What is Floodstop® and How Does It Work?

It may surprise you to know that interior household flooding is a fairly common occurrence. In fact, each year more than one in five homeowners submits an insurance claim for flood damage to their home.

Commonly, much of this damage comes from leaking or damaged water pipes connected to the fixtures and appliances in your home, like your sinks, washing machine, dishwasher, water heater, or ice maker, to name a few.

Sink-related leaks can be particularly troublesome and damaging to your home. They’re often small and go unnoticed until water has seeped into the flooring and subflooring, inflicting significant damage that’s expensive to repair.

Fortunately, prevention of such calamities is possible through the installation of Floodstop®, an ingenious device that can be easily installed on the most important waterlines in your home to prevent flooding before it even starts.

Explained a bit more, Floodstop® is a point-of-use water detection device that automatically and immediately closes the flood stop valves, shutting off the water supply to a sink or an appliance when the system’s water sensor detects a leak. When Floodstop® detects a leak, its motorized valve closes, stopping the flow of water while sounding an alarm to let you know there’s a water leak that needs to be fixed.

Further, the display on the unit indicates the opened or closed status of the valve. This valve, incidentally, can be manually closed, if, for example, you’re going to be away from your home for a prolonged period and you want to guard against any water leak damage. When you return, you can use the display to reopen the valve, and Floodstop® will operate in its normal mode.

Here are answers to some of the more common questions we’re asked about the Floodstop® system.

Q. Does the system really prevent flooding?

A. Yes, it does. When the system’s sensor detects a leak from a broken appliance or water line, its valve, as we said, shuts off the water supply. It can help protect against broken or burst water lines and the failure of internal components in your appliances, all of which can cause your home to be flooded and heavily damaged.

Q. Does the system work if electric power is lost?

A. Yes, it will work. The system has a battery pack for 4 AA-size batteries that powers the system if your AC power is lost. The batteries can also serve as a power source if there is no nearby power outlet, with an average battery life of up to one year.

Q. When it detects a leak, does Floodstop® shut off water to the entire house?

A. No, it does not. Floodstop® is a point-of-use device that only shuts off the water at the source of the leak. It would really not make sense to cut off your entire water supply because of one isolated leak somewhere in your system.

Q. What should I do when a leak is detected?

A. You should turn the manual valve to the Off position and investigate the source of the leak. If it’s not something you can repair yourself, call a professional plumber. After the repair work is completed, dry the sensor thoroughly and reopen the valve by pressing the Open button on the controller.

Q. Is Floodstop® hard to install?

A. No, installation is very simple, and Floodstop® can usually be installed in fifteen minutes. If you’re handy with tools, you can do it yourself. If not, the plumbing experts from Liberty Plumbing will be glad to install the system for you.

The easy-to-install Floodstop® kits for the sinks and appliances in your home are available at Liberty Plumbing, and as we said, if you don’t want to take on the installation yourself, we’ll be glad to handle that task for you.

Whatever your plumbing needs in the greater Conyers area, we’re here for you at Liberty Plumbing. Give us a call, and we’ll be right over to assist you!

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