In America and elsewhere, serious damage is caused each year to many buildings, and severe burdens are placed on the owners, occupants, and users of those buildings, by problems relating to water. The types of problems that can lead to water damage include but are not limited to flooding, bursting of water pipes due to freezing, corrosion, or other problems, water seepage into buildings (and especially basements) after rains, water condensation on cold pipes or other surfaces, punctures in dryer vents or other types of ducting, etc. Any of these types of events or conditions can lead to structural damage to wood, dry wall, or other materials, the growth of noxious colonies of mold of other microbes, the formation of foul odors, etc., and those problems in turn can trigger asthma attacks, respiratory problems, and other health problems.
If flooding, a burst pipe, or other problem causes water intrusion inside a building, or if excessive moisture buildup is discovered, the remediation process most commonly involves six major stages. First: the source of the problem must be identified, and repaired or otherwise addressed. Second: mechanical means (such as mopping, wet/dry vacuuming, etc.) are used to remove the bulk of the water. Third: any relatively inexpensive materials that have been damaged by the water (such as carpet, paneling, dry wall, etc.) usually are removed (and are either discarded or thoroughly dried, exposing the underlying structural supports, which typically include beams, studs, door or window casings, concrete floors or walls, and other structural items. Fourth: devices such as fans or blowers, portable dehumidifiers, etc., are usually placed inside the affected room(s), to accelerate the drying process. Fifth: to the extent possible, various affected surfaces usually are cleaned with a disinfectant or similar antimicrobial agent, to kill as many of the remaining microbes as possible. Sixth: dry wall, paneling, carpeting, or similar items are replaced, to return the structure to a fully habitable condition.
It should be noted that terms such as “room” and “building” are used broadly, and are not be limited by arbitrary distinctions. In general, the term “room” refers to any particular enclosed or semi-enclosed volume-containing area, inside a building. For example, an entire basement or any portion thereof might be regarded as a room, and the entire enclosed area of a large warehouse might similarly be regarded as a room, if conditions warrant and depending on the layout of a building. Similarly, a crawlspace, storage area, or other enclosed area inside a building that needs to be cleaned out might also be regarded as a “room” under this broad use of the world. Similarly, “building” can include any type of enclosed structure that is used to enclose and/or shelter people or contents, if such structure is of a type that may need water-damage remediation as disclosed herein.
As used herein, “fan” includes any powered device used primarily for blowing or otherwise moving air, including devices that might also be called blowers, compressors, etc. The term “dehumidifier” includes any type of device that draws, blows, or otherwise moves moisture-laden air through a condensing unit. Typically, the air passes across exposed tubes carrying cold refrigerant, and moisture condenses on the cold surfaces of the tubes and any additional fins, baffles, etc. The condensate drips down a vertical surface until it reaches a low point, then it falls into a collection basin. In commercial units, the basin usually is pumped out through a hose, into a drain or tank, under the control of a sensor that turns on a pump when the basin becomes full.
Many remediations are carried out by professional contractors, who specialize in performing such work efficiently and thoroughly, to minimize the risk of future problems. When contractors are involved, it usually is necessary or at least very helpful for them to monitor and keep dated records of the conditions in any rooms that are being remediated, to determine the status and progress of the drying process, and to help schedule and organize each stage of work that will be required, as listed above.
Relative humidity, absolute humidity, and air temperature are almost always monitored, since they are crucial factors in determining the progress of a water remediation effort. Since they involve measuring the air, those parameters can be referred to as “atmospheric conditions”, if desired, so long as it is understood that the air that is being measured is inside a room, rather than outdoors. Most commonly, a worker measures them by using a hand-held electronic sensor that can provide fairly rapid digital readouts on a display panel. Such monitoring usually is done only once a day at the start of an operation, to establish starting or “baseline” levels and an awareness of how things are progressing, and how much still needs to be done. As each stage of remediation nears completion, monitoring often needs to be performed more frequently, such as twice or even several times a day. The data that is collected using such hand-held electronic sensors usually are recorded and documented manually, by a worker, such as by using a pen or pencil to fill in the blanks on a worksheet.
This approach to monitoring the atmospheric conditions in a room or building during water remediation is labor-intensive, and is relatively time-consuming, expensive, distracting, and burdensome. In addition, it becomes even more troublesome if a job site is a long distance away from a contractor's office (which happens fairly often, especially in rural areas). Also, the reliability of the data is subject to the sampling technique(s) and skill of the worker who handles the electronic monitoring device, and it also depends on that worker's willingness to spend extra time and effort to fill out a worksheet, each and every time a new set of readings is taken. Since most workers who do that type of work are not especially fond of handling and filling out that kind of paperwork, the data are not always reliably gathered and recorded, and the data also can be (i) limited by the capabilities and memory capacity of the portable sensor, and/or (ii) rendered erroneous and misleading, if a portable electronic device is handled roughly, or if it gradually drifts out of calibration.
A worker at a job site usually will also be assigned to check the operating status of any electrical equipment (fans or blowers, portable dehumidifiers, space heaters, etc.) being used at that site. However, except for basic repairs (such as checking to make sure any power cords are fully plugged in, any circuit breakers have not been tripped, etc.), such workers usually are not trained, qualified, or equipped to repair that type of electrical equipment if it malfunctions.
In addition, problems such as tripping of a circuit breaker (thereby shutting down power equipment that is crucial to the remediation) often do not occur while a worker is present, and it should be noted that such occurrences are fairly common, if a flood or burst pipe allowed water to permeate into sockets, switches, junction boxes, or other wiring or appliances. Similarly, regardless of any warnings and admonitions that may be given to a homeowner in the most direct, clear, and blunt language possible, there will always be a select few homeowners who will decide to turn off the fans and blowers when it's time to go to bed, because the equipment is making too much noise. Those types of shutdowns, if not detected quickly, can lead to extended periods of lost and wasted time, which will slow down a remediation, and which can create serious problems and disputes between homeowners, contractors, and insurance companies.
Accordingly, one object of this invention is to disclose an improved system that will allow automated remote monitoring of atmospheric conditions inside a water-damaged building, using portable sensor/processor/transmitter devices that can be: (i) easily installed and positioned in a room or other indoor environment, at the start of a remediation operation, and (ii) easily removed and taken to the next job site, as soon as the remediation operation has been completed.
Another object of this invention is to disclose an improved system that will allow automated remote gathering and recording of atmospheric data from inside a water-damaged room, using sensor devices that can be positioned at more than one location inside a room or building.
Another object of this invention is to disclose an improved system that will allow data concerning atmospheric conditions in a building that is being remediated to be stored onsite for any desired period of time, and transmitted whenever desired (such as by telephone, wireless RF transmission, etc.), such as at predetermined times, or when activated by a triggering signal from a control device that is being used to gather data from a number of sensor/processor/transmitter devices.
Another object of this invention is to disclose an improved system that will extensively automate the gathering and processing of data on atmospheric conditions inside numerous water-damaged buildings that are being remediated by a contractor, using a system of multiple job-site sensors that interact with a job-site processor which can collect data at the job site and then intermittently transmit the data to a website or a remote computer.
Another object of this invention is to disclose an improved system that can automate the gathering and processing of data on atmospheric conditions inside numerous water-damaged buildings that are being worked on by one or more contractors, and that will allow data on atmospheric conditions in any of those buildings to be retrieved and analyzed by a technician from any site, using internet, telephone, or similar access.
Another object of this invention is to disclose an improved system that will allow a remediation worker to be automatically contacted when a significant change (such as, for example, loss of power, failure of a machine, or atmospheric moisture levels dropping below a targeted level) is detected by one or more sensors within a building bring remediated.
These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent through the following summary, drawings, and description.