Home Automation - Water and Moisture Alert via Telephone

One of the smartest things you can do is set up a water and moisture alert system that triggers a telephone call to your telephone or smartphone -- and possibly to your neighbor if you are away from home.

Insteon home automation has made setups like this both affordable and not difficult to install and operate.

If you can carefully read and follow directions and are handy at home DIY projects you should have no difficulty installing and operating Insteon home automation networks.

This setup is perfect if you want to receive an alert because of a wet basement or crawl space. You should avoid water damage from wet basements and crawl spaces for health as well monetary reasons

If water seeps through your basement wall, if condensation wets the wall, or if water leaks from any source, you want to be alerted via telephone call right away.

You decide to place one water sensor on the floor along a basement wall where you think there might be a possibility of moisture buildup. (Or next to a basement water closet as in the photo to the right.)

When the moisture sensor detects water or moisture, the connected I/O Linc sends an Insteon signal over your existing house electric wiring.

That signal is picked up by the second I/O Linc connected to the telephone dialer and triggers one or more telephone calls to the phone numbers you programmed into the dialer.

The dialer leaves your pre-recorded emergency message at the telephone numbers you programmed in.

Find the nearest unswitched wall outlet, and plug an Insteon I/O Linc into that outlet. Then connect the two wires from the moisture sensor following the instructions.

Now you're ready to set up the phone dialer. Find a convenient location near your telephone with an unswitched wall power outlet nearby. Remove the telephone connector from the wall socket and plug it into the dialer's telephone socket, Plug the connector at the other end of the dialer's phone line connector into the wall socket.

Now plug the second Insteon I/O Linc into an unswitched wall outlet near the dialer. Connect the two wires from the I/O Linc to the telephone dialer.

When you have installed all the devices, it's time to link them together following directions. Finally, add your phone dialer program and record your message.

Electric power is delivered to most houses in two phases -- some of your circuits are on one phase, the rest are on another phase, To assure reliability throughout your home automation network, install a couple of Insteon dual band devices on the different phases of your house wiring. These dual band devices receive signals and repeat repeat them, sending them along in two bands -- one a radio frequency (RF) signal, the other a powerline signal. That is what makes Insteon home automation networks so reliable.

You'll enjoy new peace of mind once you have moisture alert set up on your insteon home automation network.