#Flume app review series#
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When no water is running, the times are the same, but when water is flowing the upstream wave will be slower than the downstream wave and the flow rate can be calculated from that difference.Īs I said, the streamlabs monitor installs without any tools, but you do need to be sure that your pipe is clean and free of debris that may prevent good contact of the ultrasonic transducers with the pipe, and you also need to make sure that you don’t slide or rotate the monitor on the pipe since that could damage the delicate transducer pads. The streamlabs monitor works using an ultrasonic transit time sensor, which basically means it shoots soundwaves into your pipes and measures the difference in how long the upstream waves take to receive compared to the downstream waves. The streamlabs monitor needs to be indoors, or inside a waterproof enclosure, and you’ll need to have nearby power also in a waterproof enclosure. You’ll need to have access to your main water supply before any branches, and preferably after your main water shut off valve.

This new name makes sense because it installs on top of your existing pipe without any tools at all. Starting with the easiest to install, which is the streamlabs monitor, or what I think they have recently rebranded as the streamlabs surface. The 5 monitors that I installed and tested vary significantly in price, ease of installation, and functionality, so lets see how they did in my tests. To test their behavior during a large leak like a pipe burst I ran my garden hose into my pool for 30 minutes at a rate of 3.5 gallons per minute, which would be a relatively small pipe burst, but over 100 gallons of water, so plenty to ruin your floors or cabinets. To test the monitors abilities to find leaks in your plumbing I determined the minimum flow rate that could be detected by each system by slowly turning on a faucet until real time flow was detected in the app, and I also tested their ability to detect a microleak by turning a faucet on to the point where it was only dripping and then ran a drip test in each app, if available. When I measured the actual volume of the 5 gallon bucket with a kitchen measuring cup I was I learned that they actually hold 5.6 gallons which made the test results significantly better. Fun fact: A 5 gallon bucket from home depot doesn’t actually hold 5 gallons, which I figured out after running these tests and being confused by the data. To minimize the effect of an inaccurate city water meter I also did a small scale test by filling a 5 gallon bucket 4 times and recording the amount of water reported by each app. Then at the end of the day I took another reading from my water meter which I called my actual water usage, and then I determined the variance in each app’s reported usage vs my actual usage. To determine how well these monitors can track your water usage I ran two tests to determine the accuracy of each meter: First, a whole day test where I took a reading from my city water meter in the morning, and screenshotted the usage in each monitor’s app.

#Flume app review series#

To test their ability to accomplish each of those goals, I ran a series of tests. You want to monitor your water usage to try to reduce your monthly water bill, you want to check your plumbing for leaks and other potential problems, or you want to protect your property from significant water damage by installing a monitor that will detect unusual patterns and automatically shut off your water to prevent catastrophic damage, or maybe you want to do all those things. If you’re thinking about installing a whole home monitor, you’re probably trying to accomplish one of three goals. We’re going to cover the latter in this video, but if your interested in the small wireless type check out my other video specifically on that subject. There are two main types of leak detectors: cheap wireless ones that detect a puddle of water in a specific area, and whole home monitoring solutions that track your water usage and look for unusual patterns that could indicate a leak in your plumbing like a burst pipe, or broken fixture.

Are you considering buying a whole home water monitor and leak detector? Well, today on the hookup I’ve got all the top brands and best sellers from Moen, Flume, Streamlabs, and Phyn, and I’m going to walk you through the pros and cons of each of them to help you pick the one that’s right for you.