Streamlabs - Wi-Fi Home Water Monitoring and Leak Detection System

This is one of those devices that you might think "do I really need that?". Well, if we ever have a leak I think we'll be glad we do; not to mention just for the times we leave the hose running by mistake! Since installing it I'd have to say it's interesting to see our water usage and to view what the usage patterns and amounts are. Before you buy ensure you have access to inlet water supply with a minimum of 6" of clean, straight pipe, power outlet and wifi. Use of the Streamlabs app is required to use this monitor. Installation for us was very smooth. I would recommend taking a picture of the back of the monitor so you have an easily accessible record of the serial number, etc. because once the unit is installed it is not accessible. The steps for installation are basically as simple as the easy to read and illustrated manual outlines. Download their app, connect, sync, attach the monitor to pipe, and adjust and set alerts. We had no installation issues. The Streamlabs monitor has been in use for about a week now and we have gotten alerts based on our chosen app settings. Some have occurred when I had the hose running and some in the middle of the night when our water softener is running its cycle. I've not found the alerts to be overkill or obnoxious. The app will show current water flow (gpm), historical usage for the day, month and year, comparative usage for a day/week/month and recent alerts. Like many wifi connected devices with apps I'm sure Steamlabs will continue to enhance their app over time, but more detail, different format options for data or exclusions for day/time for alerts by users might be helpful. In summary, the Streamlabs SmartHome Water Monitor is a pretty cool device just considering the fact that it can track water flow via ultrasound technology and is an easy to install device that involves no need for tools or plumbers. We dropped one star off the rating due to app limitations, bit pricey and packaging that is just too much of a good thing. The packaging looks nice, but the box is way bigger than necessary for the size of the monitor. Hopefully this product will help us be more mindful of our water use which would be good for the environment, so why add to waste with so much packaging?

The Streamlabs Wi-Fi Home Water Monitoring and Leak Detection System is a sleek product that runs inline on your main waterline allowing you to monitor water consumption at your house and also detect any potential leaks that might occur. First off, the packaging is some of the best I've seen in the retail industry, I felt like I was opening a product much more expensive than it is (The exterior box might just be a little overkill though, no mater how nice it is. Soft touch oversized boxes looked and felt fantastic. I appreciate this attention to detail being a Graphic Designer. Once past the packaging you are left with a minimalist 'Apple-like' box with simple black and white instructions. You DON'T need any tools, you DON'T need any plumbing skills and you DON'T need to panic when installing the system. It clips onto the outside of your pipes using included zip ties. One word of warning in the instructions and on the label on it's underside, do NOT slide the monitor around on the pipe, you'll damage the sensors. Thankfully Streamlabs includes a spare set of sensor pads for when you do exactly this. I chose to set up my app BEFORE hooking up the monitor to the pipe, in the cool comfort of the house, and not in the heat of the garage. This was a smart move, highly recommended if you live in a hot climate. Once the app is set up, it asks you to calibrate the monitor, which is when I moved to the garage and installed it on the pipe I wanted to monitor in less than 3 minutes, and had a reading from the monitor almost as soon as I connected it to the app and tapped calibrate. The monitor detects the type of pipes you have, and gives you instructions to turn off the water, it will calibrate, and then asks you to go and flush a toilet or turn on a faucet. The monitor has two LED lights on it, one blue one for wifi connection and one green one showing waterflow monitoring. That's it. No other lights or sounds are emitted from the unit. The app has a nice user interface using the Streamlabs corporate palette of black, with white graphics and blue accents. It's a good looking and easy to use app. The home screen lets you know how many gallons of water you've used today, whether there is water running or not and the ability to switch between home and away modes, and also an alert status. IF you click on your daily usage, you then see a live 'gallons per minute' reading, the temperature of the room (which is very useful in a garage, if the temperature gets below 40 degrees, the system will alert you), and then an hourly monitor with little blue dots whenever you've had water running. Below that are comparative graphs for today, yesterday, last week, and last month. You can also connect your Streamlabs monitor to Alexa, to then enable the home and away features of the system.In 'home' mode, the system monitors water usage as you would expect. In away mode, it will alert you if a toilet is flushed for example, when it wouldn't flush ordinarily, if you were away. Those notifications will be incredibly useful, especially if you are away, and you don't expect a toilet to be flushing. I have the slow leak notifications set at 0.5 gpm for longer than 20 minutes and my major leak alerts set to 4.0 gpm for longer than 5 minutes. You can adjust these settings as you so choose. All in all, a great little 'piece of mind' monitor that allows you to track your water usage, so you can compare it to your latest water bill, but more importantly, you can be notified of potential leaks in your water system that could save you thousands of dollars in repair bills, when you are able to catch that leak before it gets too costly. Piece of mind in a small package, does exactly what it says it will.

PROs: - Relatively simple setup; app provides a step-by-step wizard for setting up the unit on your home network (including trouble-shooting and diagnostic) and pictures for each physical installation step - More than leak detection/warning; the app will provide easy-to-read and interpret real-time monitoring of water usage and the ability to compare usage at daily, weekly and monthly intervals - Not just a water monitor--you can set alerts for ambient temperature warnings if your room temp drops below 40 degrees - Smarthome installation was quick and painless and actually kind of cool--once I connected my Streamlabs account through the Alexa app, I can tell Alexa to change the monitor's operation from home (alert after certain time/flow-rate limits) to away modes (any water running at all for more than 15 seconds) without having to do anything in the separate Streamlabs app - Default alert settings start with slow leak (1/2 gal per min for longer than 20 minutes) and major leak (4 gal per min for longer than 5 mins) detection, but the app includes a "smart alerts" feature that monitors typical usage over the course of a week and sets up a customized (but also manually defeatable) alert schedule accordingly - Though I don't have need to monitor more than just a single water main in a house, the app can monitor several Streamlabs units at once and has options to customize settings for home, office, apartment, condo, and even "something else" (outhouse, barn, etc.) with zip code-based comparisons against typical water usage in the area to establish a baseline - The unit will auto-sense the type of pipe it's attached to (who knew there were several options?)...between that and the auto-calibration of the house's water pressure, there's nothing you really need to know ahead of time to complete installation CONs: - You can't really separate the unit from the network/app--there are no audible alarms or LED warning indicators (LEDs about water flow--there are two LEDs indicating wifi connection and flow monitoring errors in the unit itself) so if you don't have your smartphone handy or your power/network is offline, you're kind of dead in the water - Setup requires a separate Streamlabs account creation (in addition to Alexa or Nest if you want Smart-home integration)--not a big deal, but that's another login and password to keep track of! - As others have indicated, you need to check your installation area BEFORE you purchase and install as this device is not entirely self-contained or low-profile--you need at least 5-6 inches of straight/exposed pipe after the main shutoff valve but before any branches, about 3-4 inches of clearance on the sides/top of the installation location to accommodate the bulbous device itself, access to a nearby power outlet, and decent wifi reception...lacking any one or more of these where you intend to install it, and you should look elsewhere - You must ensure a SOLID pipe connection to successfully get the ultrasound flow-rate signals running--though not difficult, I had to run through portions of the setup procedure about 3-4 times before I finally got the unit on the network and secured tightly enough to the pipe itself to get a good signal Summary review: It's maybe just a bit pricey given what it does; but for peace-of-mind, it's definitely a nice-to-have unit, especially if your home suffers from pipe-endangering cold snaps or lots of potential sources of sneaky water leaks. Installation was relatively painless for me though I had to re-cinch and tighten down the zip-ties about 3 times before I finally got the "good flow detection" LED blinking properly. The thin plastic zip ties included in the kit MAY stretch over time so it's likely at some point I'll get an error notification in the Streamlabs app that my sensor isn't reading properly and I'll have to re-tighten the ties again. It wasn't a big deal, but it was the only real snafu I experienced during installation, so if you're having trouble getting the green "water flow" LED to light up properly, you may need to tighten the unit against the pipe even further before proceeding with installation. Heed the installation suggestions regarding pipe space, side/top clearance, power, and wifi reception before you purchase and install this device or you will definitely be disappointed and frustrated. That said, don't be fooled by the absurdly large packaging into thinking you're going to need 2 feet of mounting space, either. The actual product is much smaller than the Russian nesting-doll style packaging and hat-box sized container it ships in would lead you to believe...that's the main sending unit down there next to my key fob in the attached photo. So far, I haven't had a real water leak to be concerned with (thankfully) so I've spent the last few weeks adjusting alert thresholds, turning on away monitoring, running a constant low stream from a faucet, turning off all water sources, etc. and seeing if the app would provide me the information/problem notification I would expect (or not bug me when it didn't need to)--I can say with a great degree of satisfaction that it has worked as advertised and as I would have expected. For example, during a shower, the app's main page will rightly tell me the water is running and give me a quick overview of how much water I've used during the day so far, and whether any new alerts are present. I tap that main display and then I get an easy to read/interpret speedometer style indicator of gallons per minute flowing at that time, bar graphs of water usage and usage peaks throughout the day, a real-time room temperature reading, comparative usage readings for the day/yesterday, this week/this time last week, this month, and this time last month, and a readout of any recent alerts. That's a lot of information...more so than I really need for my own purposes; but if you're trying to monitor/conserve water, it's a very useful tool to give you a sense of just where/when you might focus on controlling your usage. Now turn on 'away monitoring' and then, say, flush a toilet, and I get an alert on my phone as I would hope/expect. When I open up the app to see what is amiss, the whole read-out is red (VERY attention-getting), and I can then drill down to get a sense of what's going on--how many gallons have been used since the alert began, how long it lasted, etc...and, when the water stops flowing because the tank filled back up, the display returns to normal and the alert ends. All told, the Streamlabs unit is the water monitor and early warning system it purports to be--through the app, it provides an informative, useful, and easy-to-interpret readout of what's happening/what's happened with your home's water system and gives you warning when there's a potential leak or when usage deviates from what's normal (i.e. you left the water running to fill the pool). Although I get why a battery backup probably isn't part of the sensor unit (if the power supplying this unit is out, it's likely the power to your wifi router would be affected as well), it would have been a re-assuring inclusion given that the modern home is starting to accommodate UPS/power backup capabilities on various key devices like modems and wifi routers. That very VERY minor observation aside, the Streamlabs system is a pretty solid investment for both water-conscious and leak-concerned consumers out there...recommended!

App doesn't load and doesn't pair with valve. Will return it

The Streamlabs Home Water Monitor is a relatively inexpensive insurance policy against flooding due to major pipe leaks as well as a long term money saver by detecting small water-wasting leaks. By connecting to its smartphone app via wi-fi, Streamlabs will notify you on your phone if it detects water running for a certain amount of time, as determined by you and initially set to 20 minutes. You can also monitor real-time water usage and compare to the same time of the previous day, week, and month. It also shows charts of water usage on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. All very cool stuff to help train yourself to reduce water usage. Setup is done without the need for a professional, and is pretty easy, but there are a few things to note before buying this product. The first thing to note is that you will need to plug this into a wall electrical outlet. Mine is using a really long extension cord right now because I don’t have an outlet nearby. The second thing is that you’ll need to have good wi-fi reception where this is installed. If it’s in a basement or crawl space, make sure you get good wi-fi there before proceeding. The last thing to look for is to make sure you have enough straight water pipe space to fit the unit. You need at least five inches of straight pipe before getting to any branches to place the unit. You also need enough space around the pipe to accommodate the unit. As long as you meet all those requirements, you’re good to go. It’s just a matter of placing the unit on the pipe, securing with zip ties and following the instructions on the app. I’ve been using this for over a week now and it’s been a real eye opener as to just how much water we use on a daily basis and what actions use the most water. If you’re into IoT devices, are interested in saving water, or want to protect yourself from major damage from leaks, the Streamlabs Home Water Monitor is a very useful product.

Thanks Streamlabs - now my family hates me. Yes - I'm addicted to seeing how much water my family uses on a daily basis. I can easily monitor how much water is used when one of the kids takes a shower. I can see how much water the washer uses. I can see what happens to my usage when I water the lawn. Oh boy. Really though - what a great product. Meant to help monitor for water leaks and measure usage as well - this super-easy-to-install product simply "clamps" onto your main water pipe and away you go! I've got a complicated house with lots of water-using things - like ice makers, water softeners, sprinkler systems, Reverse Osmosis system, etc - the later is the one that set off the Slow Leak Detection events - as the RO system uses a small water stream to create that super-clean water. Wifi integration is easy and clean. I had to run it once or twice to get it to stick - but was simple enough. If you're looking for leak detection or just want to freak out your family - this device is for you!

This is a really helpful device for anyone that wants to monitor water usage or have an early warning system for water leaks. It has a really nice companion app that goes along with it (and it's free). Installation in my system was incredibly easy, as it states in the instructions. I have a couple of nice stretches of pipe to choose from. It can't be any easier to attach it to your water feed, all that's needed are 2 cable ties (included), to tie it against your water pipe. What is possibly a bit of a deal breaker for some people is the fact that this guy does need a 120VAC outlet for the small power supply that drives it. The good part is, the power supply has a nice long cord on it so that might make installation easier for most peoples' systems. You don't need to install it right after your water meter if it's not convenient for you, but you do need to install it before your main water line T's or splits. It connected to my home WiFi without any trouble at all and the app pretty much walks you through the installation step by step. The app is set up nicely and is very intuitive. The main screen is a simple display that shows you if water is running or not, and how many gallons were used so far today. Tapping on the gallons used, it brings you to another page that shows the gallons per minute meter and the room temperature where the device is located. At the bottom of that display it shows a daily, monthly or yearly usage chart so you can see very quickly how much water you've used at any given time of the year. Below that it shows a comparative usage chart that gives you a comparison of water used today and yesterday. Finally at the bottom of the page, it shows you any alerts that have been registered. This device will also work with Nest or Amazon Alexa if you want to integrate it into either of these systems. I don't use either, so I can't comment on this feature. You can set the alerts based on water flow and length of time. Since I have daughters who like to spend a lot of time in the shower, I found I had to alter the default settings just a bit so that I didn't get alerts every time they showered. You can set alerts for "slow" leaks and "major leaks" independently, and it will notify your phone when any alert has been recorded. It would have been nice to see a "time of day" setting, so that you could set up different monitors for different times of the day, but they did include a basic "home" and "away" mode switch so that you can differentiate between those two conditions. I found this system to be very well thought out and extremely useful while being intuitive at the same time. Set up for me was a snap, although that's going to depend on how your system is plumbed and if you have an outlet conveniently located near the location you choose to mount it. This is a great way for anyone to monitor your water usage and to also have a way to give a heads up warning of a possible leak. Nice product.

I have a pond and wanted to monitor water usage. This device is wonderful Very accurate you can tell whether someone was taking a shower or running the washing machine or flushing a toilet Very useful for detecting leaks or faulty appliances