[PADG:2194] Re: recommendations for water alarms?

["Cybulski, Walter (NIH/NLM)" <Cybulskw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bobbie's comment goes to the heart of the matter.  Who monitors the
monitoring devices?  Even if a detection system is wired into other building
monitoring systems, what happens after hours and on weekends?  If it's a
sure thing that building maintenance staff are on duty 24/7, you don't have
as much to worry about.  Of course, the detection system is inevitably going
to go into alarm when the maintenance crew is on break or attending to some
other problem, right?  But you can only play "How many contingencies can you
account for?" for so long.  Make sure it's clear how library staff will be
notified about water problems in collection areas (e.g. incorporate into
disaster response plan) when an alarm sounds.  As far as water detection
devices go, I would suggest avoiding inexpensive devices because "you get
what you pay for."  Are you thinking of doing spot detection or do you want
to be more comprehensive?  Free-standing floor units?  Detection strips?
Detection cable system?  You will need to consult with the manufacturer and
your building engineer/maintenance staff to determine how to optimize
coverage with the system you want to buy.  You will need to figure out where
you want alarms to sound (e.g. an alarm in a remote area where staff are not
always present is pretty silly), and how they are supposed to sound. You
might not want a deafening alarm to suddenly go off in an area where people
are quietly working.  We have used TraceTek (http://www.tracetek.com/) water
monitoring devices, and have also heard good things about Dorlen devices
(http://www.wateralert.com/).  Be sure what you buy will work with existing
monitoring systems or can be configured to do so.  I do not know if there
are water detection systems that could send pop-up alarm messages to PCs,
but that would provide some useful redundnacy.  You have probably already
thought most or all of this through.  Good luck.

- Walter Cybulski
Preservation & Collection Mgmt. Section
National Library of Medicine
301-496-2690

-----Original Message-----
From: Roberta Pilette [mailto:roberta.pilette@xxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 4:58 PM
To: padg@xxxxxxx
Subject: [PADG:2192] Re: recommendations for water alarms?


HI,
   We are looking into water alarms for a similar situation and discovered 
that our heating controls [Johnson] offered water alarms that can be wired 
into the HVAC alarm system.  The trick is, who is monitoring the HVAC--does 
preservation staff have access to or is strictly facilities.  But if you 
can work that part out, it may make sense to see about having it wired into 
the general environmental monitoring system.

Bobbie Pilette
Yale University Library

At 01:44 PM 12/11/2003 -0800, you wrote:
>We're looking for effective water alarms for basement storage areas. 
>The best possible solution would be alarms that relayed to a staffed 
>area, which in one case is a mile away. The other areas are in large 
>buildings where the staff are normally a floor or more away from the 
>basement.
>
>Those commonly seen in preservation catalogs are about $200 each. I'm 
>finding models via Google and Amazon that are $15-$25 each, although 
>some of the Amazon reviews are less than stellar.
>
>If any one can share experiences with particular models I'd appreciate 
>it. Thanks!
>
>Normandy Helmer
>Access and Preservation Officer/
>Oregon Newspaper Project
>University of Oregon Libraries--SpecColl
>1299 University of Oregon
>Eugene, OR 97403-1299
>541-346-1864/fax 541-346-1882
>nhelmer@xxxxxxxxxxx