Water turn off & water conditioner

[linuxha]

Yesterday was an interesting day in my home. I have an 18 year old Kohler pressurized toilet that exploded (took out the side of the pressure tank and blew out the entire side of the tank. We caught it quickly, turned off the water and cleaned up the water before anything got damaged. <_<

I went online and found Kohler knew about the problem but we were never told about it. I now have 2 toilets to replace. One thing I noticed on the inside of the pressure tank was that the water line was a brown/sandy color. I'm thinking that it might finally be time to get a water filtration system. And while I'm at it one that has an automated turn off in case something this or a washing machine hose should burst. Any recommendations? Words of wisdom? Horror stories?

 

[apostolakisl]

The Elk WSV is a very high quality reliable automatic whole house shut off valve. It is 1 inch and has an actuator, not a solonoid, so it can sit in either position indefinitely without need for power or worry of solonoid burning out.

You will need a way to tell the elk wsv to turn on/off. I have mine hooked up to my alarm panel (elk m1g) which shuts off the whole house 60 minutes after arming away. I also have about 30 water detectors around the house which if tripped shut the water off. Retrograde wiring this may be hard if you don't have unfinished space above or below for pulling wires. Wireless systems exist, but reliability on wireless systems on something like this bothers me. The water detectors are likely to never be used (and probably you won't remember to test them periodically), but you need to know that they will work in the unlikely event that you get a leak.

 

[Desert_AIP]

I use the GRI water sensors attached to several different zones so I can get voice and visual localization of the leak, and I use the Water cop motor and valve.
It operates the same as the Elk, a shuttle valve that moves between positions.
The Water cop valve has outputs for valve position status. So when a close or open command is sent I have a timer flag to check that the status actually corresponds to the commanded position after a brief delay. If it is in the wrong position it will keep trying until the valve is correct.
I shut the water off when I arm the system, I do have a button that sets an override flag in case I want to do a load of laundry or dishes while I'm out.
The shut off valve only shuts off the house, so the sprinklers still opeate.
I wanted the Watercop motor because it operates on 110VAC.
I have the valve plugged into a UPS so even if the power goes out the water leak and emergency shutoff systems still work until the Omni backup batteries are depleted.

 

[apostolakisl]

I use the GRI water sensors attached to several different zones so I can get voice and visual localization of the leak, and I use the Water cop motor and valve.
It operates the same as the Elk, a shuttle valve that moves between positions.
The Water cop valve has outputs for valve position status. So when a close or open command is sent I have a timer flag to check that the status actually corresponds to the commanded position after a brief delay. If it is in the wrong position it will keep trying until the valve is correct.
I shut the water off when I arm the system, I do have a button that sets an override flag in case I want to do a load of laundry or dishes while I'm out.
The shut off valve only shuts off the house, so the sprinklers still opeate.
I wanted the Watercop motor because it operates on 110VAC.
I have the valve plugged into a UPS so even if the power goes out the water leak and emergency shutoff systems still work until the Omni backup batteries are depleted.

I am using gri 2800 sensors, probably the same as you. I have tested them and they all work exactly as expected. The power for the valve runs down the same cat5 that carries the signal and is plugged into the ups that serves my entire home automation setup. I think the Elk also has confirmatation open/close however I have not hooked that up. I delayed my water shut off by 60 minutes so the washers can finish, I do have water sensors under all of those appliances so it would kill the water if during that 60 minutes they got wet.

 

[Desert_AIP]

I don't have access to my system right now, but I think I'm using the GRI 2600 sensors.