Water Sensor Alarm, Smart Water Leak Detector for Home & Basements | Made in The USA | Automatic Flood Detectors and Water Alarm, Pure Water Capable (WaterWatcher)

First, this does exactly what I need it to do. My washing machine drains into a tub that then needs to pump up a few feet to the sewer outlet pipe. As such I use a fine screen lint filter in the tub to avoid anything getting trapped in the pump. If this screen clogs up early in a load of laundry then during the final rinse and spin the tub could overflow. I've already had to mop up the basement a few times for this reason. This is the only product I have found that can sense for this spilled water and shut off power to the washer so it stops pumping out to the tub. In my tests it does exactly that. A bit pricey in my opinion for what it does, but if it saves me from needing anything more than a simple towel to clean up a tub overflow then I'll take it.There are some cons which I can live with. These have already been cited in other reviews: the smooth teardrop shape that can be difficult to grasp, the bulky size, the question of since when powered the relay is always on (this does allow for it to fail safe) will that reduce the life of the relay, and the need to remove power in order to reset the unit. As was noted in Roland Petit's answer to the question about shutting off or silencing the alarm, someone with a little electronics skill can bodge together a "reset" switch.Roland describes putting a switch on the transformer which I'm not a fan of as then you are dealing with a mod on the AC side of the circuit, something riskier than is necessary. I opened my unit to inspect it and found the logic us using an Atmel ATTINY44A microcontroller chip. Pin 4 of this chip is a reset that if brought low (grounded) will reset the chip. Conveniently there is a pinheader socket right nearby and two of the through holes are for reset and ground, conveniently both right next to each other. This is probably used for QA testing at the manufacturing plant. Wiring a momentary switch between these easily accessible solder points will provide you a much safer way to reset the unit, providing your mounting of the switch is well spaced away from the AC components. I've already done a workbench test of this and confirmed easy reset of the unit with these contact points. If I find a momentary switch that I feel I can mount acceptably then I will likely install that mod at that time. This unit has a 5-year warranty and it is minimal effort for me to unplug to reset, so I'm not in any rush to add this mod. THIS MOD SHOULD ONLY BE DONE BY PEOPLE WITH REASONABLE ELECTRONICS SKILL! FAILURE TO INSTALL PROPERLY COULD RESULT IN INJURY OR DEATH! NO QUESTION THAT THIS MOD WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY! It is disappointing that for the price STAK Enterprises didn't have a reset switch already included as a part of the design.Another con that I found when I opened it up is that there didn't seem to be any strain relief in the main unit beyond the flex boot on the wire going to the sense puck. A good yank of the wire could pull it off the mainboard. Given the ample length of cable provided for the puck this probably isn't much of a worry, but while I had it open I still put a knot in the wire inside the housing that will take the stress if the wire gets pulled.One final note to keep in mind with the puck is that the two post contacts closest to where the wire enters the puck are the sense posts. The post that is opposite where the wire enters is just for making a 3rd leg to level the puck. I doubt it will really matter for anyone but if for some reason you want to sense for water directionally then have it facing with the exiting wire pointing towards the direction that you want detected first.

Works great.

It worked!!! My husband bought this in 2022 after a leaky pipe screwed up my floors and cabinets. It seemed to work ok when we tested it. Tonight, 3 years later, having practically forgotten about it, we heard a beeping and realized it was this detector beeping from under my dishwasher! And it caught it before there was any damage to anything. I don’t write reviews but since you really don’t know what you’re getting with these sort of things, I thought it was important to share. $80 was much cheaper than my insurance deductible and way less work than dealing with a kitchen demo. So worth it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDThe other night we're watching TV downstairs and hear a beeping alarm coming from upstairs. I couldn't imagine what it would be. I walked upstairs and found this device with its red light on and alarm sounding. I smiled. The floor had a little bit of water on it. If I had to measure, maybe 1/2 cup at worst. The cycle in the wash was aborted. The power cut off when the alarm went off. I remember thinking when I bought this that it was expensive for being a cutoff. But you get what you pay for. A cutoff + alarm is so crucial. An alarm alone wouldn't have been enough. If we're out running errands while the washer is dumping gallons of water on the floor, it's not going to do me any good. A cutoff though? Absolutely. I'm so glad I bought this and despite now having to repair my washer, I'm happy for the experience because I feel protected against what would have been pretty rough water damage.

I'll first start off by saying my day job is an instrumentation and controls tech and 80$ is too much for this product. Should be more like 30-40$. That being said, this appears to be the only device on the market like this that will directly switch off a 120v source when water is detected. So if that's what you need, this product should work for you. Sadly after about a month and about 20 trip cycles (I was doing testing) the alarm now always goes into a trip one second after being plugged in. I tried cleaning the sensor in an ultrasonic bath, but no dice. I suspect the thin cable may have flexed itself apart internally due to my own movement of the sensor. I didn't continue to troubleshoot it as Amazon was willing to send a replacement as there is a 2yr warranty included. Thus why despite the device failing (safe) on me, I am still giving it 4 stars. If you get one of these, give it a check every now and again just like you would a fire alarm.For the techies: The sensor appears to be operating at a higher current than other resistive-contact-based water sensors I have seen, as when your hands are wet you can actually feel the current flow through the sensor's metal tabs. This should allow for higher accuracy of the sensing of water and reduce false high or low states as well it may work in distilled water.

I've had this about 2 years now, It works great, no issues in two years! I would buy again... Not much else to day its a fairly simple product.

Unit works great.We live in an apt with over head sewers and occasionally the pump gets air bound and the sink with the washer drain in it overflows . I wanted the unit to be on the top of the sink and shut off washer if it was going to overflow.The unit was simple to modify as shown in attached pics.Simply remove single screw holding circuit board and remove non wired leg. Reassemble, add velcro tape and place so that remaining 2 sensors extend into tub but do not let sensorstouch tub if stainless steel.I also have a 240 volt GE stack washer. I modified washer to send out the washer electric power, which is 110, volts to a separate outet for the hydro check and from the hydro check back to the washer input. Works well. Took only 2 AC extension cords, electric box and a few connectors.