Alertors: An interesting concept

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

EXTON, PA – After one youth soccer player was killed and 29 were injured by a lightning strike on a nearby playing field in 1984, Eric Canfield, co-founder of nth Solutions, invented an extraordinary solution to an ordinary problem – he created the Storm Alert.

4-Alertors_sml Fast-forward 27 years, and the more technologically-advanced 4th generation StormAlertor is now part of an entire product line being launched through Kickstarter by nth Solutions, a Pennsylvania electronics development and manufacturing startup.

Alertors detect common household problems before they become dangerous or costly. In an era where conservation is king, the LeakAlertor is a solution for the estimated 50 million leaking toilets silently wasting precious water.

For the 5 million people with dementia and 25.5 million children under age 6, the Open DoorAlertor is peace of mind – detecting when a door has been opened and has been left open.

FridgeAlertor lets you know when the temperature of your refrigerator has gone above 40 degrees or below 32 degrees, preventing foodborne illness and food waste.

And the StormAlertor detects lightning 30 miles away, allowing time for children to be brought indoors and electronics powered down and unplugged.

Started in 2009, Kickstarter is a funding website for new ideas and projects. Supporters “back” projects and receive rewards instead of financial incentives for fully-funded projects. For more information about nth Solutions’ Kickstarter project, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1041463850/alertors-extraordinary-solutions-to-ordinary-probl.

From what I can see many of those alertors can also be seen as something that fits into the green and eco category, and the homesteading one, in a way.

However, they seem to be – though I have not had the chance to test any of them (as yet) – most useful for many and I would like to see them actually coming properly onto the market.

Could we, maybe, also get an alertor that tells us when a door has been left unlocked; I certainly could do with a reminder of that sort.

The “door left open alertor” or the “StormAlertor” certainly could be useful in many places and the “LeakAlertor” could be a very useful application to stop invisible water wastage.

It is my hope that they can get those devices into production and to market proper and that many people can be helped with them. Maybe I also could, in the end, get them reviewed as well.

© 2012