Water alarms

Iona McCraith <iona.mccraith [at] sympatico__ca> writes

>Does anyone know of any company in Canada, which sells water alert
>alarms (for flooding on the floor) that can be connected to a
>security monitoring system?

I would suggest calling a large industrial alarm company, but if
they don't offer one (and I doubt they would), you could make a
reliable one yourself.

A sensitive alarm would involve the completion of a circuit between
two electrodes, I've seen this kind of sensor attached to an audible
alarm to warn of tub overflows, but if you could find one, you would
still have to integrate it into the alarm system. I doubt any
reputable alarm company would accept it as part of their system,
anyway.

A simpler, but less sensitive indicator could be made by resting a
magnet on a float, and placing it in close proximity to a reed
switch. This type of sensor is commonly used on doors and windows,
and so will wire easily into the system.  With a little imagination,
something a little more sensitive could likely be rigged up, but I'd
keep it simple: a piece of rigid foam, a flexible wire for the
hinge, a properly located switch, and a guard to prevent false
alarms (every point on a system is one more possible false alarm).

I don't know how your alarm company works (some have a means of
identifying tripped sensor locations by phone, others just call the
police), but be sure to post notification of the exact alarm
location, etc. near the control panel, and reset information at the
sensor itself.

I have clear memories still of my family's fur cleaning and storage
business; my responsibility was to meet the police or firemen at the
premises when the alarm was triggered. Of course, this usually
happened between two and four am, and with fifty or more "points"
and three systems, I learned a lot about how easy it is to generate
a false alarm. Oh, the happy hours filling out forms...

Jerry Shiner
Object & Textile Conservation Services Ltd.
Keepsafe Systems & Forever Yours Gown Bridal Preservation


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:30
                 Distributed: Tuesday, October 9, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-15-30-008
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