Flume Smart Home Water Monitor

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11-12-2019 at 09:49 AM #31

Quote from WhosUrBuddiee

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Standard fill rate for a toilet is 3.7 gpm. If you were gone for 2 weeks, it would have run and wasted 74,592 gallons of water. For a $1,000 bill, you would have to be charged $13.41 per 1000 gallons or the 794% the US average rate.

I'm in SoCal. And our water company has a tiered rate based on what their definition of "average household" use. Depending on how much water you use over the average, the difference is significant and get charged penalty fees..

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Last edited by Fred001 November 12, 2019 at 09:55 AM.

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11-12-2019 at 10:09 AM #32

Quote from dealcatcher123

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My water meter would submerge in water when rains. Is this water sensor water proof and stay in water for extended period of time without damage?

I am also interested to know this answer if anyone has any input

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11-12-2019 at 10:16 AM #33

Quote from TxJDog

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I am also interested to know this answer if anyone has any input

Quote from dealcatcher123

:

My water meter would submerge in water when rains. Is this water sensor water proof and stay in water for extended period of time without damage?

Per the specs, "IP67 2 foot immersion under water"

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11-12-2019 at 10:37 AM #34

Anyone knows whether we have rebate for the Bayarea San Jose or Alameda?

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11-12-2019 at 11:29 AM #35

And of course I fall in the 5% of incompatible meters (Master Meter 1" BL).

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11-12-2019 at 11:34 AM #36

I purchased this on Prime Day as well and have not had as much luck. I get false positives quite often and after working with their support team it seems as though they are related to pressure fluctuations on my line that appear as usage.

"I'm really sorry but it appears these small usage amounts are coming from pressure fluctuations.

When the triangle on your meter fluctuates back and forth, it implies that there are pressure fluctuations in the system. And when this happens, water flows back and forth across your water meter. We can filter some of that out. However, when the fluctuations get big enough, we have a hard time distinguishing between real water use and these disturbances. "

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11-12-2019 at 11:37 AM #37

same price on Amazon

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11-12-2019 at 11:39 AM #38

Quote from WhosUrBuddiee

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How long was it running that you didnt notice? The average price of water in the United States is about $1.50 for 1,000 gallons. So you would have to have your toilet run and waste 400,000 gallons to get hit with a $600 bill.

I wouldnt trust the first google result you see. I live in a very average city and my water is not nearly that cheap. I know other parts of the state are a little cheaper, but 0.15c/gal is ridiculously cheap. Our water district charges about 2.2c/gal ($22 per 1000 gallons.) I would LOVE to know where in the US you can get water for that cheap.

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11-12-2019 at 11:40 AM #39

Quote from uladzislau

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same price on Amazon

showing $169 on amazon, $144 via stack

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11-12-2019 at 11:58 AM #40

Quote from SquirtTortuga

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Have a toilet with a slow leak for a year, and it will add up. It's not unreasonable.

Yes it is.... $600 seems very unreasonable for a small leak considering I only pay about $400 per year for water for a household of 4. Unless your leak is 20X larger than my entire water usage.... It seems that would have to be a pretty big freaking water leak to amount to $600 in water useage.

I get a water bill every 3 months that is usually around $95, ie around $30 per month.
For a family of 4, with 3 full baths, and running lawn sprinklers daily all summer and washing 2 cars weekly..... I don't see how anybody would not notice if they had a leak that caused their usage to go up times 20X in a month.

Not buying that a leaky toilet would result in $600 water bill.

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11-12-2019 at 12:11 PM #41

Quote from bcg27

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I bought one of these on prime day. It works well. Setup was a little tricky if your router dynamically handles 2.4/5 GHz connections without exposing which one you're on. Otherwise no issues. It will definitely detect a dripping toilet. You can set up various usage alerts like short duration high flow that might indicate a catastrophic leak or a long duration low flow that might indicate a drip.

I haven't paired this with a automatic shut off yet but plan to in the future. I'm a little hesitant with the Dome because my valve is fairly stiff, and the in line systems are significantly more expensive and require plumbing work.

I've the same issue with stuff valve plus ppvc which technically should not have anything attached to it like the Dome. So I went with econet tools bulldog valve robot. It attaches to the valve only and surprised how well it works tbh. The only trick was lining up the pivot points (valve and robot) since it's outside in a box in the ground was a bit of PIA because tight space to try and work in but definitely worth it. I used a lot of smartthings leak sensors but they are kind of flaky prob should've gone with z wave sensors. I'm monitoring them with a ST smart app so I know when offline at least which happens more than I like but could be my orbi mesh router.

I was going to add a flume too but they claim not to be compatible with my meter. The guy from the city told me they are going to start using a system with online access and alerts/notifications for changes in usage pattern (leaks). Just going to wait on that although he did tell me some people were able to get the flume working on the supposedly incompatible meters. Followed up with flume and they said no promises on that.

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Last edited by OrangeSwallow477 November 12, 2019 at 12:16 PM.

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11-12-2019 at 12:16 PM #42

I purchased one months ago and have enjoyed it.

Helped me figure out what is going on with the running meter and how much water is being used.

For the price point, nothing compares.

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11-12-2019 at 12:28 PM #43

It's great if it works. Bought mine on Amazon during sale last time. It never worked. Went past the return point as I was troubleshooting it the whole time with the company. Thus I have never been able to use it.
I think I have faulty equipment, as a friend nearby has one and it works well.

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11-12-2019 at 12:40 PM #44

So this works with purely mechanical meters without built in connectivity?

I have an old passive meter in my basement where the line comes in, but this isn't the one the water company uses. Their meter is in a pit somewhere out near the street. I'm not sure if this one is a remnant from before they added the outdoor meter or if the previous owners had it to do their own monitoring, but I left it installed because it makes it easy to track the replacement intervals for my filter system.

If I can install this on the meter inside, that would be great. I have concerns about the other options that need to be plumbed in not because I can't do the work but because they're of unknown quality. If this is piggybacking on a big old brass meter that's been there for years, that's great.

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11-12-2019 at 12:43 PM #45

Quote from joebob2000

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I wouldnt trust the first google result you see. I live in a very average city and my water is not nearly that cheap. I know other parts of the state are a little cheaper, but 0.15c/gal is ridiculously cheap. Our water district charges about 2.2c/gal ($22 per 1000 gallons.) I would LOVE to know where in the US you can get water for that cheap.

My local utility charges $3.44 per 1,000 gal. If you are an extreme user and get into the penalty range, it jumps up to a max of $8.23 per 1,000 gal.

Prices can vary a lot from city to city, but it is hard to believe that a single toilet running for 2 weeks could cost more than I would pay for 25 years worth of water use for my entire family. I don't think people realize the insane amount of water someone would have to use to get a $1,000 bill.

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