Water leak detector thoughts

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rb99

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#310440 19-Oct-2023 09:36

Seeing as we have a water leak at the moment, anyone have any thoughts on water leak detectors to stick to the floor (I presume). We don't have any smart home anything if that makes a difference. Something that just makes a loud noise. Or sends a message to a phone but doesn't need some kind of hub or subscription.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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#3150054 19-Oct-2023 10:11

I got a handful of water leak detectors from Temu after we discovered a leaking hot water cylinder. They look like small smoke detectors, take a 9v battery, and sound like a smoke alarm if the unit detects water. It has two small metal points on the underside of the unit - when the circuit closes (due to water closing the loop), it throws a noisy fit until the circuit is opened again (metal connections dried).

They are cheap ($10 each from memory) and nothing fancy but they do what they say they should.

rb99

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#3150063 19-Oct-2023 10:28

Thanks. I did eventually spot hat kind of thing. Maybe I'll get a 4-pack or similar.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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timmmay

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#3150065 19-Oct-2023 10:34

After a couple of leaks I got Yolink leak sensors. They work well, battery life is around 2 years, they have an app to alert you, you can buy a siren if you want to, and it can be integrated with home assistant. You do need their central hub, they're not particularly expensive and can come in a kit with the sensors, I think the newer hub might have a speaker built in.

Amazon USA Link . You can buy kits of different sizes.

This system is very long range, it easily reaches 20 m through concrete block walls and house walls. That is quite useful for remote thermometers.

rb99

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#3150071 19-Oct-2023 10:57

Also a possibility thank you.

...so many choices ont interweb...

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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#3150075 19-Oct-2023 11:00

timmmay: After a couple of leaks I got Yolink leak sensors. They work well, battery life is around 2 years, they have an app to alert you, you can buy a siren if you want to, and it can be integrated with home assistant. You do need their central hub, they're not particularly expensive and can come in a kit with the sensors, I think the newer hub might have a speaker built in.

Amazon USA Link . You can buy kits of different sizes.

This system is very long range, it easily reaches 20 m through concrete block walls and house walls. That is quite useful for remote thermometers.

Does the hub use mains power or PoE. Does it do 240V ?

EDIT: and do you get texts OK, not being in the U.S ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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timmmay

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#3150083 19-Oct-2023 12:00

Hub uses mains power. You'll have to read the specs re PoE. I don't get texts, I get emails and application based alerts. Plus I have their siren which is very loud.

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#3150085 19-Oct-2023 12:09

timmmay: Hub uses mains power.

So NZ mains obviously isn't a problem then...

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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timmmay

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#3150087 19-Oct-2023 12:16

It seems to be working in my house in Wellington, so I guess it's okay. It might even be USB powered, I can't remember, have a look at the specifications.

rb99

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#3150088 19-Oct-2023 12:24

Thanks. Wilco.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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timmmay

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#3150106 19-Oct-2023 13:11

I just checked, my hub is USB powered.

This brand has excellent range, and you can get a range of accessories including temperature sensors, water valves, etc, mostly for the US market but expanding.

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#3150202 19-Oct-2023 16:01

Decisions. Networking / wifi = extra complication, also equals direct messaging of the problem. Simple stand alone = simplicity, also equals loud noise waking up the whole house when when it could just be (lucky) me...

- and other stuff.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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richms

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#3150204 19-Oct-2023 16:11

I have some tuya based wifi ones. They work to alert the phone but as I have it on DND all the time its not much use.

Once day I will get the home assistant working again as that seems to connect to the tuya cloud quite well and get it to do something useful when there is a leak.

There are also tuya zigbee ones, but I found zigbee to be totally unreliable so that one got put in a drawer. May try it again when I have home assistant instead of the tuya zigbee gateway and see if the zigbee network is any more reliable.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#3150208 19-Oct-2023 16:26

Simple sensors that beep are fine if you're at home. Sensors that alert you regardless of your location mean you can go home to limit damage if there's a leak.

I have sensors under each sink and under the washing machine. I never bothered under the hot water cylinder as it's in a tray, but I might one day.

agent86

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#3150853 21-Oct-2023 18:26

I have a few Aqara leak sensors, they're available at a few retailers including Noels. It requires a hub, I have the Aqara M2 hub. It connects to a phone app and sends notifications. I also have it connected to Home Assistant. Haven't had any issues with it so far.

fe31nz

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#3150978 22-Oct-2023 00:23

agent86: I have a few Aqara leak sensors, they're available at a few retailers including Noels. It requires a hub, I have the Aqara M2 hub. It connects to a phone app and sends notifications. I also have it connected to Home Assistant. Haven't had any issues with it so far.

Generally, Aqara zigbee devices do not need an Aqara hub - they are just zigbee devices and will connect to the normal zigbee devices used with Home Assistant etc, as long as they have not already been connected to another zigbee network. If they have already been connected, just push and hold the reset button (5 seconds?) and you should be able to connect to it.

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