Clean water, especially in the western U.S. has become both scarce and expensive. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), American homes lose one trillion gallons of water annually due to leaks. This is equivalent to the annual amount of water used in over eleven million homes.

Leaks not only waste water, but the damage to a home from a leak can be incredibly expensive. A 1/8” crack in a pipe can leak two hundred and fifty gallons of water in a single day and the average insurance claim from a leak is almost $7000.

Given the above statistics it makes sense for every smart home system to include technology to detect leaks.

Historically leak detection has been the job of an alarm system. Most alarm panels support both wired and wireless leak detectors. These detectors would be placed in areas of a home that have the highest risk of water damage, such as:

• Underneath sinks
• Behind toilets
• Underneath refrigerators that include cold water dispensers and ice makers
• Underneath dishwashers
• Underneath clothes washers
• Underneath a tank style hot water heater
• In basements

Unfortunately, just because these are the most likely places for a leak to occur doesn’t mean that the leak will follow the rule book and occur in a place where there is a water sensor. For example, a pipe run too close to a poorly insulated wall on the 2^nd floor of a home could freeze while the family is on a winter, ski vacation. The resulting leak could destroy the living room, office and other first floor rooms before the water finally reaches a leak detector.

Fortunately, there are now smart leak detectors that monitor the flow of water in the home looking for leaks. Below is a comprehensive review of five cutting edge leak detectors. As you would expect with emerging technology there are significant differences between these products.

A Quick Word About How to Use this Guide

This article is extensive and designed to cover everything a home owner or installer would want to know when seriously researching leak detection devices. To make it easier for you to navigate, use the menu below to jump to different sections of the article. Each section has a “Back to Menu” link at the bottom that will jump you right back here.