Patent ID: 7057507

Claim:
A leak detection monitoring system for a plurality of buildings, the system comprising: a plurality of sensors respectively located in a plurality of water lines each supplying water to a building from a main water supply, wherein the plurality of sensors are positioned at the water input to the plurality of buildings and provide a signal indicative of when water is flowing in the water line; a plurality of local alarm systems respectively located in the plurality of buildings, wherein the plurality of local alarm systems receive the signal from an associated sensor and evaluates the signal indicative of when water is flowing in the water line to determine if water has flowed through the water line for a preselected time period that is selected to correspond to a duration of water flow that is indicative of a water leak within the building period thereby indicating that a leak condition has occurred in the building wherein the local alarm system when it determines that a water leak condition has occurred (i) provides a local alarm to alert potential occupants of the building (ii) further develops a leak alarm signal indicative of the identity of the building for transmission; and a central alarm system located remotely from the plurality of local alarm systems, wherein the central alarm system is in communication contact with each of the plurality of local alarm systems and wherein the central alarm system includes a memory in which records for each of the plurality of buildings wherein each of the records include site specific instructions as to how to respond to a leak and wherein the central alarm system retrieves the record for a building in response to receiving a leak alarm signal from the local alarm system associated with the building.