Watts FloodSafe Water Detector Shut Off for Water Heaters offers your home or business constant protection against a leaking water heater. Other products have offered partial protection or one time use protection against leakage from a failing water heater, only the Watts FloodSafe Water Detector Shut Off for Water Heaters offers full, reusable, protection for gas, electric, and oil water heaters.
Each year about 5.5 Million water heater tanks fail and start to leak, often leaking hundreds and even thousands of gallons before detection. The leak is sometimes slow at first and not noticed or, it starts at a fast leak but many times the leakage isn’t noticed until severe water damage to the home has occurred. Protection in the past was available from reusable sensor valves that shut off the water supply to the water heater but did not shut off power to an electric water heater or shut off the burner on a gas or oil fired water heater. Another was a one time use device that could shut off the water supply only on electric and oil fired water heaters but could turn off a gas water heater. Not shutting off the heating while shutting off the water in many cases can result in a hazardous dry firing condition that can result in a fire or, explosion danger.
The Watts FloodSafe Water Detector Shut Off for Water Heaters has an electronic detector pad that can detect as little as 1/16” of water in the pan below the water heater. When water is detected the electronic detector pad sends a signal to the control unit which then closes a valve on the water heater supply line, sounds an alarm, and sends a signal to the power cutout module. The power cutout module varies depending on the type of water heater you have but it will shut off the power to an electric or oil fired water heater or, shut off the burner and pilot on a gas fired water heater. The alarm can even be tied into a remotely monitored alarm system so you can be notified of the problem. After the unit has tripped if there is not a water heater failure the unit can be reset, in the case of a gas water heater the pilot light will require relighting. The Watts FloodSafe Water Detector Shut Off runs on 120 VAC plugging into any receptacle and has an optional battery back up power supply that can run the system for 36 – 48 hours in the event of a power outage. If your water heater is installed with out a pan a dam can be installed around the base to contain any leaking water so the detector pad will activate quicker.
The installation of the Watts FloodSafe Water Detector Shut Off is relatively easy but Watts does recommend installation by a licensed plumber and in the case of an electric water heater a licensed electrician as well. The gas water heater detector systems are part numbers WDS-SP-L for left hand thread thermocouples, and WDS-SP-R for right hand thread thermocouples. For electric water heaters model WDS-E220 is used. On oil fired water heaters model WDS-SI is used. All models are available in ¾” and 1” sizes. MSRP prices vary from $268 to $320.45 depending on the model and size needed.
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