Wifi Water Detector with Buzzer and Email/Text Alerts

Our basement has now flooded twice due to a sticking float on our sump pump. Most recently it was on a pump less than a month old! This little gadget should remedy this problem for less than $100. Wish I had seen this a few years ago!Although we haven’t had any issues with our sump pump I have tried it several times and it sensing water as stated and sends a text message and email alert.

Overview:I chose two brands of products, in case one system was down, or my power went out or the battery or something else did not work with one brand.As an example, Honeywell's site went down for about 2 hours (at least) while setting it up. It was quite frustrating to figure out it was down. Luckily they were available via chat on their support website.Below I'll compare the two to each other.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Review for the following type of water leak detector:$99 - Proteus - Wifi Water Detector with Buzzer and Email / Text Alertshttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FG9Y2MCPurchased 2 of theseIt only took me about 2 minutes to set this up. The wifi was easy, the website seems good. The only long term concern is that this depends on a hosted web service for notifications, so that part only works when the site is up.I love that this:1) Plugs in, so no batteries2) Has a long cord, so easy to move to where you need the water detected3) Alerts in seconds - super FAST (and to my cell & email for no added charge)4) Easy to setup5) If water is detected, I can remove the cord and the alarm turns off instantly6) Alarm is loud (very good)CONS:* The water detection is only two little metal tabs which means it is really hard to actually detect water. The Honeywell has a long cord which detects water much more easily.NEUTRAL:* The website to manage the Proteus is decent, but nothing amazing. The Honeywell app is amazing cooler and more functionalComparing the Proteus / Honeywell:* The Proteus web interface is not as good as the Honeywell phone app. Not a big deal since I am not checking all the time, but worth noting.* Proteus is much faster alerting (in seconds vs minutes for Honeywell)IMPORTANT - How I fixed the water detection - IMPORTANT :I highly recommend doing this if you want to detect even a small leak.The Proteus was not triggering water unless it got pretty high (bigger than a small pool). The problem is the water leak detection was not being hit by the detectors.I really need the water detected even if there is a little, since it builds fast. So I put a cloth paper towel (dried baby wipe) around the device and put a rubber band. If water just passes by, it causes the leak detector to trigger VERY quickly (@2 seconds). It is great. I got the idea from reading reviews.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Review for the following type of water leak detector:$60 Honeywell Lyric Wi-Fi Water Leak & Freeze Detector by Honeywellhttps://www.amazon.com/Lyric-Wi-Fi-Water-Freeze-Detector/dp/B01HBZQYYCPurchased 1 of thesePROS:* Detects when temperature / humidity is low / highNeutral:* Depends on Honeywell's site being up* Battery powered that lasts for 1year - 3 years depending on the configurationCONS:* Notification takes much longer than the Proteus* The alert keeps going even after removing the water / attached cord. I had to wait for the alert to trigger / show in the app, then turn it off in the app. Then after about 2-3 minutes of hearing a loud blaring alarm, it turned off.* Wireless Wi-FI setup is extremely picky and may not work. Even if you mess with your router with Honeywell support for hours (1hr with their support, then their services went down so we couldn't troubleshoot further because the service was down anyway). I had a high end Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 / R7000 router with extender and it would NOT connect. It eventually worked with a EERO mesh network though, I was lucky and happened to have just purchased it to replace my Netgear. It worked with my phone tethering. I can not emphasize how frustrating the setup was.

Works great ... as tested the sensors with water and I was notified very quickly. I think the electric connection could be longer to reach a plug without using a extension cord..

Pros: Installation was quick and easy, especially in the laundry room where cord can lie against the wall and the device is hidden behind the washing machine.Cons: Cord is too short (needed to use an extension cord for kitchen application unless we were willing to drill holes into our oak cabinets or through granite) and is plainly visible snaking up the outside of the kitchen cabinet. We didn't want to screw the device into our hardwood floors, so we had to use double-sided tape to secure it to the floor. Not sure if that will hold in the long term.We had a hose to a refrigerator ice-maker burst in 2015 causing $80,000 in damage to our house and don't want a repeat of that fiasco, so we want a monitor near the refrigerator. Hence the need for two devices.The main problem is the cord. If the device operated on batteries so a cord wasn't necessary, this would be a much better product. I would say it's better for the laundry room than for the kitchen, but if you could plan your kitchen around the device (say during a kitchen remodel), it might work better for you.

Some years back, I was walking in our completely finished basement and the bottom of my socks got drenched -- the carpet was soaked. Our sump pump failed, and our backup water-powered sump pump did not activate because its switch was stuck (so make sure to periodically lift and test those switches). I just happened to catch it early, but it still cost us a few thousand bucks in damage, treatment, and restoration.I went to Home Depot and bought a cheap battery-powered water alarm. Yes it's loud when you're next to it, but where are sump pumps located? Basements. If you're upstairs, you may eventually hear it, but if you don't, depending on how much water you're dealing with flowing into the sump pit, you might still be flooded by the time you do hear it.Enter the Proteus AQUO: I bought this reluctantly. It's not inexpensive, and it's not terribly impressive to look at in the photos. Do not be deceived -- it's a fantastically executed product and service. Unlike the cheap store-bought water alarm I've been using, the Proteus AQUO beeps intermittently (beep-beep-beep-beep) as opposed to the cheap alarm's constant unending single beeeeeeeeeeep that might be easier to miss. (Our ears can desensitize to a constant, never-ending tone, especially if it's faint.)More importantly, there's a very affordably priced per-use premium service that will text, email, and/or call you. I set it to call all our mobile phones (wife, teenage kid, me). At night, though, we mute our mobile phones. We still have a home phone, and that we do not mute, so I set it to also call our home phone which WILL wake us up in the middle of the night if it rings (and which, in this case, I'd very much want it to). I also set it to email us and text us -- if my sump pit is on its way to filling up and overflowing, I want as many opportunities to find out as quickly as possible. And we tested it -- it calls, emails, and texts instantly. Bravo!The Proteus AQUO is absolutely genius. I'm going to set up another one up by our huge hot water heater. I strongly recommend this product.