse yet just getting it wrong.
Thanks for any help you can provide!