Water Detection

Leak control in buildings with electronic devices or other valuables is an elementary part in housing surveillance and protection.

Undetected leaks may cause substantial damage:

• Damage to plant and equipment
• Health risk to personnel
• Increased fire risk
• Environment pollution
• Lost of product

Technical Documentation

Preparation

• Identification of possible sources of danger (e.g. water pipes, air conditioning devices)
• Identification of objects / plant parts that need to be protected (e.g. computer centers, communication cabinets, valuable objects)
• Marking of all sources of danger and plant parts that need to be protected within the building layout

Configuration of the sensor array

Outline the sensor cable path, the point sensors and the electronic monitoring system(s) into the building layout.
The electronic monitoring system RLW does not necessarily require an installation plan with meter specifications if the rooms or objects to be monitored are clearly outlined in the plan and on site. The leakage location and area can be indicated in plain text.

• Monitoring of individual objects by means of point sensors or short sensor cable sections
• Large-area monitoring by means of the sensor cable
  wave-form floor installation of the sensor cable
  (recommended distance = 1.2 m or double pad distance)
• Monitoring of a specific area by means of the sensor cable

Floor installation of the sensor cable directly alongside the danger sources, i.e. complete isolation of the danger source.

Planning the electronic monitoring system

• Specification of the number of buildings, rooms, floors, sectors/areas to be monitored
• Necessity of leakage detection yes/no
  (depends on the size and visibility of the object in case of a leakage)

The electronic monitoring systems RDW or RDA are used for monitoring tasks that do not require any detection. Both sensor cables and point sensors can be connected.
- For the performance characteristics see the data sheet.

The electronic monitoring system RLW is used for monitoring tasks that do require the detection feature. Both sensor cables and point sensors can be connected.
- For the performance characteristics see the data sheet.

Number of electronic monitoring systems

The number of electronic monitoring systems should, in general, be determined with the help of the final building layouts.

Recommendation:

• If, in case of a leakage, an alarm averts the central operator and active measures are introduced (such as the closure of single water inlets), the number of electronic monitoring systems should be increased during the planning phase in order to achieve a selective turnoff.
• If parts of the building or certain areas are far apart from each other, we recommend one electronic monitoring system for each building or area.

Installation

A later installation of sensor cables or point sensors in false bottoms is possible at any time.

The sensor cable is fastened directly onto the painted and cleaned screed.

Advantage

• The highly flexible cable is easily installed or pulled in.
• Reasonably prewired cable lengths facilitate and accelerate the installation procedure.
• Simple and fast installation thanks to special self-adherent tapes.
• Dirt-free working (important in case of ultra-clean rooms, computer centers etc.).

Documentation needed for the installation

• Installation plan
• System documentation consisting of :
  Description, data sheets, installation instructions and indications, user instructions,
  start-up, operational performance, test protocol

Instant of installation

All works within the false bottom (including the final cleaning-up) should be finished prior to the installation of the sensor cable.
- Prevention of sensor cable damages.

Installation indications for the sensor cable

• The floor must be dry, dirt-free and possibly dust-free.
• Use self-adherent tape to fix the sensor cable where required (e.g. false bottom).
• Fasten the sensor cable to the floor at 1-m-distances.
• The sensor cable must not be flattened against metal parts as the electronic evaluation system checks the cable for its electrical resistance.
• Condensate dripping from pipes or coolers must not wet the sensor cable.
• For flush-mounting in walls or other confinements, a non-detecting connection cable, a protective conduit or a flexible tube must be used.
• Locations where the sensor cable could be damaged should be marked by way of labels ("Attention delicate sensor cable").
• The sensor cable must rest on the surface to be monitored (obstacles such as directly installed cable routes may be jumped if leakage monitoring can be immediately continued on the other side of the obstacle).
• In the installation plan, outline the sensor cable length actually installed (especially in case of partial lengths with T-branches).
• After its installation and prior to the system start-up, the sensor cable should be checked for its insulation resistance (see test protocol).
• See the system documentation for the start-up procedure and technical data.