expiredPowhusku posted Dec 15, 2021 05:20 PM
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expiredPowhusku posted Dec 15, 2021 05:20 PM
Phyn Plus Smart Home Water Monitor with Shutoff (Gen 2), Leak Detector and Auto-Shutoff $429.99
$430
Costco Wholesale
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The product is nice and no subscription is great, but go in with your eyes open. There is also no open api so no way to integrate directly Home Assistant or similar.
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Also this is much more complex than just water dectectors that get in the way when placed just right. It will detect a running faucet. When using the leaksmart stuff we actually had a leaking drain pipe that destroyed a decent amount of supplies because our daughter had just shoved stuff in the cabinet and pushed it to the side so it took longer to alert us. The Phyn would have caught it much sooner.
Also while they don't offer an open API, it is able to use a limited subset of the leak algorithms when it can't reach their cloud.
For those the keep saying Dome realize you aren't comparing apples to apples.
Dome is little more than a motorized lever that manually turns your existing cutoff. Do you trust that it can properly push your cutoff or will it slip or warp under pressure if the valve resists. I looked at it when I first used the leaksmart stuff and honestly felt it was too likely to fail.
Also something has to monitor for leaks to tell it to shut. Not only do those sensors cost money too, but they are a major pain to kept feed with batteries for some locations (refrigerator and washer is often hard to reach - 4 houses/apartments and all would have been a pain). Further they only detect leaks where they are placed.
The Phyn (and Moen) monitor the flow directly and use a proprietary algorithm to find a leak anywhere in the house.
The Phyn (and Moen) monitor the flow directly and use a proprietary algorithm to find a leak anywhere in the house.
Leak sensors are pretty cheap, especially if you have an existing zigbee or SDR equipment and you're interested in integrating leak sensors into your home automation system. On sale the Govee ones are $6 each, and work with SDR gateways.
For those the keep saying Dome realize you aren't comparing apples to apples.
Dome is little more than a motorized lever that manually turns your existing cutoff. Do you trust that it can properly push your cutoff or will it slip or warp under pressure if the valve resists. I looked at it when I first used the leaksmart stuff and honestly felt it was too likely to fail.
Also something has to monitor for leaks to tell it to shut. Not only do those sensors cost money too, but they are a major pain to kept feed with batteries for some locations (refrigerator and washer is often hard to reach - 4 houses/apartments and all would have been a pain). Further they only detect leaks where they are placed.
The Phyn (and Moen) monitor the flow directly and use a proprietary algorithm to find a leak anywhere in the house.
For those the keep saying Dome realize you aren't comparing apples to apples.
Dome is little more than a motorized lever that manually turns your existing cutoff. Do you trust that it can properly push your cutoff or will it slip or warp under pressure if the valve resists. I looked at it when I first used the leaksmart stuff and honestly felt it was too likely to fail.
Also something has to monitor for leaks to tell it to shut. Not only do those sensors cost money too, but they are a major pain to kept feed with batteries for some locations (refrigerator and washer is often hard to reach - 4 houses/apartments and all would have been a pain). Further they only detect leaks where they are placed.
The Phyn (and Moen) monitor the flow directly and use a proprietary algorithm to find a leak anywhere in the house.
1:Battery changes are a nightmare when you have to move multiple appliances to get to them. In my case some times I had to move something big to move the blocking appliance. My 8 leaksmart sensors had to be changed twice a year (lithium or alkaline - 3AAA each). Even if the money cost is tiny the time cost is high. Especially when I had to use extension pinch grabbers for the washer's sensor and between curves on the sensor and lithium tremors that took a dozen tries and by the end I was furious and near tears from frustration. Changing that sensor's battery ruined the rest of the day every single time.
2: Unless you live alone they don't work as well as you think. Obviously I knew where they were and was careful not to knock them out of place, but no one else cared. I never had to worry about our son (because he is sloth personified ;-)), but both my wife and daughter routinely moved sensors around accidentally. Yes they still detect water but just a few inches away (especially in a cabinet that has had damage and the base sags from previous owners) can make a big difference in how quickly the leak is detected.
So no leak sensors, my meter is actually 1000' away at the road and they refuse to move them so meter based monitoring is out. That leaves Phyn and Moen. At this point I'd actually prolly put in a Moen even with the extra subscription just because of my experience with Phyn.
Don't get me wrong. It works and I'm not replacing it, even though I put in cutoffs above and below for easy access. It's just knowing what I do now to save myself the hassle and go with Moen instead. Unless I found some other alternate that needs no sensors and no meter access.
As far as the 'algorithms' sneer I'd point up it that they likely have a fairly complex expert system on their end of the web service, but even a fairly simple >x flow for >y minutes could be useful.
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