water shut off valve

dBeau

Active Member
Hi All,

I have an outside shower that I'd like to turn off the water too when we are away from the house. Note that I am not talking about an automated shower valve. I am happy with the manual valve outside, but I would like to be able to shut off the supply to the shower.

I am having trouble finding valves that I can control from my Elk. I've seen some stand-alone systems for controlling the water supply to a clothes or dish washer. The valves used by these systems seem perfect, but there is a heavy premium to be paid for the unneeded moisture detecting control system. On the other end are the large whole house valves that have no control system but seem to be over kill for the application.

The ideal would be a three wire 24vac valve that used one wire to open and the other to close and cost less than $50. An actuator that mounted to a standard ball valve would be even better.

Any suggestions?
 
A sprinkler valve?

Brian


I thought about sprinkler valves but I am concerned about using them for hot water. Also, since all that I saw were plastic, I was worried about failure (the valve would be inside he house). That said, I really dont know much about sprinkler valves. Are my concerns unfounded?
 
I think you should have no problems with a sprinkler valve. However, I would call Rainbird's technical experts to inquire about the tempurature rating. Number is 800 724 6247.
 
You can probably use a pool ball valve, like a Jandy with an actuator, but it will run you at least $200 also. You will also need to use reducers. At the end of the day for peace of mind, especially if inside the house where it could cause damage, I would lean toward the Elk water valve or a watercop. A failed valve or leak in the house will cost you a whole lot more later. I would be alot more open to experimenting with a sprinkler valve if it were OUTSIDE the house. My $.02
 
I have an outside shower that I'd like to turn off the water too when we are away from the house. Note that I am not talking about an automated shower valve. I am happy with the manual valve outside, but I would like to be able to shut off the supply to the shower.

I assumed from your description that it was both cold water and outside, my mistake.

I have an orbit sprinkler valve under my kitchen sink that was plumbed in for a drip system on my deck. Leak? That's what leak detectors are for. :)

Brian
 
take apart an old washing machine. They have hot / cold water solenoid valves that will do the job. You can also find something at Grainger. I bought a solenoid for controlling Air to purge my sprinkler system there via MLIrrigation / Rain8Net. Many choices of types.
 
take apart an old washing machine. They have hot / cold water solenoid valves that will do the job. You can also find something at Grainger. I bought a solenoid for controlling Air to purge my sprinkler system there via MLIrrigation / Rain8Net. Many choices of types.


Washing machine...I would have never thought of that....Go to a scrap yard and see if they will let you pull a couple of them.

Great Idea!
 
take apart an old washing machine. They have hot / cold water solenoid valves that will do the job. You can also find something at Grainger. I bought a solenoid for controlling Air to purge my sprinkler system there via MLIrrigation / Rain8Net. Many choices of types.

The washing machine idea is a great one. The problem I have with it though is that as solenoids, they have a normally closed state. They would, I suspect, work fine for controlling the shower except possibly for the problem of holding them open for extended periods of time. If I had an available button to push to turn on the shower when needed, they would likely do the trick. My goal, however, is to leave the shower on most of the time while the house is occupied, but to turn it off when vacant (alarm armed).

The valves described here: http://www.onsiteproducts.com/ seem perfect, but I cant seem to find anything like
them. The product as described sounds great, but I really dont need the control unit.
 
take apart an old washing machine. They have hot / cold water solenoid valves that will do the job. You can also find something at Grainger. I bought a solenoid for controlling Air to purge my sprinkler system there via MLIrrigation / Rain8Net. Many choices of types.

The washing machine idea is a great one. The problem I have with it though is that as solenoids, they have a normally closed state. They would, I suspect, work fine for controlling the shower except possibly for the problem of holding them open for extended periods of time. If I had an available button to push to turn on the shower when needed, they would likely do the trick. My goal, however, is to leave the shower on most of the time while the house is occupied, but to turn it off when vacant (alarm armed).

I would think you would want it normally closed, or a two state valve. If it is normally open and you have to power it to close it, what happens when your Elk dies while you are away. It opens. No good. A two state electric valve will probably cost a hundred or two. If you want a normally open single state valve, there's one on ebay now. Do a search for electric ball valve. It takes 120VAC, but you can easily do that through an ISO relay. Actually, if using a relay, you could change it to either state (failsafe open or closed) with your ELK, just using either the NO or NC set of contacts on the relay.
 
Also search eBay using "electric solenoid valve". As of today (2007-09-12) I found a vendor offering a normally-closed, 12VDC valve for about $14 plus $5 for shipping. Apparently it can handle hot water as well (see the specs).
 
I am thinking about using one of these (Taco Radiant heat zone valve) because of the low profile which will allow me to install it in a wall. The only draw back is that it takes 4 seconds to turn on and 6 to turn off. It is rated for 125psi and made for hot water as well. Any reasons not to use it?
 
My only question for the Taco valves is the same question in my mind with the rest of the valves listed above.... what happens if power is removed while in their "controlled" state? say if you are away and loose power? will they go back to the other state? and possibly cause the exact problem you are trying to avoid?(forgetting to turn the valves off) If that is not a problem 4-6 seconds doesn't sound like a problem to me!
 
Dbeau-

Are you still planning on keeping the manual control valves on the outside of the house? If you are, then what is the chance that the power goes out, you are not home, and someone turns on the manual valve.

Are you trying to keep people from using your shower while you are not home?


Steve
 
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