Outdoor Install of ELK-WSV (or other) cut off value

[texas-saluki]

All,

Been lurking here for a while and finally have a question for the group. With a few thread lately on the water valves this seemed like a really good idea and trying to figure out my options.

I am down here in Dallas Texas with no basements and the water cutoff / mainline for the house is located outside. Couple of problems, the ELK does not seem to be rated for outdoor usage and I cannot find anyone else that does. Has anyone have experience installing any of these outside, it would be in a cavity similar to what sprinkler valves are in so far from water proof.

I am considering installing an ELK-WSV or similar but trying to figure out how to wire the required power. My thoughts are the ELK and others are 12V DC so it should be similar to wiring outdoor lights. Another problem I have is the need for a wireless connection, since this is outside I don't have clean way to add the wiring. It looks like some other manufactures support z-wave but the outdoor requirements seem to limit choices.

This will integrate with a Omni Pro II so not sure if that changes the options

Comments and suggestions would be helpful

Thanks

Chris

 

[Spanky]

Chris,
The biggest issue of mounting the water valve outside is that you cannot submerge it in water. The mounting location will have to be well drained and not fill up with water if you have a heavy rain. There is not any electronics in the valve except for the motor and some limit switches.

 

[nov0798]

This may be an option for you.

http://www.valvestore.com/departments.asp?dept=1222

The state they are weatherproof!

 

[texas-saluki]

Thanks, so not a lot of people on here where slabs are the norm

Chris,
The biggest issue of mounting the water valve outside is that you cannot submerge it in water. The mounting location will have to be well drained and not fill up with water if you have a heavy rain. There is not any electronics in the valve except for the motor and some limit switches.

Maybe if the hole is big enough and I dig deep underneath and fill with gravel it will function as a dry well and then not fill up with water. Since these are typically at the front of the house in the flower beds and the sprinklers put down as much or more water then rain

Isn't their a wireless option for the ELK? I am not clear on what it is or how to get it to work (if there is a thread that explains it that I missed just point me in that direction)

This may be an option for you.


The state they are weatherproof!

This looks interesting also... trying to figure out what weatherproof means

 

[Spanky]

The key question is the motor housing submersible in water? I think not in most cases.


CURRENTLY the wireless option goes from a door/window or sensor to the M1. The reverse path is not available now. In a wireless solution, you will need a 12V power supply at the water valve.

 

[tmbrown97]

If you *must* go wireless, there are ways to accomplish it using the lighting protocols or hacking some sort of transmitter/receiver to work as long as you can at least get 12V at the valve, as Spanky said above. That said, those could all be prone to power outages; That's up to you if that's a risk you'd take, or if you'd protect via batteries.

With the lighting technologies, like UPB, X10, Insteon or ZWave, you could use any output relay to handle the contact closure at the valve... that'd be harder to back up though.

Another option is one of those cheap chinese two-channel radios with BSR's garage-door-remote hack so the elk can trigger the remote, and the receiver located around the valve somewhere... Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

[DIYHO]

This looks interesting also... trying to figure out what weatherproof means

For the valworx valve linked, it is equivalent to a NEMA 4 or 4X rating, which covers exposure but not submersion. If you have a case where submersion is possible, then you need to get a NEMA 6 (short duration) or 6P (extended duration) rated actuator. Personally, I wouldn't install anything less than a NEMA 6 (IP-67) rated actuator if it is going to be buried in a valve box.