I have a condensation heater boiler and some air conditioner units, despite their announced energy efficency they drip condensated water outside throught the drain pipe (as expected).
It’s a remote monitoring but this is a very simple task.
I made a bit of research and i found a Zigbee battery powered water leak sensor (with external probes) and a small (no powered) floating switch. Replacing the contact sensor with the switch i’am able to trigger an alarm, in my case a notification and voice announcement, on Alexa Echo dot.
Parts List
- Tuya Zigbee water leak sensor (Tuya Zigbee allarme perdite d'acqua rilevatore sensore perdite d'acqua allarme inondazione sistema di allarme di sicurezza trabocco funziona con Gateway Zigbee|Sensor & Detector| - AliExpress)
- Steel Floating switch (1PCS In Acciaio Inox Interruttore A Galleggiante del Serbatoio del Liquido Sensore di Livello Dell'acqua Doppia Sfera Interruttore A Galleggiante del Serbatoio Pool Sensori di Flusso|Flow Sensors| - AliExpress)
- Some cables and soldering iron
- Sensor AAA batteries
- Optional 3D printed bracket (Float Switch Bracket for 5 Gallon Bucket by SawnCraft - Thingiverse)
Building
- Optionally start pairing the sensor with your zigbee coordinator and add it to Home Assistant or Zigbee2Mqtt (i use the Sonoff Dongle but it’s indifferent, you can also test if shorting the probes marks the sensor as closed/open. The sensor is pretty reactive!
- I opened the sensor case and located the probes pads
- Desoldered the original leads and replaced with the floating switch cables. I little trick is to reverse the “ball” if necessary so it triggers closed (wet) when it’s in up position.
- Insert batteries and close the plastic case. Done.
Mouting outside
My water tank is a big bottle so i found a L shaped plastic bracket. I screwed the floating switch and enclosed the sensor inside a plastic bag to ensure light rain proof for the sensor case.
Final toughts
You can use any custom card you want in Home assistant
I integrated into my alarm sistem automation but you can also trigger Alexa / Google home voice announcements (Alexa Media Player Integration - #3 by playerWon) calling its service via a simpler automation.
Total cost about 10€ (~11$)
More info here… Heater / Air Conditioner Water Level Tank alarm – Fabiosoft