Moen Flo Smart Water Valve

[RAL]

I came across this "intelligent" water shut off valve from Moen today.  Wondering if anyone has given it a try yet.
 
I'm a little bit skeptical about its capability to reliably distinguish between normal water usage and unusual events, like a leaking or broken pipe.  I can picture it shutting off the water in the middle of someone taking a longer than normal shower because it decided the water had been running for too long a time.
 
The documentation leaves a lot to be desired. 
 
https://www.homedepot.com/p/MOEN-Smart-Home-Water-Monitoring-Alarm-and-Automatic-Shutoff-System-900-001/307289488
 
https://www.moen.com/flo/

 

[dgage]

Read reviews and when it works, people love it. Of course the flip side is it isn’t very reliable with either the valves or the WiFi/electronics. Looks cool but I want my plumbing to just work.

 

[sionxct]

I recall running across a similar product several years ago, but the company & product name escapes me; it wasn't a well known brand. It was a water valve connected to a flow meter. There was a home and away mode.I beleive the ide was to connect it to your alarm system to automatically set the modes.  I couldn't wrap my head around the point of it. In home mode, it seems it would either be too sensitive and therefore shutting off the water too soon, or not sensitive enough to prevent damage. In away mode, why not just turn off the water entirely (perhaps on a delay, say if you want to leave the dish washer running).  In other words, just connect a "dumb" electrical water valve to your Elk with a rule to shut the valveafter X minutes.

 

[dgage]

My bad RAL. I thought you were talking about the Moen digital valve control, which allows several zones (body sprayers, shower head, handheld sprayer) without having multiple wall controls.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/MOEN-U-by-MOEN-4-Outlet-Digital-Shower-Controller-in-Terra-Beige-TS3304TB/300930039

And I didn’t realize Moen bought Flo but there are a couple “smart” home valves like that but many use the cloud for intelligence, which is another opening on the network hoping it won’t be hacked. But if it works the way it is supposed to then great but it really isn’t a substitute for sensors near water valves (sinks, toilets, washer, etc). The problem is, there is a good chance it won’t stop a slow but problematic leak or it doesn’t stop a leak soon enough. So it may reduce a horrible disaster to just a really bad one, whereas leak detectors can stop a problem before it gets bad. But I guess a smart home valve is better than nothing.

 

[tmbrown97]

I've had my eye on it... Colorado is strange - even though I'm on a well, I have a set amount of water I'm allowed to use, and there are no provisions for using more - you get your hand slapped by the state and if it goes on long enough, they can cap your well.  I also have low PH water mixed with copper pipes, so pinhole leaks are inevitable... so something like this could help track usage, plus it tests for water usage at odd times - that's where the leak detection should come in.  As said above though, it won't be as good as a leak detector for some leaks (it doesn't take much water to ruin a wood floor).  I'll probably add one soon - and I'm starting to buy a couple z-wave water sensors too.
 
Just a few weeks ago, my wife went into our utility room and saw water spraying to the ceiling from the diaphragm tank... had she not gone in right when she did, it could've easily been $10K in damage...  That's where a water sensor mixed with a valve would come in handy... the sensors to detect the problem, then even if I'm not home, be able to remotely shut it off.
 
That said, given the problems, last time we left town, I just turned off the breaker to the well pump... but that wouldn't be an option during the times of the year where we need the irrigation on.