Fibaro Flood Sensor
Pros
- Easy to set up
- Audible Alarm as well as Z-Wave notification
- Integrated temperature sensor
Cons
- Placement is critical
- No remote sensor
A leak or water intrusion in your house can cause hundreds of dollars worth of damage and that can easily creep into the thousands if it goes undetected. A moisture or flood sensor can alert you as soon as a leak starts and save you money and anxiety.
In order to prevent water damage in my home, I purchased a Fibaro Z-Wave Flood Sensor (FGFS-101 ZW3). The sensor is about $40 and easily fits in the palm of a hand. It’s a smooth white disk, roughly 3 inches across and an inch high. It is a standard Z-Wave device, so it should pair with any compliant Z-Wave hub. There is also a different version of the Fibaro Flood Sensor that works with Apple HomeKit. I paired the sensor with a Vera hub. It is also fully supported by SmartThings.
The sensor has three metallic legs on the bottom that detect when water has seeped underneath it. When that happens, the sensor emits an audible alarm, flashes an LED, and sends a signal to the home automation hub. The sensor also floats, so if the flooding gets really bad, it will still keep transmitting. It only takes a small amount of water to set off the alarm. The alarm is reminiscent of the wake alarm you might find on a digital watch. Loud enough to be heard clearly, but not piercing or loud enough to carry through walls. If you’re not in the same room with it you probably won’t notice the chirping.
The Fibaro Flood Sensor also incorporates a temperature sensor which reports the current ambient temperature to your Z-Wave hub. This is not necessarily something that a flood sensor has, but it’s a nice bonus. It seems most of Fibaro’s sensors also include temperature, so if you have them scattered around your house, you get temperature readings from all over as well.
Unlike some competing flood sensors, (Dome for example) the Fibaro Flood sensor does not include a remote flood sensor. This would be a probe on a wire that allows you to monitor for water in a smaller, more remote space, perhaps somewhere that isn’t easily accessible. The Fibaro does, however support the use of a remote sensor, you’ll just have to provide it yourself. The manual recommends using a probe designed specifically for detecting water even though a simply pair of wires will work. The reason for using a purpose designed probe is that the probe ends will be properly spaced and covered with a non-corrosive coating. Otherwise, having the probe ends too close could cause false alarms, and corrosive buildup could cause the probe to not work at all.
I had no trouble with the pairing process, and when water got underneath the sensor, it responded almost immediately both with the audible alarm with an alert from my Vera hub. (Get full instructions on how to pair the flood sensor with Vera here.) After doing some initial, satisfactory tests, I placed it underneath my refrigerator where I occasionally get a leak when the freezer drain freezes over. For two months, I got silence and real-time updates on the temperature underneath my refrigerator. Then one day I stepped in a puddle of water. Turns out, the freezer was leaking again, but the puddle hadn’t formed under the sensor. When I moved the sensor into the puddle, it immediately started alarming. I decided this probably wasn’t the best place to monitor for leaks and instead just fixed the drain that was freezing over.
The second place I tried the flood sensor was more of a success. Since the drain line on my air conditioner clogs from time to time, I placed the sensor just below the drainage line where it usually leaks. A few weeks later (maybe I need to do more preventative maintenance) I got an alert on my cell phone that the sensor was going off. Since my air handler is in the garage, I never heard the sensor itself until I went out to check on it. My time being limited, I vacuumed out the drainage line, and dried everything out without actually fixing the clog. I found that the Fibaro sensor is very sensitive and I had to have the drainage pan almost bone dry before it stopped indicating a flood. I quickly headed out of the house to work with the intention of clearing the line later. Before the end of the day I got another alert. My quick fix hadn’t worked, but my test of the Fibaro Z-Wave Flood Sensor had.
That experience really forms my final opinion on the Fibaro Z-Wave Flood Sensor. It definitely works, works reliably, and quickly; but only if you’re able to identify beforehand the area that is going to flood. Some critical points would be the low point in a basement, water heaters, kitchen sinks, and washing machine drains. These areas are particularly critical if they are in areas where leakage could cause real damage. Ultimately the usefulness of this sensor might come down to the effectiveness of your placement.
The Fibaro Flood Sensor sells for about $40.00 or less on Amazon (click to check current price). There is also a newer, Z-Wave Plus version now with longer battery life and better range. with When compared to the cost of repairing even minor water damage, that’s a really good investment.
