I’m interested in putting in a whole house shutoff valve at my house in Florida. The problem I have is that all of the valves specify an indoor mounting and, based on how my water line enters my home (under my garage slab) I can’t reasonably mount an overall shutoff anywhere inside.
How delicate are these valves? Has anyone mounted one in an outdoor enclosure? If so, how is it holding up. My location is about 200 yards from the Gulf so the air has a bit of salt, heat and humidity.
Thanks,
John
You just have to check the operating specs. There are multiple issues:
Most of them won’t operate below freezing. Whether an enclosure is good enough to prevent that while still allowing signal to get through just depends on the details. There’s also an upper range on operating temperatures. Enclosures often protect from cold while increasing heat on the high end.
Electrical safety. Many jurisdictions have very specific requirements for any electrical equipment installed outdoors. Usually you can solve this with an enclosure rated to code, so again it’s a question of whether the signal can get through.
But the problem is typically solveable, as for pool monitors.
I would talk to a local electrician who installs irrigation or pool equipment to see what your local jurisdiction might require.
Also, be aware that there is significant signal loss during rain. Whether it’s in an enclosure or not, it’s the distance the signal has to travel from the antenna to the next receiver device. For this reason many manufacturers advise against putting disaster monitoring equipment outdoors, as the signal might be lost in exactly the kind of weather likely to cause the condition being monitored. This is probably the biggest issue. Even if you do decide to put the valve itself outdoors, I’d be tempted to bring the transmitting antenna itself inside, or at least to the wall’s edge.
I was thinking of mounting in a box adjacent to the house. This is NW Florida. It rarely goes below freezing for long, but it does get a trifle warm in the summer. This wall of the house is always shaded and would protect it from weather extremes. Electrically this is low voltage and I have an outlet there for the transformer. These things are expensive and I don’t want to invest in one and screw it up. This is the first house I’ve had with no internal shutoff.
I’m in Los Angeles and I mounded mine outside against the side of the house because I had no other option. I drilled a hole through the wall next to where I mounted the device, cut the power cord, then ran the cable into the house. I reconnected the wires inside (soldered and electrical tape), then I plugged in the power adapter to an APC UPS that was already next to the wall I drilled into. I built a little box that I waterproofed. I don’t expect there to be any issues. I also test the unit every month to make sure things are still operational. Good luck!