How it Works
A leak in any proceeding pipework generates not only an audioable flow but a signature noise associated with the type of outflow. HydraGuard monitors and spectrally processes this using state of the art transducers and amplifiers, searching for continous flows (frequencies) rather than sporadic voices, music or traffic noise. It adapts to its environment, negating ambient noise, thus reducing the possibility of false positives.
Monitoring Water Flow
Once installed and the user has configured all settings in the web interface, the Hydra-Guard will continuously monitor the real-time inflow of water.
Legitimate water flow is often and sporadic with a particular set of characteristics. Whereas, a small leak is quieter and always present in some form. Hydra-Guard can differentiate between these and ambient noise to detect anomalies in your homes pipe acoustics.
The sensitivity should be set as high as possible (during installation with the water to the property turned off). If installed in a location that is normally quiet (away from any pumps etc.) the hydrguard will be able to detect very small leaks.
Detecting leaks with Hydra-Guard
With the duration set to be greater than any legitimate water outflow, the Hydra-Guard will alarm if it measures water flow for a period greater than this value. This is indicative of a leak.
Household water usage varies and depends upon number of occupants (especially teenagers) and if a garden is watered in summer (which can take a long time to complete).
An away button is used to reduce the duration to 5 minutes – this should be activated when the occupants are on holiday or away for any length of time, as there would be no expected water usage during this time.
The Hydra-Guard uses a home WiFi connection to alert the users via SMS as well as audibly alarming when it believes there is a leak. At this point the water should be turned off and the downstream pipework, cisterns and appliances inspected.