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HS3+HSTouch+Arduino Plug-in = Plumbing success

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    HS3+HSTouch+Arduino Plug-in = Plumbing success

    Most of the time, I'm writing for help with problems. But yesterday I had one of those moments when this home automation stuff just worked and saved the day.

    We live in the country high on a hill. While we have "city water", we have to run a booster pump since we are higher than the water tower. The underground pump house is some 200' downhill from the house. I have managed the heating of the pump house for years, monitoring temperatures and turning on heating lamps. I've even installed backup lamps that get turned on if the primary system fails.

    Monitoring the pump operation has been more of a problem. The major concern is that the city water pressure drops or is cut off and the pump continues to run and is damage by heat failure. I had tried different methods, but after having to install an entirely new system last fall came here looking for a better monitoring solution.

    I found this https://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=175455 and installed the senor and an Arduino with a 4 line LCD in the utility room. I used the Arduino plug-in to get the data to HS3 events that monitor the pressure and turn off the pump when the pressure is low. I then added an HSTouch screen that displayed the pump house status and provides a simple way to monitor and control the pump and the pump house heating. I also flash a warning on the main HSTouch screen and send myself an emial notification when there is a problem with the pump house heat or pressure. A very high WAF.

    Yesterday, while I was away, we had a plumber out to fix a minor leak in a bathroom. The plumber had to shut off the water and drain the system. I received an email when the pressure dropped that the pump had been shut off. I waited a few minutes and then called my wife to remind her that she would need to restart the pump. She was very happy with how simple the process was. Such calls have been know to result in tears in the past.

    While a simple solution in the HA world, it made everyone - me, my wife and the plumber very happy. Just needed to share the story and to thank HST, Greig, the developer of the Arduino plugin, and ecuboss for his post.

    Barry

    #2
    Originally posted by lhfarm View Post
    Most of the time, I'm writing for help with problems. But yesterday I had one of those moments when this home automation stuff just worked and saved the day.

    We live in the country high on a hill. While we have "city water", we have to run a booster pump since we are higher than the water tower. The underground pump house is some 200' downhill from the house. I have managed the heating of the pump house for years, monitoring temperatures and turning on heating lamps. I've even installed backup lamps that get turned on if the primary system fails.

    Monitoring the pump operation has been more of a problem. The major concern is that the city water pressure drops or is cut off and the pump continues to run and is damage by heat failure. I had tried different methods, but after having to install an entirely new system last fall came here looking for a better monitoring solution.

    I found this https://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=175455 and installed the senor and an Arduino with a 4 line LCD in the utility room. I used the Arduino plug-in to get the data to HS3 events that monitor the pressure and turn off the pump when the pressure is low. I then added an HSTouch screen that displayed the pump house status and provides a simple way to monitor and control the pump and the pump house heating. I also flash a warning on the main HSTouch screen and send myself an emial notification when there is a problem with the pump house heat or pressure. A very high WAF.

    Yesterday, while I was away, we had a plumber out to fix a minor leak in a bathroom. The plumber had to shut off the water and drain the system. I received an email when the pressure dropped that the pump had been shut off. I waited a few minutes and then called my wife to remind her that she would need to restart the pump. She was very happy with how simple the process was. Such calls have been know to result in tears in the past.

    While a simple solution in the HA world, it made everyone - me, my wife and the plumber very happy. Just needed to share the story and to thank HST, Greig, the developer of the Arduino plugin, and ecuboss for his post.

    Barry
    Barry

    Nice work, cool story
    cheeryfool

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