An undetected water leak in a home or commercial building can cause extensive property damage if it is not caught in a timely manner. Homeowners who are away from their property for any amount of time runs the risk of returning to a flooded home that can require expensive repairs.
One way to stop the water flow is to shutoff the main water supply line to the home. Generally, the main water supply line is equipped with a main shutoff valve located at the point where the water enters the home. To prevent an undetected leak from causing damage, homeowners could shutoff the main water valve to the home each time they will be away for an extended period of time. However, this could become an inconvenience and is often impractical. Moreover, if homeowners forgot to shutoff the main water valve, it would be possible for a leak to go undetected.
The present invention provides homeowners with an alternative to manually shutting off the main water valve each time they are absent from their property. The present invention detects the presence of water leakage from various locations in a home and remotely takes action to shut off the flow of water by closing the main shutoff valve to the residence. Water sensors are placed throughout the home where there may be a high potential for a water leak, such as near toilets, washing machines, dishwashers, hot water heaters, sinks, etc. When any one of the water sensors detects a leak, the sensor activates the motor to shutoff the main water valve, thereby stopping the flow of water.
The motor is easily attached to the main water valve with an interchangeable adapter. The interchangeable adapter enables the motor to attach to a variety of valve handle mounting shafts and makes it possible for the homeowner to install and maintain the device without the assistance of a professional. Additionally, when the interchangeable adapter is used to mount the motor to the valve handle mounting shaft, it will remain balanced and not bind or be hindered in power.
The present invention also includes an anti-torque mount. The anti-torque mount is extendable from the bottom of the motor unit so that it straddles the pipe that is connected to the valve, but it is not permanently secured. This arrangement allows for easy adjustment of the anti-torque mount. Further, because the anti-torque mount is not permanently attached to the pipe, the entire valve shut off device can easily be removed from the valve without tools.
A current device used to detect leaks and close a valve can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,821 (Jacobsen et al.). Other information relevant to address the problem of detecting leaks and/or closing valves in general can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 64,488,567 (Grant), U.S. Pat. No. 6,489,895 (Apelman), U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,322 (Clark), U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,515 (Clark), U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,093 (D''Antonio et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,735 (Clark), U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,788 (Diduck), U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,171 (Dwyer Jr.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,973 (Furr), U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,472 (Gordon et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,268 (Jacobson), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,686 (Tom).
However, each of these devices suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages. First, the devices are difficult to install. They require a several step process that involves many parts, and the installation process makes it difficult to center the motor on the valve handle. If the motor is not centered on the valve handle, the motor will be out of balance and will bind and prevent the motor from shutting off the valve. The prior art devices are complicated and require a plumber or other professional to install and maintain.
Second, and most critically, the prior art devices do not adapt to a variety of valves. The prior art devices do not adapt to valve types that differ from the standard. This is a critical limitation of the prior art that the present invention overcomes. Finally, the anti-torque mount in the above devices is semi-permanently attached to the pipe. If it is not properly tightened, the motor on the device will bind. If the anti-torque mount is permanently secured to the pipe, it is difficult to remove the device in case of emergency because the anti-torque mount has to be unfastened from the pipe. The present invention overcomes this limitation by providing an anti-torque device that is not permanently attached to the pipe, yet does not bind the motor.
Presently, there is no water main shut off device that is easy to install and fits on a variety of water valves. For the foregoing reasons, a device that would allow homeowners to easily install a water valve shut off device that fits on a variety of water valve handles is desired.