My leak detector worked

[Paul B]

Today a pipe connected to my hot water heater started leaking. I installed the thing five years ago but it decided to leak today. I would not have known except the water in my reef tank started to get low even though I have an ATO that is gravity fed. Under my hot water tank I installed a DIY water shut off in case of a leak and it worked well. It uses a regular GFCI outlet. I installed an electric valve in the pipe that feeds the hot water tank. That valve is plugged into a GFCI so that if the GFCI trips, the water valve shuts off. I plug a wire into the GFCI where I only have the neutral wire and ground wire connected with nothing on the hot prong. The ends of that wire are under the hot water tank. If that wire gets wet, the GFCI trips off shutting water off to the hot water tank so I don't flood my house. The ATO for my tank is also on that line so the water to the tank stopped notifying me of the leak. I have the same system under my reef tank that shuts off the pumps if there is a leak. I love technology.

 

[ohana888]

nice save!

 

[greg 45]

Paul and I though you were going to say your socks were wet and that's how you found the leak.

 

[lrasser]

how do you have it set up to the sump? I would love something like that to shut the sump down.

 

[Paul B]

I don't have a sump, they were not invented when I set up the tank

 

[lrasser]

I currently run a skimmer and canister as a reactor only. I'm setting up my first sump this weekend and purchased water alarms for extra safety. This post got me interested. I've been reefing for 12 years and this is my first sump. Figured I try something new.

 

[Paul B]

My "sump" is my basement floor, so my leak detector is there. I also have a DIY pump shutoff built the same way in the five gallon bucket that holds the skimate from the skimmer. Now I am building leak detectors all over my house that will shut off the water main if there is a leak anywhere. I diy everything and would never think of buying something like that. I even built most of the rocks in my home and the large boulders outside my home.
Years ago I was working on building a 45 story apartment building in Manhattan. Our lay out man made a mistake and laid out a ceiling box 14" off for the kitchens. These were in the concrete ceilings and had to be chopped out and re installed 14" away. Pipe and box. There were 14 apartments on a floor and 45 floors. At the time it was going to cost about $100,000 dollars to chop them out and re do them.
I invented a chopping machine that I built in about an hour and we chopped them out in a few days for a few thousand dollars. After that I broke my leg skiing and was out of work for 7 months. My boss paid me in cash for 7 months off the books. It pays to know how to build things. I later used that device to chop dozens of holes in the Empire State building to install the fire alarm system in the entire building.

 

[fredro]

Awesome diy!