I suspect it’s the former, but since that obviously didn’t hold true in your case, hopefully their customer support will make it right for you, if you wanted to consider continuing to use Flume.
I quickly perused the Flume website.
It works with a sensor strapped to a pipe?
That's pretty cool.
Ecowitt has a valve operator/flow meter now, but not geared to whole house.
Yes. And it works quite well when it is working. It has saved me multiple times in the last 2 years from leaks, e.g., plumber goof, toilet leaky, as well as kids leaving the sprinkler on, etc. But it can be flaky at times being online/offline. Overall I would prefer a more reliable device, but I would not settle for less capable since Flume has proven to be very capable at detecting leaks. It will be interesting to see (1) if my Flume device can recover from its internal components getting wet; and (2) if Flume will replace it or offer a discount for a replacement given the failure of the housing despite it being 2.5 years since purchase....I've saved well over the $250 purcahse price by detecting leaks, so overall a win, but it would be nice not to have to fork out another $250 for a replacement.
May I ask how it got wet?
I visualize something strapped onto a pipe in the basement, or somewhere not exposed to the elements.
Hard rain. Maybe some people's meters are not exposed to the elements, but mine more or less is. It's in a covered pit near the street (so the meter can be read wirelessly by the town). The pit is covered, but still very susceptible to getting water in it, especially with a hard rain.
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So, you have to strap the sensor to a meter?
I thought a pipe?
Maybe I should revisit the website, lol.
Interesting subject, even though I'm on a well.
Yes, through some kind of voodoo I believe it’s actually reading the meter itself.
Mine is in my basement, so pretty safe from the elements. But they are also designed to work for those that have meters in a pit outside like @JustinL.
Maybe it's the Hall Effect, again, lol.
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A lot of the smart meter setups from the likes of Itron wire remote the radio module to a recessed mounting slot in the lid of the pit.
Pit saturation is not an uncommon. In some cites those meter pits are mess and the meters are buried under silt & mud due to the water infiltration you speak of.
It is surprising that somebody like Flume or a competitor hasn't built a small submersible meter sensor package (IP68 rated) wired to a separate battery & telemetry module that you could mount to the lid up out of the typical water intrusion level.
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But the point is that Flume claims to be waterproof, and those pits are an approved location to install. They don't make it immediately apparent what exactly they mean by waterproof, but they should presumably back that up.
Most likely it is a Hall Efect based device. Than cheap Hall Effect Sensor plus Hubduino and DIY 100% local Wter Meter compatible with HE is there.
I finally got to troubleshooting the water sensor. Turns out there is a "hardware malfunction" and I had to order a replacement. Luckily they have an "upgrade" price and I was able to get it for $99.
It's saved me a few times - a couple of alerts about a slow leak (turned out to be a sprinkler head that was leaking) and once about high flow when the pool guy left the wrong valve turned on and the pool was draining out! So well worth the cost. Hopefully, the replacement will last longer than the original (it was about 3 years).
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