In the case of water pipe burst, early notifications from best smart home water detectors can help to minimize property or equipment damage (pixabay/The Digital Artist).
Check out our top choices of best smart home water leak detectors for Singapore and across Asia. Like smart smoke detectors, smart water leak detectors are only useful for damage control. In addition to sending alerts upon water leak detection, they can minimize the damage by shutting off connected smart valve on the water pipe. Or prevent short circuit by turning off nearby home appliances connected to smart plugs.
To select the correct sensor that meets your needs, consider the following 3 factors:
- Most water leak detectors require a controller to function. Select open-system controllers like Samsung Smart Hubs. Although standalone Wi-Fi detectors may seem like a better choice, they may not be compatible with open-system controllers.
- US water leak detectors with Z-wave wireless connection cannot work with UK/EU controllers and vice versa. Meanwhile, ZigBee detectors do not have this compatibility issue.
- Battery-operated models are preferable to wall-powered models due to safety concern on having electricity too near to water source. If the wall socket is far from water source, the models must have long sensor leads.
If you have installed smart smoke detectors at home, then smart water leak detectors should be the next consideration. Like fire hazard, water leak doesn’t happen often or maybe never. But when it does happen, you’ll glad that this problem is well taken care of.
Indeed, we have witnessed first hand a local library flooded with water due to burst pipe the night before. As a result, the library is closed for a week to clear the mess. This could have been avoided with smart water leak detectors in place.
Upon water leak detection, SmartThings water leak sensor sends notification to mobile devices. It works with SmartThings hub or any hub that supports ZigBee wireless connection. Since SmartThing hub is one the of the best smart home hubs in the market, it’s very easy for future expansion. However, the initial cost including the controller is high if all you need is only water leak detection. Click on the title to learn more.
Note: Requires SmartThings hub.
Fibaro flood sensor is not a Wi-Fi standalone device, so it requires a controller to function. The Z-Wave model for Android works with popular smart hubs including Samsung SmartThings hub. While the HomeKit model for iOS requires Fibaro Home Center as the controller. For local leak notification, this sensor includes siren alarm. In addition, it’s probably the only sensor that will survive flooding because it can float. Click on the title to learn more.
Models: Apple HomeKit and Z-Wave.
Note: Requires either a Z-Wave smart hub or Fibaro Home Center. Since US Z-Wave controllers are not compatible with UK/EU Z-Wave devices and vice versa, choose all Z-Wave devices from either US or UK/EU.
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