Hubitat For The WIN!

I got a water leak alert at 4:41 am that there was a leak at my water heater. My bulldog valve shut off the water. Sure enough there is a slow leak at the cold water inlet and my dome water sensor caught it. Rule machine fired off the rule and did what is was supposed to. Nice save because my water heater is in the attic and was replaced just last year. Now we will see if the plumber stands behind their work.

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Nice! In the debate about using Hubitat for critical systems, it is nice to see posts where Hubitat worked and saved the day. I really don't see posts about Hubitat failing and causing a catastrophe, despite people saying to never trust Hubitat to work for critical applications. I'm sure it happens, but it seems rare.

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In the attic? I've heard of it, but wow, talk about a mess if not detected!
Does this Dome sensor is a cable type sensor that you can put around the foot print of the heater?
I saw this link in another post. I'd think you'd want all the advance warning you could possibly get, with it being in the attic:

Congrats on the save...especially w/the attic location involved, lots of things that could go south. I had a similar alert a couple years ago while on a trip - same (good) result, Centralite sensor picked up the leak at the water heater, HSM turned off the water (WaterCop valve) and notified me. Luckily not at 4 in the morning...IIRC mine was a leisurely 10 am notification, slightly interrupted my brunch. :slight_smile:

Yes it has a remote sensor that sits in the pan. I now know I need to move the sensor to another area of the pan to get an earlier warning.
The attic is a crappy place but that is where they put a lot of them here in Texas. I replaced the old one because of age and not leaking, just to keep a disaster from happening. Plus we just got back from a trip. I would have been a mess if we were still on our trip but at least I know now everything worked as planned. Even though I test it to make sure the rules work. It is nice to know it work in a real world situation.

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I have two sensors at my water heater (used to have three but relocated one and I keep forgetting to replace it, your post reminded me again!). :wink:

I'd suggest having at least two sensors in the water heater pan - redundancy for stuff like this is a must IMHO. I have three leak sensors in my steam shower unit pan in the attic, my highest risk location for a leak.

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That is great. I too have a similar story but my was with a toilet supply line. It shocked me at just how little moisture it took for my Aqara water leak sensor to detect it. Got a small leak where the supply line attached to the float. It literally was just a few drops of water over time on the linoleum. Shut off my Aqara valve and sent out the alert. Even though this was small it made me feel much better about what would happen in a big situation.

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Never trust a float switch, particularly the crappy ones even good hvac contractors install in the pan.

Sometimes, there's no getting around having a pan installed above floor level; attics, 2nd floor utility closets, etc. If possible, I recommend installing a piece of pex high on the wall of the pan and route it to the eaves or crawlspace. I did this years before remote sensors were available, placing the end beside the entrance I usually use and put a large decorative rock below it. Twice over the years, that rock -wet on a clear day- tipped me off that the condensate pan was brim full.

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Clever old-school. Like it!

Why? Was the leak more than the pan drain could handle?

There's a dedicated battery backup on my main valve.

Belts & Braces when it comes to water.

The 2nd time that rock was wet, TWO separate prevention methods had failed. One was the new, improved float valve but the other primary system was a 2-inch shower drain I had built into the custom drain pan when I built the house. Somehow, a piece of paper had gotten over the drain and blocked it.

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Absolutely.

Boris Badenov, most likely. He's so annoying...

Those Dome sensors are the best. I hated mine when I first got it, but I think the driver was funky or maybe device was not properly intialized. However now, they are the kings of reliability and battery life. In my second place are the Fibaro flood sensors(IIRC I hated these also at the start), although they are huge, very reliable and do flood, temp and acceleration (vibration)

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FWIW, this thread inspired me to create another topic regarding Z-Wave/Zigbee/Matter water valve recommendations (I need a new one).

Just in case anyone is interested in that related subject as well, it's here...

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