Either it's happened to you, or you probably know someone who's had it happen to them. I'm talking about the unfortunate circumstance of a major flood in a home caused by a burst pipe or broken plumbing component. Knock on wood, it's never happened to us in our home, but it's occurred in my parents' second floor laundry room, the second floor bathroom of an aunt and uncle, and the upstairs bathroom of another friend. In each occurrence, a burst pipe, broken washer on the toilet, or cracked washing machine part resulted in a several hour long interior waterfall that ultimately ended in thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in damage, weeks or months of inconvenience, and a level of frustration I'd rather not imagine.

Given the level of effort we put into our home, we've done all we can to ensure we are not one of the millions of insurance statistics filing a claim for water damage. We use braided metal hoses or solid metal supply lines on all fixtures (where possible), we shut off the water entirely when we go on vacation, we check our connections regularly for minor signs of leaks, and we use connections and shut off valves that are appropriate for each place they are installed, like this polished nickel brass supply line with high quality quarter turn valve in the guest bathroom. 

All that being said, we have no protection against a broken part or burst pipe causing a leak that is allowed to run for hours or days while we're away, damaging floors, walls, ceilings, and all of the precious items we've worked so long and hard to build or restore. Honestly, I'm such a serious worrier I don't know how I've been able to sleep at night or function as a normal person with this horrible possibility hanging over our head.

After knowing so many people affected by similar situations and the crippling paranoia that has started to mount in my chest since I started writing this blog post, I have something that may be able to lower my blood pressure just a bit. A while back I began researching fail-safe options for our house. I felt there had to be something that would be able to sense a major leak in progress and shut down the water main rather than allowing it to gush until we return home. Though nothing is foolproof, a water sensor and auto shutoff valve seems like pretty a great way to control some of the uncertainty. Well, wouldn't you know it, I'm not the first one that had this idea, and there are a slew of products out there that can help protect your home from a catastrophic water disaster.

After much research, we settled on a product called the "WaterCop." The device is an inline and remote controlled water shut off valve that installs directly on your house's main water supply line. It comes with several radio frequency sensors that install in the various locations around your home where major leaks often start and cause significant damage, such as behind toilets, under sinks, around water heaters or washing machines, or anywhere water might tend to accumulate form a burst pipe.