Motorised taps – reliable leakage protection for your smart home.
Motorised taps for water, gas and fuel are not just a convenient element of a smart home, but also an essential safety component. Their main advantage is their ability to automatically shut off the supply of a resource when leaks are detected. Why is this so important? Let’s look at it in more detail.
Danger of gas and fuel leaks.
Gas or fuel leaks are accidents that are immediately associated with serious danger. Explosions, fires and carbon monoxide poisoning can cause irreversible damage to property and health, and are sometimes even life-threatening. That’s why automatic gas and fuel leakage monitoring systems have long been an integral part of modern smart homes. And simple automation is not always able to cope, as it is not able to analyse the situation on the whole object.
Water leaks: a hidden threat.
At first glance, a water leak may seem less dangerous. But you only have to think about the consequences to realise that the risk is just as great:
- Property damage: Even a small leak can lead to huge expenses. Water on the floor, walls or ceiling can damage floor coverings, structures and furniture. If flooding spreads to neighbouring flats, repair costs will increase many times over.
- Electronics Damage: Water can damage electronics, appliances or heating systems. Even if the water does not reach the devices directly, increased moisture can cause corrosion, short circuits and other breakdowns.
- Excessive moisture: Flooding in a room leaves behind excessive moisture, which contributes to mould and fungus growth. Even professional flood remediation services do not always deal with this quickly.
- Liability to neighbours: If water floods your neighbours’ flats, you will have to compensate them for their losses, which is not only a financial cost, but also a conflict situation.
Real-life cases.
We have met with some cases that are particularly memorable for us. Because the cost of installing the most basic smart home equipment is hundreds of thousands of times less than the damage caused.
In an office with a large number of workstations equipped with desktop computers, an accident occurred due to a heating system breakdown in the middle of the night. All the system units were installed under the desks on MDF stands, which quickly became wet and the computers were submerged in hot water by about 20 cm. The alarm system did not go off as it was not equipped with sensors to detect leaks. The huge amount of steam and humidity was not noticed by anyone until the morning when security came to check the premises. The circuit breakers cut off the electricity supply to the sockets due to a short circuit, but the security alarm system remained energised, it had no way/functionality to detect the accident, which caused hundreds of thousands of euros worth of damage. The end result was the destruction of: 90% of the computer equipment at the workstations, furniture and other office equipment completely ruined. Over time, the remaining devices began to break down due to steam and high humidity. A damp odour lingered in the office for a long time and the cost of refurbishment increased over time.
Another case in point…
A two-storey villa had a break in the Jacuzzi system in the main bathroom. The water continued to leak for several weeks as it drained into a garage space below ground level and the leak went undetected for a long time. At the time, the owner was abroad with his family. The leak was only noticed by neighbours when the floor of the entire bathroom with the installations collapsed under the weight of the water into the garage. An additional pipe break occurred and water began to flood the house and then flowed into the street. The villa was recognised as an emergency and a demolition order was issued. The villa was an old building built more than 30 years ago. The coincidence of the circumstances of the old building and the water breakthrough had its effect. The premises were rendered completely unusable and the losses amounted to around one million euros, despite the fact that no neighbouring property or public infrastructure was affected.
The next case, we were particularly struck by the consequences. There was no structural damage, just a large amount of water in the living space, excessive moisture.
In a three-storey villa with a rooftop swimming pool, there was an accident in the pool water filtration system. The acrylic filter housing on the pump burst and pressurised water rushed down, flooding all three floors. The problem only came to light when the power went out and the alarm system signalled a loss of power. However, such blackouts had happened before, so the message was not given much importance. The maintenance company was informed. By this time, the entire volume of water from the pool had managed to spill over the entire villa, destroying its interior completely. Mould fungi the size of Frisbee bowls began to grow on the walls. The villa was recognised as an emergency and uninhabitable. Now the owner is carrying out a large-scale reconstruction of the dwelling, having incurred enormous losses for both repair and restoration of the lost property.
These stories clearly demonstrate that a smart home system is worth installing for more than just comfort or entertainment. A smart home can protect your possessions, premises and valuables. Do not rely only on a simple system or alarm system that is mistakenly called “smart home”, because primitive systems do not have the functionality that a real smart home system is characterised by.
How motorised cranes are saving from disaster.
Motorised taps are a device that is installed on the main pipework and controlled by the smart home system. If a leakage is detected, the signal from the sensor is instantly sent to the main unit (Hub) of the smart home, and the smart home immediately makes a decision according to the logic, gives a command to the tap and it automatically cuts off the supply of water, gas or fuel. In parallel, it sends messages to all available devices and terminals and switches on the Emergency siren to maximise attention. This allows:
- to protect the life and health of people and animals.
- avoid extensive damage to the premises and property;
- minimise damage to the property;
How the smart home makes decisions depending on the type of accident: life-saving technologies.
Modern smart home systems are becoming increasingly integrated and can not only improve living comfort, but also play a key role in saving lives in case of emergencies. One of the most important functions of such systems is the ability to make decisions depending on the type of emergency, be it a fire, domestic gas leak, carbon monoxide or other critical incidents.
Fire: when water is more important than shutting off the water supply.
In the event of a fire or detection of traces of carbon monoxide, the smart home system will act with safety as a priority. For example, despite the possible need to shut off the water supply in the event of leaks, the smart home will never shut off the water supply in a fire situation. The reason for this decision is that the water supplied to the property can play a vital role in extinguishing a fire before the firefighting service arrives. It is unacceptable to leave a fire suppression system without water at a time when every litre can save lives. However, a smart home can take other measures to prevent the spread of fire. For example, when fire sensors are triggered, the ventilation system will be automatically shut down, which prevents the possibility of the flames spreading through the air ducts. This is in accordance with international standards, according to which it is mandatory to switch off the general and process ventilation and air conditioning systems in case of fire. The only exceptions are those systems that are critical for the technological safety of the facility, such as ventilation in rooms with high-tech equipment.
Shut off the gas and fuel supply.
One of the most important protection measures in a smart home is the automatic shut-off of the gas or fuel supply to the boiler room, in the event of an accident. This prevents the risk of explosions or leaks, which could make things much worse in the event of a fire. The smart system analyses sensor data and automatically cuts off all possible supplies, minimising the threat of the accident spreading further.
The smart home as the first line of defence.
These actions are only a small part of the possibilities of a smart home in critical situations using motorised shut-off valves of different supply systems. In reality, these systems can analyse a huge amount of data from various sensors and make decisions to minimise damage. A smart home is able not only to protect residents from danger, but also to report an accident to the relevant services, send alarm signals to mobile devices using backup energy sources.
Conclusion
The topic of security in a smart home is not only about comfort, but also about responsibility. Systems capable of responding to various emergency situations significantly increase the chances of saving lives and minimising damage. Therefore, it is important to remember that in a critical situation, a smart home can become the very “invisible” rescuer who will act faster and more accurately than a person in a panic. The introduction of such technologies is a step into a future where the safety of people and their property comes first. Secure your premises today – install motorised taps and sensors and forget about fears of leaks!
