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By installing smart home devices, we can improve our lives in various ways, but most such devices lack the ability to protect the abodes from thousands of dollars of damage. In contrast, a smart water shutoff device is not something ordinary like smart lights, cameras, or locks. It is a whole new addition to your home that can offer great peace of mind with its automatic leak protection technology and capability of controlling water by iPhone.
Moen Flo attaches to the main water supply of your home to monitor the water pressure, temperature, and flow rate. You can easily get remote control of your entire water supply by installing and connecting Flo to your wireless network.
In this article, we will provide necessary information about Flo by Moen to help you install it for your home’s safety.
Moen Flo Smart Water Monitor & Best Leak Detector Review
If you don’t have much knowledge about what is Moen Flo actually? This detailed review will help you find out all the benefits of installation and the harms, if there are any.
Moen Flo consists of a motorized valve that can be installed on the main water supply line reaching your home. You can also do it by yourself if there’s no problem in cutting the pipe that supplies water to your home.
It is a fact that even the smallest leaks in your home’s plumbing system can have devastating impacts. Usually, such leaks go unnoticed until the damage becomes visible, and you end up spending large amounts of money on repairing damaged ceilings, walls, and floors.
With Moen Flo, you can reverse this damage by running tests for any leaks regularly and analyzing water usage reports, all using your phone.
Specifications
Item Weight: 4.04 Pounds
Dimension: 5.75 × 2.6 × 5.9 inches
Size: ¾ Inch
Style: Smart Water Shutoff
Material: Plastic
Power Source: AC
Voltage: 100240 Volts
Warranty: Lifetime
Compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Wireless connection
Design
This 4.04 pounds Flo has a dar blue enclosure available for ¾ inch or 1-¼ inch water pipes. A threaded input connector and threaded output connector are present on the meter. A green manual shutoff valve is also located on top that requires a hex key to turn the water on and off when you have lost connectivity with the app.
Two LEDs (system & valve) and a power jack are also present. The system status LED will glow green when Flo connects to your own network. While the valve LED is green when water flows through the valve and is red when the water flow is shut off through the valve. Its indicator will be white in the transition state.
How does it work?
To measure your home’s water pressure, temperature, and flow rate, it has a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi radio and a sensor. The components included with the meter are two threaded brass connectors, and installation spacer, two O-rings, a manual shutoff hex key, and a power adapter.
It also includes an instructional guide, but it is always recommended to get help from a professional plumber to install this device.
The Flo meter will be installed on a section of your water pipe that comes after the pressure-reducing valve and water meter. The pressure is monitored in Celsius or Fahrenheit, while the flow rate is measured in gallons per minute. To monitor water usage at the fixture level, you will have to get a subscription to Flo Protect, which will give you an extra two years of warranty. Leverage will be provided for water damage protection, access to the water concierge live support system, and a verification letter that will save some money based on the homeowner’s insurance policy.
The Flo Protect requires an additional 7 to 14 days to collect enough data to identify the usage by each fixture. It means you will need to wait for 21 days or more from the initial installation before realizing the full benefits of the device.
Once Flo has identified the fixtures, it will take only two minutes to provide usage reports and let you conserve water.
Easy Control by App
Alexa and Google voice assistant can be useful to ask Flo if everything is running smoothly. The water consumption in a day, week, or month can also be determined by this way. Also, the Moen Flo supports IFTTT applets which means it can trigger a Nest thermostat when water pressure drops to a specific level or its Philips Hue light starts blinking when an alert is issued.
It is also compatible with Control4-enabled devices.
A web console or mobile app (Android or iOS) can also be used to control Flo. The app will contain a tab for alerts and a tab for installed Flo devices. By pressing the Flo device tab, you can view flow rate, water temperature, and pressure gauge to check any warning signals or fluctuations.
Protection from Water Damage
The most interesting and important feature of Moen Flo is its ability to shut off the water supply to the entire home automatically of some unusual activity such as high water usage, leakage, or pipe burst. You will receive an alert on the app before the device shuts off the water supply, and a phone call will also be delivered. However, it doesn’t have any user settings to let you create your own threshold to trigger a shutdown process. By putting the device into sleep mode, you can temporarily disable the auto-shutoff if you are using a large amount of water to fill the pool. We’d recommend you customize the pressure and usage settings to keep yourself and your device safe from any accidental shutoff.
Proactive Regular Health Checks
The option for daily health tests proactively helps monitor the security of the water supply at home to find out any leaks, even if they are smaller than just a drop of water.
If high water temperature and high humidity are detected, an alert will start in one or more ways to adjust the preference.
Installation
As we have already suggested, hiring a professional plumber to install a Flo, a licensed plumber can help you install the meter properly. During my experience, I hired a plumber recommended by Flo, and they did their job perfectly within an hour.
While installing the Flo meter was under process, I downloaded the app to create an account. After verification, I started running the application to add my home to it. The information needed to deliver includes home name, address, time zone, size of the house, number of floors, and bathrooms.
Some information about the type of plumbing will be required among copper, CPVC, galvanized, and PEX. The next things you have to put in the app are the appliances and amenities you will use from the list, including things such as a dishwasher, bathtub, hot tub, tankless water heater, and swimming pool.
After creating the account, I paired the Flo meter with the app and tapped to add a device. The ¾ inch meter was selected, and the meter was also verified when plugged in. By pressing the Reset button, the LED begins to blink, and the meter is connected to the Wi-Fi network within seconds.
Overall Performance
Once the meter goes online, it enters a sleep mode to learn the water usage habits. The app can turn the water on and off at this time, and statistics about flow rate and water pressure can also be noticed. However, the automatic shutoff feature will be disabled, and you won’t get any alerts.
While testing, it immediately started monitoring the water system, and reports were delivered on a daily basis. I was also reported about the drop in water pressure when my valve turned off during the installation of the new water heater.
The response by Alexa about water usage was quick and accurate on a daily basis. I also created an IFTTT applet for turning on the Philip Hue light to complete a successful health check, and it worked smoothly without any hitch.
Customer Reviews for Moen Flo
After spending hours researching the best water leak detection system, I finally decided to purchase Flo by Moen. I have an interest in smart devices like cameras, lights, alarm systems, and auto-shutoff water damage sucks. When the package arrived, I was impressed as well as excited to get it installed.
First, I thought of installing it on my own being an engineer, but then I preferred to hire a professional plumber. The whole installation took only 30 minutes, and the operation through the application was also enabled within this duration. The water pressure and everything is running smoothly until now.
It is a high-quality device combined with an app that is smartest by far and most useful in the house.
A plumber introduced this device to me, and I plan to use it forever. However, reluctantly I bought the Flo by Moen and got it installed with the help of a plumber.
It started working to detect water usage patterns, and then I used to check it once a day to know how much water we had been using on a daily basis. A few weeks back, I received an alert of water leakage at home when I was at the office, and there was no one at home.
The system asked me to shut off the system automatically, and I agreed to shut it down as soon as possible. After some time, when I reached home, I noticed little leakage in my bathroom that a plumber then fixed. Though it cost me extra money on repairs, it is all worth it. It is a good way of keeping an eye on what is going on inside your home to save you from flooding everything in place in your absence.
The Moen Flo is great and works perfectly except few flaws. We have a pool at our home with an automatic fill and swamp cooler.
The learning period took almost seven days, and the area where we live is nearly desert. As it has started detecting the water usage, I am wondering about a drastic difference in my water usage over the last month. I wish the learning period should be longer or at least continuous.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can Moen Flo detect leaks?
It runs regular tests to detect even small leaks. Every night the system shuts the water off for almost 10 minutes, and during those minutes, it monitors any drop in water pressure.
Is it possible to install Moen Flo outdoor?
The Moen Flo smart water detector system is rated outdoors for rain and irrigation. It can not be submerged or buried as it should always be installed above the ground to prevent from any moisture damage.
How long can a water shut-off valve last?
With proper care, a shut-off valve can last about 10 to 25 years. In case you do not exercise your valve after one or two years, it will be frozen prematurely in its open position when you want it to be closed for repair or a plumbing emergency.
Pros
- Â Reports water usage details of entire home
- Detect even a drop of water leakage
- Automatic shutoff and remote shutdown
- Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT support
Cons
- Bit expensive
- Professional installation is necessary.
- Not well-defined high usage threshold.
