Inventor Thinks His Water Shut-Off System Will Float

For a guy who’s not a plumber, inventor Frank Sears has heard a lot of leaking-pipe horror stories.

One of his friends returned to a summer home in Twin Lakes, Idaho, to discover his pipes had frozen during the winter. When they had thawed, the house had been flooded. Everything was covered with mold.

Another man left home for two weeks. When he returned, he found that a washing machine hose had burst. Thousands of dollars’ worth of antiques were floating in the basement in 6 feet of water.

A copper water-heater pipe cracked in one woman’s home, gushing water for hours before it was discovered.

“Everyone I’ve talked to knows somebody who’s had a flood at some point in their life,” Sears said Thursday.

But, no more, he vows.

The 42-year-old Coeur d’Alene man says he has invented a simple system that detects such leaks and turns off the water.

“It’s going to be a killer,” said Sears, a furniture restorer by trade. “There’s absolutely nothing (else) like it in the country. It’s going to save a lot of insurance companies and homeowners money.”

Here’s how the invention works: A worker installs sensors, smaller than a stick of gum, underneath pipes, bathtubs, water heaters and other leak-prone spots.

If water touches any sensor, an electronic box sends a signal to a valve, which shuts off the water.

Cost for the kit: $500.

Most of the technology comes from the irrigation industry, which uses the sensors to measure soil moisture.

“I’m amazed it hasn’t been done before,” said Glenn Dobbs, president of a Snohomish, Wash., company called ISI, which manufactures the system. Dobbs said he expects to sell about 10,000 kits in the first year. Most, he said, will be installed in new homes.

“It’s just another selling point for a home,” he said.

Sears said he’s had a lot of interest from vacation-home owners, hotels and home builders in earthquake-prone areas.

“Every time the ground shakes, water pipes break,” he said.

He thinks his invention is so sensible that contractors can’t help but buy it.

“It saves the carpet, walls, furniture, it saves everything,” he said. “There’s warning systems out there that have alarms. But if you’re not home, the dog isn’t going to shut off the water.”

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