Winter is coming! Hard to believe with the recent hot summer and early autumn we’ve had, but winter really is just around the corner, and with winter comes freezing pipes here in Charlotte. As a Southern city, our homes are not built to properly insulate exterior pipes. Every winter we get a large volume of calls from panicked homeowners dealing with frozen burst pipes and water damage. The average small water damage repair costs around $2,566 (according to HomeAdvisor); large-scale water damage repairs can cost tens of thousands of dollars. That’s why we highly recommend two preventative actions: one, insulate your exterior pipes, and two, invest in a smart home water control safety device.
What is a Smart Home Water Control Safety Device?
A smart home water control safety device is a device (installed by you or by a plumber) that you control with your smartphone and/or tablet through an app. This device can detect leaks, turn off water from specific sources (or water to your entire home) remotely. In other words, you get remote, hands-free control of your home’s water usage.
Suspect your daughter left the water running in the bathroom when she left for school? You can turn off the water source with a tap on your phone screen. Worried that you have a leak somewhere? The system will detect unusual water usage, show you where it’s happening, and allow you to turn off water to that part of the house until a plumber can come check it out.
It’s the perfect way to protect your home from water usage, leaks, or water damage.
Preventing Water Damage
Here’s the thing with water damage: more often than not, the leak is someplace hidden. A pipe bursts in the wall or underground, or a hose bursts behind an appliance, and you don’t know it’s happening until you see evidence of water damage. The ceiling is raining; water is seeping out from under the kitchen cabinets; the hardwoods seem warped in this one section of a room. At that point, it’s hard to mitigate damage.
Why do most water damage problems start out from a hidden leak? Because most plumbing is hidden. Your pipes are not out in the open; even the hoses to appliances are tucked behind the appliance or in a cabinet. If you are gone from your home a lot, you are at even higher risk of not noticing a water leak until the damage is extensive.
A smart home water control safety device is a small price to pay to protect yourself from the high expense of water damage repairs. Hardwood floors are expensive to refinish and even more expensive to replace. Cabinets can run you $10,000 or more. Gotta replace that ceiling sheetrock? Now you need to paint the ceiling, too - and all the ceilings in the connected rooms. Water damage get pricey very quickly.
Smart home water control devices sense when any unusual water usage happens. The device will alert you of exactly where and what level of unusual usage is detected so you can quickly respond. You can turn off the water at that location from wherever you are, even when in a work meeting or out of town on vacation. Then you can check it out further when you get back home.
A Great Smart Home Addition
If you already have Alexa or Google Smart Home (or the equivalent), these smart home devices are designed to integrate with the existing system. Using your home’s wi-fi, they connect with the smart home devices you already use. Don’t have an Alexa? No worries. The devices come with an app you can use on your smart phone, tablet or laptop.
Options for Every Budget
Some smart home water control devices are very simple and limited in capabilities, but others offer an extensive range of options such as water pressure measurement, humidity monitoring, and temperature control. Basically, there are options out there for just about any budget. We recommend that all our customers, at the very least, get the basic smart home wi-fi water shut off valve system to protect themselves from a disaster like burst frozen pipes while they are away on vacation.
Here’s another budget-friendly reason to invest: your insurance company may give you a discount on your home insurance policy if you install a smart home water control safety device.
The following are some of the most popular options:
Water Leak Detection Starter Kit by leakSMART
Dome Home Automation Water Shut-Off Valve
Stream Labs Smart Home Water Control
Link Tap Wireless Water Timer and Gateway
Need Help Choosing a System?
We’re happy to help! Give us a call and we’ll help you select and install the water damage protection device that’s right for your home.
Article Summary
Quick question & answer: What is a smart home water control safety device? What are the top benefits of a smart home leak control device?
Homeowners buy a smart home water control safety device because pipes can freeze during winter, resulting in water damage. These devices save you money while keeping your home safe. They can detect leaks by sensing any unusual water usage and let you respond quickly and turn off water from your smart phone.
