Although many home and business owners have monitored security systems, few realize their system has the ability to detect flooding.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, more than 7 times as many insurance claims are caused by water damage and freezing (17%) than by theft (2.35%). Of those water related claims, 60% were caused by faulty indoor appliances or plumbing leaks, 25% were caused by heavy rain or flooding and 11% caused by sewers or sump-pumps that overflowed.

Provident Security, a Vancouver based full service security firm is offering homeowners a simple addition to their alarm systems that provides early detection of flooding for their home or business.

"A home security system does not need to be confined to simply detecting intrusion, the majority of systems in peoples homes are already capable of adding a wide range of environmental detection devices including flood, waterflow, carbon monoxide and temperature sensors ", says company President Michael Jagger. "Most people are simply not aware of how easy it is to add this type of protection for their premises."

Typically, Provident installs flood sensors in mechanical rooms, at the base of the hot water tank as well as behind toilets throughout client homes. The actual detector has two metal prongs that are placed so that should water touch both prongs, an alarm signal is immediately sent to Provident's central monitoring station indicating a flood at that specific location.

Once the signal is received by Provident (typically within forty seconds of the alarm event) Provident response teams can be immediately dispatched to attend and turn off the water in the event of a leak inside the house. Homeowners and other emergency contacts are also advised right away of the incident, saving thousands of dollars in restoration costs by catching the problem as soon as it starts. In the event that homeowners are out of town, or otherwise unreachable, Provident may be authorized in advance to contact plumbers or other emergency service providers to help correct the problem, before it becomes a disaster.

Provident provides flood detection services for clients throughout Canada and the United States, although most are concentrated on Vancouver's Westside.

Depending on whether an installation uses wireless technology or not, typical flood detectors cost between $200.00 and $300.00 each to be installed, plus a $5.00 monthly monitoring fee.

For further information, please contact Michael Jagger at (604) 656-1300

For images and further information, visit our recent post on this topic on the Provident blog.