Think I can keep a water sensor in the shower?

Hardware
1

I want bathroom fan to turn on when shower turns on. I have an extra aquara leak detector. It doesnt make a noise when it detects water so I thought I could maybe put in shower?

I cant think of another way to automate my shower fan. I already have humidity sensor in there to trigger it but sometimes that doesnt trigger till shower is almost done. I want the fan on soon as the shower starts.

image

2

heem… Interesting concept, I would also like to know

3

do like you idea thinking out side the box

would the 2 sensor points leave rust marks on the floor ???

would be beater to watch the humidity

image

someone had a shower about 9sh

4

@myle,

I do watch humidity, but by the time it “escapes” the shower curtain and makes it to the sensor near the door (also used for motion so I cant move it), its already 5-8 min into the shower.

1 Like
5

What kind of humidity sensor you are using?
Is that a data update interval issue, or is that a “my bathroom is huge” issue, or is that a sensor placement issue?

6

Lol. I think more of an update issue, but I tried changing it from a timed update to a threshold update. Will see how that does

7

HI nappyjim

I’ve used this method for about 4 years now and it seems to work OK for us.

We just monitor our hotwater usage with a flow sensor on the intake side of the hotwater cylinder. Great data to capture for other pieces of automation too.

Then I only use a IR sensor in the shower for light switching and presence. When a user wants a shower I assume they will be using hotwater (they would usually run the shower before you get into it so it’s warm) I guess if you are into cold showers then no fan needed.

When the user gets in the shower and the shower door/curtain is closed the IR sensor won’t see you and will turn off. So…

If the bathroom light is ON and the IR sensor turns off AND the hotwater flow is at a shower usage (ie. flow greater than 100 pulses per minute lets say) then turn the fan on and trigger other related logic, (turn on stereo,towel rails,floor heating,vaccum bot) etc.

Seems to be pretty reliable, code controlled, minimal sensors, and even the kids don’t complain about it so win win…

Hope that helps

Cheers
Steve

8

i did this as well. But i was on ZHA, and the devices kept dropping off, now im on Z2M, i might try again

9

Steve,

By IR sensor, do you just mean a run of the mill motions sensor?

And Im interested in the flow sensor on your water heater. Can you link me to the device?

10

I did have same issue, got one more aqara weather sensor (zigbee) for 11 USD and put it on the selling in the actual shower area. I compare to a humidity sensor outside the bath, and if it get above 10% in difference, then turn on. Works with-in a minute. Not instant, however fast enough for me. And, cheap.

Turning off, I do not turn off at 10% in difference as that is to fast, however use 1%. might be depended on a lot of other factors, so try for your setup.

11

Flow sensor is something like this…(heaps of choice) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003957572677.html And IR sensor is something like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002346083658.html but any IR sensor should work as long as it doesn’t detect anyone in the bathroom when the shower is running. Hardest part is the pipe work for the flow sensor.

20221209_164935
20221209_1649351920Ă—933 61.5 KB

12

what is the wire on the sensor connected to? IE how are you feeding the data to HA?

13

The house was a new build so we wear able to run lots of cat6 everywhere. That wire runs from the Hotwater Cylinder (HWC) closet back to a central automation panel where all the ESP’s live. The ESP’s then talk to HA. If you are retro fitting then I guess you would need to use the power available near the HWC and transform to 5v for a remote ESP.

14

I have tried the humidity sensor, right above the shower. But as someone else said it takes too long to update.

Did anyone ever work out a solution with the water sensor?

15

The humidity sensor has worked great for me actually. After I turn the shower on, it takes maybe a minute of hot water being on for humidity to rise to trigger it.

I just had to add some logic so its basing the humidity needed to trigger it. I have it set so that if the humidity in bathroom shower it 10% higher than the humidity sensed on my thermostat on the main level, it triggers the fan in the bathroom. I do this through node red.

16

How good is node red :slight_smile:

Ok, I might give the differential a go, its too slow on its own. someone also mentioned a vibration sensor. Might look into that as well, but some good things to try anyway.

Thanks

17

Here’s what I do, no need for node red, and I’m quite happy with the outcome:

Because the humidity in the house could fluctuate, for example using a threshold might make sense in the summer but not in the winter - the fan might kick in too late or too early. So the idea here is to compare the humidity % readings to the average.

So, first, I created a sensor, based on the average over last x readings & last 1 hour.

sensor:
  - platform: statistics
    name: Bath Humidity Average   # Use a humidity sensor to trigger bath fan (step 1 of 2)
    entity_id: sensor.sonoff_temp_humidity_sensor_humidity
    sampling_size: 40
    max_age:
      hours: 1
    state_characteristic: average_linear

And then, I do this template binary sensor, which will trigger y % above average

template:
  - binary_sensor:  # Use a humidity sensor to trigger bath fan (step 2/2)
      - name: "Showering" 
        unique_id: showering
        device_class: moisture
        state: > 
          {{( states('sensor.sonoff_temp_humidity_sensor_humidity') | float(0) ) > 
            ( states('sensor.bath_humidity_average') | float(0) + 4 ) and 
            ( states('sensor.bath_humidity_average') != 'unknown' )  }}

(wait - why the code presentation markup feature / color scheme of the forum be different?)

You can play with the x and y based on your preferences.

And then building an automation to trigger the fan, based on the “showering or not” binary sensor, should be fairly straightforward.

Hope this helps. :slight_smile:

18

Im sure it will help someone :slight_smile:

Personally I ended up using a vibration sensor and that (so far) is working a treat.

In the other bathroom I switched from humidity to temp and that actually seems to be a lot quicker in reacting.

Ill see how it goes, but thanks for taking the time to explain all that. The more ways to do something the more options for people :slight_smile:

1 Like