Why I got a smart water leak detector — and you should, too

Why I got a smart water leak detector — and you should, also

(Paradigm credit: Moen)

DIY Smart Home

This story is part of an ongoing DIY smart dwelling house series. Be sure to check out the latest installments to follow the renovation process from kickoff to finish.

One of the more than traumatic memories from my childhood is when my family and I returned from vacation, weary from a ruby center flight, to a broken water pipe and flooded basement. Long later on the shop vac pumped the murky liquid out and the garbage truck picked upwards our ruined holding from the curb, the smell of mildew lingered.

It wasn't until my parents sold the home and nosotros moved that I stopped catching whiffs of that miserable odor. But our new digs had its ain issues with wet — a beneath-ground level with such humidity you'd think we'd moved to the Gulf instead of 90 miles east of New York Urban center.

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I of the best dehumidifiers provided an immediate prepare for the finished basement, which is where there are multiple bedrooms, a bath, a gym and small den. Merely in order to savor these rooms with breathable air, the dehumidifier needs to be monitored and controlled to conform the changing air of our domicile well-nigh the beach throughout the seasons.

When I mapped out how to create the ultimate DIY smart home, I asked myself how the mean solar day-to-day maintenance and existence in the space could exist streamlined and simplified. We had also many separate calorie-free fixtures spread also far apart, for case. That's why we took the fourth dimension to install smart switches instead of smart lights, and outfitted a one-stop smart control panel by our front door.

So rather than run down to the basement every time we wanted to know whether to adjust the dehumidifier, or hold our breath until we hear someone ecstatically shout "no flood!" from the depths of that staircase when we return from a week away, we decided to prepare one of the best water leak detectors.

If you've been following along with my smart domicile series the last half-dozen months, you might've read about my fancy, Alexa-controlled faucet from Moen's line of smart plumbing products. The company too makes water management devices nether a brand chosen Flo by Moen.

At that place are two routes nosotros could've taken with Flo past Moen: Showtime, a $499 smart water shutoff device that tin finish water if it detects a major leak, as well as monitor your overall water usage. Or, a series of $49 smart water detectors that can't control my abode'south pipes but can warn me of a possible leak and read the indoor humidity levels.

Just which fabricated more sense? The ability to plough off our water remotely sounded bang-up to my dad, who manually shuts the h2o every time he knows the house will exist empty for a few days. All the same, it would alienation the DIY nature of our smart habitation, every bit it would require a plumber to install it on our domicile'south h2o line. We could set up the faucet ourselves, simply messing with the principal water line falls outside the comfort zone of our handyman skills. And, since I'm trying to relieve thousands, the cost of the shutoff device plus the installation help won't come up cheap.

Committed to sticking to DIY, we opted for the Flo by Moen Smart H2o Detectors. These little leak detection pucks tin can exist placed anywhere in the home, just are designed for locations where detected water could be problematic, like a laundry room or underground basement.

We placed two of these $49 devices on opposite sides of our basement. They can be mounted on the wall or left on the floor, merely you just want them close enough to the ground so the remote sensing disc tin can selection upwardly the early signs of a flood.

Each Smart Water Detector recognizes leaks and will emit an 85-decibel alarm when it senses h2o contact. In the Flo by Moen app, I gear up notifications for when water, excess moisture, loftier humidity or abnormal temperatures are detected. The pucks are too compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, then I can ask if the readings are normal at whatever given time.

While water leak detectors aren't the most bonny or flashy smart dwelling devices, they've instilled a peace of heed we oasis't had nigh h2o disasters since the inundation in our one-time home all these years agone. They've besides fabricated monitoring the basement'due south humidity not a hassle, just every bit it should be.

Be sure to bank check out my guides to the best smart home devices (and all-time cheap smart abode devices ) for more gadget recommendations. Email me at kate.kozuch@futurenet.com or exit a comment beneath with annihilation yous'd like to run across me cover in the connected space — I might merely address it in a future installment.

Kate Kozuch is a senior writer at Tom's Guide roofing wearables, TVs and everything smart-habitation related. When she'due south non in cyborg fashion, you tin find her on an do bike or channeling her inner celebrity chef. She and her robot ground forces will rule the world 1 twenty-four hour period, but until then, reach her at kate.kozuch@futurenet.com.