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External water shutoff

External water shutoff description/claims

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/554,727 filed Mar. 19, 2004, titled “AUTO-DRAINING EXTERNAL WATER SHUTOFF” which is hereby incorporated by reference.

This Application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/082,682, filed May 17, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The present subject matter relates to controlling water sources external to a structure and more particularly to an external water shutoff.

For various purposes, such as irrigation system maintenance, water sources that extend to the exterior of structures need to be turned off. Prior to irrigation system maintenance, such as winterizing and system startup, the water to the irrigation system needs to be turned off or on from the inside of the structure. If access to the internal controls of the water source is not available, the maintenance cannot be performed. This poses a problem not only for maintenance personnel, but also those controlling access to the structure. An example of this problem is when a busy homeowner is unable to be home to allow maintenance personnel access to control the external water source. The homeowner will be unable to have the maintenance performed without compromising security of the home by leaving a door unlocked.

Further, in various areas, water use restrictions are becoming more and more common place to help conserve water. However, the various governmental bodies tasked with enforcing the watering restrictions are often under-staffed and under-funded. Further, even if proper staff levels and funding are present, sending an enforcement official out into various neighborhoods is generally an inefficient use of resources and in many cases is ineffective. Complete compliance with the water restrictions is virtually impossible.

The subject matter herein provides various embodiments that are useful to shut off and turn on a water supply external to a structure such as a single or multi-family residence, a building, or other structure. Some embodiments are useful to irrigation system servicers when performing system maintenance such as winterization, system startup, or other maintenance requiring that the water source for the irrigation system be turned on or off. This allows an irrigation system servicer to perform necessary maintenance on an irrigation system without needing to gain access to water control valves located inside the residence or other structure. These embodiments, and others, are described herein.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.

FIG. 7A shows a diagram according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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