Since my two giant water heaters and my washing machine, are upstairs, I am considering getting a whole house leak detection/auto shut off system installed. There are several DIY ones, with a clamp on shut off, but the in-line ones that require cutting into the main line seem to be better. I am not qualified to cut into my piping, so I would have to get a professional install for those.

If anyone has a system they like, or hate, I would love to hear your thoughts.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Nothing like that here. I do have two little sensory gizmos that sit on the floor and will emit a loud noise if they detect water. One is next to the hot-water heater in the basement; the other next to the washing machine on the second floor.

I wonder if the batteries are still good. Better check!

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Sorry, no experience with a whole house water leak detection system.

However, I'd say install a pan underneath those particular items and put in an alarm/shutoff for those items as they would be the main culprits for damage if they leak. I'm not sure a whole house water leak system will detect a constant drip from something else which is probably the main cause of water damage in houses.

I don’t immediately remember the brand, but I have an automatic shutoff that is tied into my Ring alarm system (and flood sensors). It requires that you have a 1/4 turn ball valve on your inlet pipe, but then it just clamps over the pipe on both sides of the.valve and moves the valve lever to close or open the valve. I can close the valve using my Ring app, or if the alarm controller gets an alarm from the flood sensors it closes the valve automatically.

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John B.
I don’t immediately remember the brand, but I have an automatic shutoff that is tied into my Ring alarm system (and flood sensors). It requires that you have a 1/4 turn ball valve on your inlet pipe, but then it just clamps over the pipe on both sides of the.valve and moves the valve lever to close or open the valve. I can close the valve using my Ring app, or if the alarm controller gets an alarm from the flood sensors it closes the valve automatically.

It sounds like that Guardian one I looked at. It has a big blue shut off that clamps on

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2024 12:12PM by rgG.

We recently had a lock-and-leave house built in Birmingham to be close to our kid and family. It was a production builder and so our choices were limited. A rather odd thing they do is to put a 50 gal water heater in the attic. Where, of course, the water lines can freeze in the winter and/or the water heater can rust and leak. They put the water heater in a pan and then attached a Floodstop leak detector/shutoff. The sensor sits in the pan and if it gets wet it shuts the valve. You could get one of these and run the sensors (hard wired) to near the water heaters and washer if you want. It works well: [www.amazon.com]

However, if you get one, be aware of a couple of things. First, the sensor is hard-wired to the controller and doesn't send any sort of notice that it has tripped. The water just won't run. Also, we found an irritating thing. Over the first year of owning the house, the thing shut off a half dozen times, seemingly on it's own with no water in the pan. I'd have to go into the attic and press the "Open" button to get it to turn back on. The plumber changed the unit out and all seemed well until it didn't and it tripped a couple more times. I finally talked to the plumber who told me it was so sensitive that it was responding to humidity in the attic and that several of the house designs didn't allow enough air flow to control the humidity. He said I could run a fan on the sensor and that would do it. Before I did that, I went to the manufacturer's website and finally found a FAQ that hadn't been included in the instructions that was left with the one in our house. There's a screw that adjusts for sensitivity that the plumber apparently knew nothing about. Ours was turned to the most sensitive; I adjusted it to the least sensitive and tested it with a moist piece of tissue and it tripped and turned the water off. It hasn't been a problem since. Seems sort of odd that something that responds to water would have a sensitivity screw, but there you go.

That got me thinking about something similar for our primary house. I want something that will pick up leaks at a variety of places and turn off the house water and notify me. The Moen system looked good to me, although the sensors are pretty expensive.

[www.amazon.com]

But, I looked at the unhappy people (click on the 1 star reviews and read the first one): [www.amazon.com]
I know this is just one review but it's caused me to hold off on it.

Right, now, I'm thinking about one of the YoLink systems. They have a variety of options but I'm thinking of this one: [www.amazon.com] My hesitation is that I've never heard of YoLink.

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Michael
Over the first year of owning the house, the thing shut off a half dozen times, seemingly on it's own with no water in the pan.

I was thinking that this type of scenario needs to be considered.
Whenever you have a watchdog system that can shut something down, expect that sometimes (or often) it will shut things down when it isn't supposed to. It might even fail entirely and keep you shut down until you repair or disable it.

I have that situation with my farm tractor. It has so many watchdog sensors that have to be happy so that the tractor will start. Many of these sensors or microswitches have failed on their own requiring me to bypass them to be able to start the equipment. (Yes, the parking break is engaged. Yes, the tractor is not in gear. Yes, the PTO is not engaged, etc.).

Quote
Michael
We recently had a lock-and-leave house built in Birmingham to be close to our kid and family. It was a production builder and so our choices were limited. A rather odd thing they do is to put a 50 gal water heater in the attic. Where, of course, the water lines can freeze in the winter and/or the water heater can rust and leak. They put the water heater in a pan and then attached a Floodstop leak detector/shutoff. The sensor sits in the pan and if it gets wet it shuts the valve. You could get one of these and run the sensors (hard wired) to near the water heaters and washer if you want. It works well: [www.amazon.com]

However, if you get one, be aware of a couple of things. First, the sensor is hard-wired to the controller and doesn't send any sort of notice that it has tripped. The water just won't run. Also, we found an irritating thing. Over the first year of owning the house, the thing shut off a half dozen times, seemingly on it's own with no water in the pan. I'd have to go into the attic and press the "Open" button to get it to turn back on. The plumber changed the unit out and all seemed well until it didn't and it tripped a couple more times. I finally talked to the plumber who told me it was so sensitive that it was responding to humidity in the attic and that several of the house designs didn't allow enough air flow to control the humidity. He said I could run a fan on the sensor and that would do it. Before I did that, I went to the manufacturer's website and finally found a FAQ that hadn't been included in the instructions that was left with the one in our house. There's a screw that adjusts for sensitivity that the plumber apparently knew nothing about. Ours was turned to the most sensitive; I adjusted it to the least sensitive and tested it with a moist piece of tissue and it tripped and turned the water off. It hasn't been a problem since. Seems sort of odd that something that responds to water would have a sensitivity screw, but there you go.

That got me thinking about something similar for our primary house. I want something that will pick up leaks at a variety of places and turn off the house water and notify me. The Moen system looked good to me, although the sensors are pretty expensive.

[www.amazon.com]

But, I looked at the unhappy people (click on the 1 star reviews and read the first one): [www.amazon.com]
I know this is just one review but it's caused me to hold off on it.

Right, now, I'm thinking about one of the YoLink systems. They have a variety of options but I'm thinking of this one: [www.amazon.com] My hesitation is that I've never heard of YoLink.

Thanks!
I have looked at the Moen and the yo-link. I don’t think I have heard of the flood stop.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

We had one by Phyn for a few years before we sold that house. The app was a little wonky but it worked well for us. It starts in training mode and learns your water habits and typical usages so that it can tell when something unusual happens. We were only at the house seasonally and were most concerned about the house when we were gone, so I suppose it was pretty easy for Phyn to detect a leak in that scenario. If you're always home, your experience might be different.

If Phyn turned off the water, we could have someone check the house and then turn it back on remotely, as well. It didn't turn it off frequently and we were always notified. We didn't have leak sensors tied to it, though we had them around the house and could turn it off manually if water was detected and we were concerned. We could have programmed something to do that automatically (outside of Phyn), but Phyn was supposed to detect leaks before they get too big, so didn't feel the need to.

It's worth a look to see if it fits your use case. We had the older version of this one. [phyn.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2024 05:58PM by FormerlySaleenl.

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FormerlySaleenl
We were only at the house seasonally and were most concerned about the house when we were gone,

Our insurer (AutoOwners) requires us to shut off the water to the house when we travel. Because we are gone over the winter, I also have heat tape around the pipe stub within the house upstream from the shutoff.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Quote
rgG
Since my two giant water heaters and my washing machine, are upstairs, I am considering getting a whole house leak detection/auto shut off system installed. There are several DIY ones, with a clamp on shut off, but the in-line ones that require cutting into the main line seem to be better. I am not qualified to cut into my piping, so I would have to get a professional install for those.

If anyone has a system they like, or hate, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Install an electric anode and your water heater likely won’t ever leak.

---

Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Quote
FormerlySaleenl
We had one by Phyn for a few years before we sold that house. The app was a little wonky but it worked well for us. It starts in training mode and learns your water habits and typical usages so that it can tell when something unusual happens. We were only at the house seasonally and were most concerned about the house when we were gone, so I suppose it was pretty easy for Phyn to detect a leak in that scenario. If you're always home, your experience might be different.

If Phyn turned off the water, we could have someone check the house and then turn it back on remotely, as well. It didn't turn it off frequently and we were always notified. We didn't have leak sensors tied to it, though we had them around the house and could turn it off manually if water was detected and we were concerned. We could have programmed something to do that automatically (outside of Phyn), but Phyn was supposed to detect leaks before they get too big, so didn't feel the need to.

It's worth a look to see if it fits your use case. We had the older version of this one. [phyn.com]

That’s the brand that my plumber installs. I haven’t gotten a quote from them yet, but they did say that’s the brand.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Quote
Speedy

Quote
FormerlySaleenl
We were only at the house seasonally and were most concerned about the house when we were gone,

Our insurer (AutoOwners) requires us to shut off the water to the house when we travel. Because we are gone over the winter, I also have heat tape around the pipe stub within the house upstream from the shutoff.

That's interesting. We have AutoOwners, as well and they are silent on our lock-and-leave house regarding turning the water off. They know it's a second house. I've been turning the water off anyway simply because it made sense. It did require a trip there a couple of weeks ago to turn it on when we loaned the place to a childhood friend of my wife who was a storm refugee. My wife was sure she wouldn't have known how to turn it on. Seemed odd to me--go to the curb, lift the black plastic cover with the screwdriver, turn the valve with the valve tool, put the cover back on--but we went and did it. And we enjoyed her company for 4 days before she went back to Bradenton, FL.

Quote
Speedy
Install an electric anode and your water heater likely won’t ever leak.

Is this true?

I attempted inspecting the anode on my previous water heater and ultimately decided that the whole industry simply expects you to get a new one every 10 years. It wasn't clear to me that it was worth fighting against.

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Quote
mattkime

Quote
Speedy
Install an electric anode and your water heater likely won’t ever leak.

Is this true?

I attempted inspecting the anode on my previous water heater and ultimately decided that the whole industry simply expects you to get a new one every 10 years. It wasn't clear to me that it was worth fighting against.

The Galvanic anode also known as a sacrificial anode is there to rust instead of your water tank rusting. Once that anode gets used up (e.g. its 10-year lifespan) your water tank will begin rusting so replacing that sacrificial anode is necessary if you don't want your water tank to rust through and develop a leak.

I interpreted "electric anode" to be another way to express galvanic anode since an anode is part of an electric circuit, but It is possible that Speedy is recommending a plug-in powered anode rod to be used instead of a sacrificial anode.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2024 09:22AM by TheTominator.