Flume Water Monitor: Smart Home Water Monitoring to Detect Leaks & Track Water Usage in Real Time. Compatible with Alexa.

I'll start with saying that I have a mostly automated home - and home automation is the one part of technology that lags so far behind the rest that it makes you want to rip out your hair. Stupid, half baked proprietary technology coupled with poor adoption in many cases that makes it difficult to get technical support when you need it, and even if you do get it in the right way from the start all too often you're left with something that runs some of the time and not others, not a quality you look for when you're trying to automate a home 24x7.Enter Flume - I can't say enough about the experience from start to finish - from concept to production, it's well thought out all the way through. They tell you what kind of meters are supported and which aren't. They make pairing the device to your home wifi as simple as can be, and provide you with a bridge so that you're not left wondering whether it's something you did or just poor wifi signal to blame when something doesn't work. The app is outstanding - simple, straightforward, and reliable. And the accuracy of the unit is dead on - as in down to the fraction of a gallon of water.I have two deployed because I split time between two houses, and it is a lifesaver. On one occasion, someone accidentally left a toilet flushed with the flapper open (the flapper was on it's way out), and gallons of water were being wasted every minute. Rather than get a surprise bill at the end of the month, I got a notification of a leak and addressed it that day.I bought the devices to prevent flooding, not so much to track efficiency or use. I figured with one house unoccupied at all times, if something broke or failed I wouldn't know about it until it's too late. The features in the app are fantastic in that way, from push notifications on the device to text messaging (down to being able to designate an alternate for when you're unavailable or out of town). While I was looking more for flood prevention, it has proven a valuable tool in addressing our water use. Combined with a smart sprinkler (RainMachine FTW), I can calculate down to the gallon how much I'm watering and where, and know when parts of my lawn that aren't getting enough water might need a boost, and when some is getting too much. I can tell right away when one of the toilet flappers is on it's way out, or if someone left a garden hose partially open. These might not be huge cost savers, but it's waste - and I'm glad to stop waste wherever possible.I wish these guys would get into the broader market of home automation, but I can understand why they might want no part of that. I just hope they continue to support the Flume device as they have to date, because it is exemplary in every way.

Further update. I get occasional notifications that my wifi has dropped signal on Flume. Recommended steps can be bit time consuming. I get the same thing on my Blink camera. In both cases I have found if I wait a few minutes that the connection comes back without my doing anything. Also I noted that the water company report of usage seemed to be nearly double what Flume was showing. Customer service was great and suggested I send them pix of meter taken 24 hours or more apart. Result was they could adjust the app to reflect the correct readings. This can be important especially if you have set the alarms in case of slow or fast leak. So far no leaks but am ready. Very pleased with the system after three months of use.This is an update: Have used now for nearly a month and find the detail and response of this system amazing. My water company is trying to get me to buy a monitor that would only work inside the house and for 3 times the cost of this device which will tell me if have problem outside or inside. I find this very sensitive. It does take a minute for it to show zero flow after running water but that is minimal issue. With this you will be able to tell what various appliances, etc. use in water use as well as warning you if there is a problem. And it will help those in water shortage areas to use water wisely. So far extremely pleased with this product and high recommend to those who feel it can be helpful to them.Downloading the app and setting up the account was extremely easy. Only issue I had was that they wanted a picture to continue the set up. I had taken and submitted to tech support a picture. Did not realize that I could use that picture but when when to take picture it let me go to my phone picture. I originally set the bridge up in a back room closer to the outside meter but turned out too far from the router. Moved to room closer and set up with no problem. Bridge is two walls including brick wall and 100 feet from the pit with meter. But readings are perfect. Was interesting to flush a toilet as I have two settings, quick or longer and on quick found it took 2 gallons. Ran washer on medium load and took 17 gallons. Worth knowing. Very pleased and while this is third day of use if I find something different will come back and update this review. At this point can recommend this product. I bought this after my water company e mailed me wanting me to buy a monitor that only monitored the indoor use at a cost of $600. But I was equally concerned with the line which is some 150 feet from their meter to my house. If there were a break in that line I have insurance to cover replacement of the line but would be responsible for water that is lost. Neighbor who had problem got $700 bill just for water! So it is good to know as quickly as possible if there is a problem. One thing to know is that in setting you should set this for the two alerts. First if continuous run for more than 2 hours (can turn off if watering or ignore) and if 5 gallons a minute in 15 minutes, e.g., major leak. Both setting can be turned on or off. I am surprised but very pleased at how accurate this is in real time. At a cost of $199 this is good value to me.

I was a little concerned when attaching it to the water meter as the brass base is much wider then the grey meter and all of Flume's install pictures show them being the same side, but at an angle straddling the two it still works just fine. Super easy to install and the app is straight forward to use.One issue is you can't properly add a Canadian address when registering the product though in the end it didn't stop setting it up.One nice thing the app could use is the ability to quickly select some water usage within the graphs it provides to do a quick tally of your water usage selection, vs adding it up manually.

It sows time of day and amount of water used . This helps you to know when and how much water was used. You can also set up a budget and when you get close to the total amount water used, daily, weekly, monthly, depending on how you set up your budget, flume will notify you. It will also notify you if there is a leak that runs over 2 hours.