HOW TO STOP WATER LEAKS FROM CAUSING EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO PROPERTY AND THE INCONVENIENCE IT CAUSES

What will help to prevent water leak damage To help prevent water damage you could buy and fit a CMR Electrical water leak alarm system to alert you when a water leak is found. “but what happens if I’m not at home or the office is shut” Fit our SMS text and email messaging system so you receive a text message and or email anywhere in the world. “that’s no good when I’m miles away from home or work, isn’t there a way of automatically stopping the leak” Yes, fit a shutoff valve to the water supply or supplies so that the water alarm equipment can instantly turn off the water at source when a leak is detected. “what valve should I use and where can I get one” Not only can we supply you with a water leak detection system, we can supply the shutoff valves in sizes from 15 to 50mm. Whilst CMR Electrical don’t manufacture the valve, we have carried out extensive testing at our factory and over the past four years they have been fitted by others in hundreds of locations including houses, flats offices and factories. “but I would prefer to buy my own as I’ve seen one on the internet cheaper than yours” That’s fine, you are not restricted to buying from us, but please read the following first. Why you should NOT buy a solenoid type shutoff valve If you do a Google search for “water shutoff valve” you will be presented with a large number of products that are mainly solenoid valves. Whilst this type of valve can be purchased for just a few tens of pounds, they come with the following problems that can at best fail to stop the leak when asked, or causing a fire due to the operating coil overheating. Water ValveSolenoid Valve A solenoid valve operates like a door bell with an electric coil and an armature that moves when power is applied. With power permanently applied to the coil to open the valve, the coil will get very hot due to the action of keeping the armature in the open position. We have recorded coil temperatures in excess of 100°C. Solenoid valves also operate like a water tap where a small orifice between the inlet and outlet pipes is blocked by a rubber washer to stop water flowing or lifted from the orifice to let the water flow. The orifice inside the valve creates a restriction which causes a decrease in water flow that can be a problem for applications where a large volume of water needs to flow such as a showers. Whilst water should be contaminant free, its not, hence why there is a market for mains water filters. Contaminants can and have been known to build up between the orifice and washer (valve seat) so that when the valve is asked to shut, water continues to flow. This is because the contaminants are not allowing the valve to shut properly. When positioning a solenoid valves you need to be very precise about it’s orientation. You must only connect the input pipe to the vales input port or the valve wont work, you must keep the valves coil above the pipework so that gravity can help with its closing and you should have the valve positioned vertically to allow heat to escape from the coil more efficiently. What’s so different about the CMR Electrical’s shutoff valve Motorised Ball Valve Our valves are motorised stainless steel ball valves. When the valve is operated the stainless steel, ball moves within the valve body until its in the open position. Contained within this ball is a round opening the same size as the input and output ports thereby not creating a restriction to the water flow when in the open position. When asked to close, the ball rotates back to a position where it completely block’s the water flow. Once the holding current is removed from the motor the valve will automatically close, making it a fail safe i.e. if power is lost to the unit or building the valve will shut. Being a motor operated device, once the valve is fully open the motor stops and only a very small maintaining current is consumed. For this reason, the motor housing remains at ambient temperature and doesn’t run hot. Being a ball valve fitted with a motor mechanism, the valve can be fitted in any orientation and has no correct input or output ports making installation hassle free. For more information Get in touch with us here at CMR Electrical, so we can advise you on the best water leak detection system for your application.

For more information on HOW TO STOP WATER LEAKS FROM CAUSING EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO PROPERTY AND THE INCONVENIENCE IT CAUSES talk to CMR Electrical