thoughts on managing the risk of fire sprinkler heads leaking while you are on vacation...

[a60dan]

I think YoLink is a great value if you can practically place the leak sensors under the sprinkler heads.

We just moved into a 4 year old house. Since it’s our “last house” I deployed YoLink leak detectors (version 4 with local 105 dB alarm) everywhere I could think of. I also put rubber a mat under the sinks in vanities to increase the coverage area.

In the 2 months we’ve been here, 2 of the 3 toilets have leaked, one twice.

The YoLink caught it every time within seconds.

I’ve installed about 7 door/window sensors to cover most of the perimeter and am confident if someone were to break in through the path of least resistance, I’ll be notified.

I’ve got leak detector and temp/humidity sensors in the travel trailer in the back yard. They work fine. We’ll rely on local mode while on the road.

A hub is required. The process to connect the devices is literally a minute. As an electrical engineer, I’m very impressed with the simplicity of adding devices. I’m finding the “scenes” and “automation “ a bit challenging.

There is no significant traffic on the WiFi network thanks to the hub, and the Loran technology connect to 1000 feet I believe, much farther than Bluetooth.

 

[indiajust]

ironically, i had to clear a fault on the controller tonight for a heat sensor failure in an empty unit. If I don't do anything, the PLC beeps forever and drives everyone insane. I have cleared elevator interlock faults, identified sensor damage in a bad hall sensor, RF backup to the local FD (who ignore everything but the annual alarm test and inspection), plus I reboot the PLC intermittently after power problems/lightning. Leaks are not my issue. It's complexity failure with no one around who even understands, much less debugs, minor problems.

 

[Handymike]

Hello,

We live in a townhouse community which is outfitted with fire sprinkler heads in each unit. They are inspected yearly by the community's fire service company. The community is about 23 years old.

Recently my neighbor's fire sprinkler head started with a slow leak, right over her bed. Thankfully, she was home and was able to get it repaired before major damage occurred.

This now has me concerned about what, if anything, I could do to manage the risk that one of our sprinkler heads in our unit could do this while we are on vacation.

Turning off the water to the unit does NOT turn off the fire sprinklers, as they are on a different water system, to protect the community.

I thought about putting out water sensors under each sprinkler when we leave, but that would be expensive and a pain, but...maybe it's our only option? There are quite a few sprinklers in the house, around 15.

I could also pay to have someone do a walkthrough of our house every couple days, but this would be expensive and also, a lot of damage could happen in a couple days.

Otherwise, if I do nothing, and we have a fire sprinkler leak, as my friend said "that's what insurance is for".

Any other ideas for how to mitigate this risk?

Since a leak won't be a spray event I'd get enough 15 gal plastic trash cans to put under each head with a sensor in each. Any leak would be contained and you would be notified so you could have someone look into the leaking unit.

 

[freedomatlast]

I only know of one sprinkler system catastrophic failure. The circumstances were that the city mandated that the owner of an existing older building was required to install a sprinkler system to meet updated codes. Due to insufficient insulation, an area froze during the winter and upon thawing, did major flood damage to the property.

 

[pjigar]

You are over thinking it. Go enjoy your vacation. If anything happens then your home insurance will cover the damages.

 

[Slim11]

Leaks are exactly the same percentage with the water piping in your home. So its rare. Thats why you have insurance.

 

[Koolau]

Leaks are exactly the same percentage with the water piping in your home. So its rare. Thats why you have insurance.

We had a leak and since it wasn't negligent on our part (pipes just got old and leaked) our insurance would not cover the damage to the neighbor below. AND since the HOA has a strict rule that he who leaks pays the neighbor, we had to pay EVEN though the neighbor COULD have turned in the damage for reimbursement by the insurance company (and let us pay any deductible).

So, insurance can be a (bad) joke.

 

[Slim11]

We had a leak and since it wasn't negligent on our part (pipes just got old and leaked) our insurance would not cover the damage to the neighbor below. AND since the HOA has a strict rule that he who leaks pays the neighbor, we had to pay EVEN though the neighbor COULD have turned in the damage for reimbursement by the insurance company (and let us pay any deductible).

So, insurance can be a (bad) joke.

That sucks. And insurance can suck also. You have to fight them to pay. And make sure you have the right covrage. This is hard a lot of times , because its a money vs hazard type of thing. And they dont tell you ways covered, at least in layman's terms. I have been there, its not fun.

 

[Koolau]

That sucks. And insurance can suck also. You have to fight them to pay. And make sure you have the right covrage. This is hard a lot of times , because its a money vs hazard type of thing. And they dont tell you ways covered, at least in layman's terms. I have been there, its not fun.

To add injury to insult, our HOA forces us to carry the insurance that we can't use! If we don't buy it, they will (and charge us for it).

 

[simple girl]

How about replace the head before it needs replacing.....

Our HOA hires a fire protection company to inspect the entire sprinkler system every year. So far, none have been flagged in our unit as needing replaced.