Plant rooms and boiler houses
Pumps, valves, pressure vessels and pipe joints, all of which leak eventually.
Water leak monitoring tag
The ZARC water leak tag is a wireless IoT water leak sensor. It reports the moment water reaches the floor, void, pit or bund it is watching, and again when the water clears. The probe sits on the floor where water collects first, cabled to a tag mounted out of harm's way, and the tag runs on its own battery.
01
What it reports
Most escapes of water are small for a long time before they are large. A weeping valve, a failed hose or a condensate drain that has backed up puts water on a floor that nobody walks past, and the damage builds for hours or days. The tag reports the first water to reach its probe, at any hour.
It reports two events: water detected, and water cleared. The dashboard times each one, so a leak that comes and goes, such as a drain that backs up only when a machine runs, shows as a pattern rather than a mystery.
Up to two probes run from one tag. One tag can therefore watch both sides of a plant room, or the floor under a water heater and the tray beneath it.
02
Applications
Wherever water does quiet damage before anyone sees it, the tag has a job. These are the positions we are asked about most, and the list is not exhaustive.
Water heaters, cylinders and tanks
The floor or drip tray beneath the equipment most likely to fail.
Server and comms rooms
Floor voids under raised floors, and the floor under air conditioning units and their condensate drains.
Risers and ceiling voids
Water finds its way down a riser long before it shows through a ceiling below.
Kitchens and washrooms on upper floors
Leaks here damage the floors below. An alert limits the damage to one room.
Lift pits and basements
The lowest point of a building, where water collects first and is seen last.
Bunds
Water collecting in a bund around a tank uses up the bund's capacity. The alert says when it needs pumping out.
Empty buildings
An escape of water in a void unit can run for weeks. An alert turns it into a same-day visit.
BREEAM Wat 03 projects
Leak detection on the mains supply is one of the measures the credit looks for. Whether a design earns the credit is the assessor's judgement.
Estates with a water management system
Leak alerts from the floor sit on the same dashboard as the rest of the estate's water monitoring.
03
Where it can go
The probe goes where water collects first, and the tag goes where it is safe and easy to reach, joined by a cable. Typical positions:
On the floor
In the lowest corner of a plant room, cupboard or basement.
Under equipment
Beneath water heaters, cylinders, pumps, washing machines and air conditioning units.
In drip trays and drains
In the tray under a unit, or beside a condensate drain.
In voids
Under raised floors, in ceiling voids and at the foot of risers.
In pits and sumps
Lift pits, sump chambers and service pits.
In bunds
At the low point of a bund around a tank.
04
In the dashboard
Every probe shows its live state, dry or wet, grouped by site and building. Each leak is recorded with when water arrived, when it cleared and how long it lasted, and repeated events at one probe show as a pattern. History exports for insurers, maintenance records and building files, and is held on a UK-hosted dashboard or on servers on your own site.
Alerts are pushed the moment water is detected and again when it clears. They go by email or SMS, and through an app where required, to the people you name, with escalation to further contacts and separate routes in and out of hours.
- Live wet or dry state for every probe, grouped by site
- Time water arrived, time it cleared, and duration
- Repeated leaks at one probe shown as a pattern
- Alerts on detection and on clearing
- In-hours and out-of-hours alert routes
- Leaks per month, per building and across the estate
- Full event history, exportable
- A tag that misses its check-in is flagged
05
Industries
Water damage costs every sector that owns or runs a building, including:
Buildings and estates
Plant rooms, risers and water heaters across a portfolio.
Facilities management and property operators
One view of every leak across every client site.
Data centres and critical infrastructure
Floor voids and cooling plant where water and equipment meet.
Healthcare
Plant rooms and water systems where an escape of water disrupts care.
Public sector, school and college estates
Buildings that stand empty through holidays.
Energy and utilities
Pumping stations, chambers and kiosks.
06
Technical specification
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Detection | Water reaching the probe; wet or dry |
| Probe | Spot probe on a cable, placed at the low point |
| Probes per tag | Up to two |
| Reporting | On detection and on clearing, sent as it happens |
| Timing | Time water arrived, time it cleared, duration |
| Alert delivery | Dashboard, email or SMS; app where required |
| Recipients | Named people and groups, with escalation to further contacts |
| Check-in interval | Configurable; a silent tag is flagged |
| Gateway power loss | Raises its own platform alert |
| Dashboard | Live state, event history, repeat patterns, estate statistics; configured to your requirement |
| Data | Full event history, exportable; UK-hosted or on servers on your own site |
| Power | Internal battery, up to five years depending on check-in interval |
| Radio | 433 MHz, one-way (transmit only) |
| Range | Site-dependent; confirmed by site survey |
| Mounting | Probe on the floor, in a tray, pit or bund; tag on a wall or in an enclosure |
| Environment | Indoor or outdoor, enclosure specified to the location |
| Charges | No per-alert, per-user or licence charges |
| Manufacture | Made to order in the UK |
| Certification | CE marked |
07
From requirement to live alerts
Requirement
You tell us where water would do the most damage and who needs to know, in and out of hours.
Configuration
We set the probes, check-in interval and alert routes for each position.
Fitting
Each probe goes at the low point where water collects first, cabled to a tag mounted out of harm's way.
Commissioning
We wet every probe, confirm each alert reaches every recipient, and dry it to confirm the clear.
Ready to get started? Every deployment begins with a site survey.
Book a site survey08
How it reports
The moment water reaches a probe, the tag sends it over 433 MHz radio to a ZARC gateway, which passes it to the dashboard and raises the alert. The tag transmits and never listens, so there is no receiver for anyone to reach or reprogramme over the air.
Related tags
Humidity
Damp in the air, where this tag finds water on the floor.
Tank level
A tank losing water it should be holding.
Pressure
A slow fall in system pressure, the other sign of a leak.
Power failure
A sump or drainage pump losing its supply.
Questions we answer most.
What does it detect?
Water reaching its probe. It reports the moment water arrives and again when it clears.
Where should the probe go?
At the lowest point where water collects first: a floor corner, a drip tray, a pit, a void or a bund.
Can one tag cover two places?
Yes. A tag takes up to two probes.
Will I know when the leak has stopped?
Yes. A second alert is sent when the probe dries, and the dashboard records how long the water was there.
How fast are alerts?
Detection is sent as it happens and typically reaches the dashboard within a second.
Does it detect oil or fuel?
This probe is for water. For oil or fuel, tell us the liquid and we will say what can detect it.
Does it shut off the water?
No. It reports and alerts. It does not operate valves, so it can never shut off a supply by mistake.
Does it need mains power or wiring?
No. It runs on an internal battery for up to five years, depending on the check-in interval.
Does it help with BREEAM Wat 03?
It can form part of a leak detection design. Whether a design earns the credit is the assessor's judgement.
Can one dashboard cover many buildings?
Yes. Every probe on every site reports to the same dashboard, grouped the way you run the estate.
Do alerts or extra users cost more?
No. There are no per-alert, per-user or licence charges.
Looking for something else?
We work with any sensor for any application.
Most sensing needs are met by a tag we already build, configured for your equipment. If yours needs a sensor or interface we don't list, we have the engineering to build it. Tell us what you need to measure, and we will tell you how we would do it.
Discuss your requirementDiscuss a monitoring
or alerting solution
Tell us what is happening on site, what you need to see, and the event you need to hear about. We will come back with the system that answers it.
Direct contact
Location
Venator House, Unit 9, 15-17 St Stephen's Road, Bournemouth
Dorset, BH2 6LA · VAT GB 409644484
Products contact
Contact the engineering team
Direct to the team that designs and builds the range. Tell us the equipment and the event that matters.