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They really think of everything these days. I remember when I was growing up, a friend’s dad had to drop everything and drive from Connecticut to Vermont to tend to a burst pipe inside their ski house. A neighbor had called to tell them that one of the pipes had burst and you know that if it’s gotten to the point where a neighbor knows and is calling you, it’s got to be bad and it’s probably way too late to salvage anything. I’ve always remembered that incident and thought it was crazy.
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Fast forward to 2020 and my friend’s dad would be pretty thrilled to know about this product. Homeowners, and especially anyone who travels or has a second home, will definitely want to consider getting the B-hyve Smart Flood Sensor (starter kit is $99). This compact, pocket-sized, hexagon-shaped flood sensor connects to the B-hyve smartphone app so it offers immediate alert detection of any leaks, flooding or even frozen pipes through your phone or an audible alarm. It fits into hard-to-reach spaces and delivers notifications to your phone the moment something is wrong in your home. The sensors can even integrate with the B-hyve line of products and can be programmed to turn off outdoor watering activities if they detect any sign of flooding. How incredible is that?!
As someone who travels a lot, I often find myself wondering if everything is okay at the house and have actually flown home in the middle of a long trip before to check on things. According to the folks at Orbit, the best places to use a floor sensor to detect leaks aren’t just the obvious ones like the bathrooms and kitchen but also in the attic, around water heaters, around windows, basements and anywhere you store electronics and sentimental keepsakes.
The B-hyve Smart Flood Sensor makes a great gift for yourself or for travelers so they can monitor what’s happening inside their home while they’re away, or for anyone who has a second home, so they don’t have to drop everything and race to check on their property like my friend’s dad all those years ago. How times have changed!
The simplest solution for avoiding water issues while you are away is to go to the local hardware store and buy a water main key. It is a special wrench to turn the water off at the main. They range in price from $10 to $50. They come in various lengths, depending on where you live in the country you will need a longer wrench the farther north you are. Your water main must be below the freeze line, the depth at which the ground freezes, in order to keep it from freezing in winter. It takes about 2 minutes to turn the water off. Problem solved. No need for expensive/complicated technology.
You might consider reading the reviews before you suggest a product. On Amazon it has only 21% 5 star rating (overall 4 star), which is not very good for Amazon reviews. Several reviews describe many problems with the functioning of the item. My confidence in your reviews has gone down a notch.
Hi DK,
I don’t trust the reviews on Amazon and other sites including Trip Advisor since they get gamed. This was recommended to me.
Our water main shutoff is in our heated basement storage room. I have had a lever installed to make it easy to turn off the water main in our house. In addition, I have a separate lever shutoff for the water supply to the house, so during absences in the summer when water still needs to go to the automatic sprinkler system and the outdoor hose, my neighbor can water my garden plants. All the shutoffs (sprinkler, hose, house water line, main) were changed from turn knobs to levers, including those for our washing machine, after the original washer cold water turn knob got stripped.
This is a great product – for folks in the city. In flyover country every kid over 8 knows what to do (as mentioned above) and could do it without adult supervision.
We just did this at my nephew’s house as he is out of town for two weeks.
Thanks for all the posts, we can’t wait to hit the sky again