Does the Flo by Moen Good Water Monitor and Shutoff stay as much as its good water moniker? That’s what we not too long ago got down to do by putting in the most recent model of the Flo by Moen shutoff system in our Digitized Home Evaluation good house. The system not solely displays and categorizes water utilization all through the house to assist promote water conservation, however extra importantly provides realtime leak detection and computerized predominant waterline shutoff within the occasion of a significant leak occasion. Learn on to get our in-depth evaluation.
Evaluation Abstract
The Flo by Moen Good Water Monitor and Shutoff is a perfect water community security internet for owners wanting to watch whole-home water utilization, follow water conservation, and defend their houses from catastrophic water harm. We have been impressed by its total easy operation by a number of weeks of testing on our water community, stable construct high quality, respectable accuracy in monitoring and measuring utilization, and total ease of use. We extremely suggest it.
Execs
Holistic whole-home water utilization monitoring by broad system class
Realtime reporting of water utilization and water strain
Intensive depth and customization for alerts and notifications
Automated, immediate shutoff of water mainline within the occasion of a significant leak
Dependable app entry for shutting down water mainline anytime/anyplace
Stable construct high quality
Cons
Restricted granular fixture/system class detection
Water occasion class modifying doesn’t essentially carry over to future occasions
Water utilization reporting restricted to the previous 7 days in Moen app
Comparatively excessive price, starting from $499 to $799 relying on mainline measurement. Reductions could also be obtainable at Moen or Amazon
Buy
Purchase Now: From Moen ($475-760)
Purchase Now: From Amazon (399-$560)
The Good Water Monitoring and Automated Shutoff Panorama
Flo by Moen has been out there for just a few years, and competes with related whole-home water monitoring and automatic shutoff merchandise supplied by Phyn, Kohler, and others. The Phyn Plus Good Water Assistant + Shutoff (2nd gen) and Kohler H2Wise+ most likely most intently align with Flo by Moen with respect to options, capabilities, utilization mannequin, and value vary. The Phyn and Kohler choices, by the way in which, are primarily the identical product (see our detailed evaluation on the Kohler H2Wise+), although the Kohler-branded model brings some further intelligence when used with Kohler-branded plumbing fixtures.
What are you able to count on with this style of good water gadgets? First, since they set up on the principle water line coming into the house, you’ll be able to count on to get water utilization and historical past by fixture kind for gadgets linked upstream of the monitor, in addition to water strain monitoring. Secondly, you’ll be able to count on automated day by day well being checks of your plumbing system (or water community, as we wish to confer with it) to detect for failing elements or microleaks. Thirdly, as a result of built-in shutoff mechanism, they’ll robotically flip off the water predominant within the occasion of a catastrophic leak to stop or decrease water harm to the construction. And lastly, you’ll be able to count on anyplace, anytime app entry to verify on water utilization, evaluation alerts and notifications, and to remotely change off your water predominant with the swipe of a finger.
With reference to fixture kind, the central good sensors in these displays are designed to make use of algorithms and AI to find plumbing fixtures after which place them into significant system teams or classes for reporting. So, whereas they fight their greatest to accurately establish these gadgets, don’t count on them to be completely good on this regard.
Learn on to find how the Flo by Moen product does on these expectations.
Flo by Moen Evaluation: Out of the Field
Moen provides the Flo system in 3 totally different mainline sizes, together with 3/4 in., 1 in., and 1.25-in, differentiating itself from the Phyn and Kohler merchandise which can be solely obtainable in a 1-in. measurement. Typically, it would be best to choose a measurement that’s the identical or bigger than your mainline in order to not impede water circulation or trigger decreased strain. Steered retail price for Flo vary from $499 to $799 relying on the mainline measurement, however you’ll be able to count on some degree of low cost instantly from Moen, Amazon, and different on-line retailers.
Within the case of Flo, the general dimensions of the valve housing and clearances required round it enhance proportionally with mainline measurement, so additionally maintain that in thoughts when deciding on one to your house. We reviewed the largest-available 1.25-in. model, however if you’re tight on area think about using the three/4 in. or 1 in. variations.
The Flo Shutoff valve housing itself is molded in navy blue, and hides the electronics, Wi-Fi radio, and the waterway with a motorized ball valve that’s employed to regulate water circulation. A inexperienced thumb activate the entrance of the valve signifies the place of the ball valve: when the thumb flip is parallel to the water circulation the valve is open; when perpendicular to the water circulation it’s closed. The ball valve itself is chrome plated to advertise lengthy life.
The waterway includes a plastic turbine on its outboard port, which is used to precisely measure water circulation and utilization.
Additionally included within the field are an short-term plastic spacer to be used throughout set up, an influence adapter with 10-foot cable, energy adapter wall bracket, and wall anchors for the bracket. Do remember the Flo valve itself doesn’t make the most of a bracket, so its weight should be absolutely supported by the encompassing plumbing system. A postcard containing a QR code encoded with the unit serial quantity and MAC deal with are additionally included, and are used when initially pairing the system with the required Moen Good Water Community cellphone app.
Total, the Flo setup is nicely thought out and seems to be ruggedly constructed. The 1.25-in valve is kind of heavy, largely as a result of its bodily measurement, motorized 1.25-in. ball valve shutoff mechanism, and stable brass fittings and tailpieces.
Flo by Moen Evaluation: Set up and Setup
Bodily set up of the Flo Shutoff is greatest dealt with by a licensed plumber, because it requires turning off the water provide and chopping into the mainline plumbing itself, and moreover might require extra twists and turns of plumbing to accommodate it. Nevertheless, normally the method is simple within the occasion you need to undertake this as a DIY venture and have the requisite plumbing instruments and expertise.
Moen does supply rough-in kits to plumbers and DIYers in varied sizes and configurations that may be bought upfront of the Flo by Moen Shutoff itself. These kits embody an inline spacer and varied fittings that exactly match the end-to-end dimensions of the Flo valve, and could be helpful throughout new building or remodels the place future set up of the valve is desired. The rough-in kits are designed to allow on a regular basis water circulation and could be left in place indefinitely. As soon as the rough-in items have been put in and examined, a future set up of the Flo valve is a comparatively easy course of.
Within the case of our retrofit set up, we had a 1-in. mainline so bought a pair of stainless-steel 1.25 x 1.0 bushings to adapt the 1.25-in. brass tailpieces at each ends of the Flo valve to a 1-in. NPT threaded pipe measurement. And since our system is 100% plumbed with versatile PEX plastic water traces and fittings, we additionally bought SharkBite adapter fittings to make the ultimate transitions from threaded NPT pipe to PEX pipe. On this vogue there was no have to solder any joints.
The Flo valve could be put in both horizontally or vertically. In our case, as a result of current location of the principle water shutoff valve and its proximity to a water softener system, we elected to create a brand new S-shaped plumbing route so the Flo valve might be put in vertically. After we turned off the principle water valve, we severed the incoming water line, then used brass SharkBite quick-connect fittings and brief lengths of PEX pipe to vogue the brand new plumbing route. Moreover, we used C-shaped conduit clamps on the prime and backside of the brand new plumbing part to help the added weight of the pipe, fittings, and the Flo valve.
To wrap up the plumbing part, we put in the provided Flo spacer as a placeholder for the Flo valve, then turned the mainline again on to check the system for leaks. After caring for just a few minor drips within the brass parts of the system by utilizing teflon tape, we turned off the water once more and changed the spacer with the Flo valve. Lastly, we mounted the ability adapter above the valve and linked its cable to the highest of the valve, then adopted the guided directions within the Moen app to attach the valve to WiFi and full the set up. After just a few moments, the inexperienced LEDs on the highest of the valve got here alive and the Flo was seen on the app house display screen.
Among the many preliminary setup duties is configuring the Residence Traits panel. Right here, specifics round house measurement, variety of occupants, and water consumption targets are set. One click on down, the Home equipment & Facilities panel allows checking off the kind of indoor and out of doors fixtures, home equipment, and different facilities current within the house. The Flo system will then take this info into consideration because it makes an attempt to correctly categorize utilization.
Video: Watch Flo by Moen in Motion
Flo by Moen Evaluation: The way it Works
Startup and Studying Mode
As soon as Flo by Moen is up and operating, it instantly begins measuring entire house water utilization by its inside sensors and drops into Studying Mode—every week or so of AI-enhanced studying on the fly. Throughout this preliminary coaching interval, the automated shutoff characteristic is disabled and the My Flo Modes—together with Residence, Sleep, and Away states—are disabled as nicely. At this stage, the system is making educated selections on particularly what kind of system or gadgets are consuming water at any time limit. It does this by sensing and dissecting the water circulation, water strain, and occasion period footprint and matching that towards its information base of gadgets.
The aim after all is to measure and categorize water utilization as intently as potential, whereas studying in regards to the typical water utilization occasions occurring everyday. In doing so, the system intends to distinguish between regular water utilization occasions and potential uncommon occasions (e.g. people who might point out a leak or excessive circulation occasion). In these uncommon circumstances, the automated mainline water shutoff characteristic could also be activated immediately to stop catastrophic water harm, or a notification could also be raised within the app so the home-owner can decide on deal with it.
Realtime Monitoring and On the spot Shutoff
From the second it’s turned on, the Flo by Moen sensors start monitoring realtime water use in gallons per minute (GPM) and water strain (PSI), in addition to logging every water occasion. An occasion could also be one thing so simple as a rest room flush or momentary opening and shutting of a faucet, or longer and extra complicated occasions equivalent to baths, showers, panorama irrigation, or water softener regeneration. In every occasion case, the system logs the system kind/class, date and time, period in minutes and seconds, and water quantity.
Within the Moen app house display screen, a Complete Residence Controls part seems when the Flo is added, and most significantly, the Flo Shutoff change is entrance and middle so you’ll be able to remotely and immediately flip the water predominant on or off from right here. We are saying immediately since that’s exactly the way it occurs: inside just a few seconds of tapping the button, Flo will spin up its motor, and with a servo-like whir the ball valve rotates 90 levels to close off the water predominant.
The My Flo Modes are additionally selectable from the Complete Residence Controls part.
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Moen Good Water Community app, displaying tiles for Flo by Moen capabilities. A guide mainline shutoff could be finished immediately from right here by tapping the Flo Shutoff button. -
Flo by Moen house display screen, depicting realtime water strain, circulation price, and out of doors temperature meters, in addition to development information.
The Pleasure of Stats
If you happen to’ve by no means skilled whole-home water monitoring, you might be in for some surprises and shocks. Shock! Who knew somebody within the house was taking 45-minute showers and utilizing 60+ gallons of water every time? With Flo by Moen, you’ll be capable of see these leisurely bathe occasions within the Moen app, together with the beginning time, period, and gallons used—in case you need to do some sleuthing to find out the responsible get together. Shock! Did you actually understand how a lot water your family was utilizing daily? Most likely not. Your new water information supply is a far cry from the mundanity of a month-to-month water invoice.
Moen provides loads of choices on examine water utilization. For a snapshot of realtime utilization, simply faucet the Flo Shutoff tile from the app house display screen, and from the Overview panel you may get present water strain, circulation price, and space temperature readings by speedometer-type meters. Beneath the meters, you may get Sensor Developments, line charts for circulation price, strain, and temperature plotted for the final 7 days, final 24 hours, or realtime.
On the Utilization tab, cumulative water utilization for the day or week are seen in a meter and accompanying bar chart, whereas rolled-up Utilization By Fixture (or class) over the chosen interval seems under that.
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Flo by Moen Utilization panel, displaying week-to-date complete precise water utilization versus aim (set by consumer within the app). -
Flo by Moen Historical past panel, displaying final 7 day utilization by fixture class. -
Flo by Moen app Historical past, displaying bathe occasions over earlier week. -
Flo by Moen app Historical past display screen, depicting occasions by class. Particular person occasions could be edited to mirror the correct fixture/system producing the utilization.
However essentially the most telling info lies within the Historical past panel. Right here, fixtures and classes are extra finely segregated, and particular person classes could be expanded to disclose all particular person occasions and their particulars. Once more, the metrics at this occasion degree embody date, time, period, and water quantity.
How correct was Flo at correctly figuring out and categorizing the plumbing gadgets on our water community? Normally, it did an admirable job at inserting gadgets into broad classes, equivalent to Faucet, Bathe, and Rest room. For gadgets it couldn’t particularly establish, it tended to put them right into a normal Home equipment class—this catch-all classification included issues equivalent to dishwashers, in-door water dispensers, craft ice makers, washing machines, pot fillers, water softeners, and different gadgets.
Moreover, whereas it’s not evident from the consumer interface, every particular person water occasion could be tapped to allow modifying of its fixture or class. For example, if you realize a particular Bathe occasion was certainly a Backyard Hose occasion, you’ll be able to faucet the Fallacious Fixture button and choose the right one. Flo ideally would then be capable of correctly categorize related occasions sooner or later. Following modifying, the particular occasion will seem beneath its new class, with subtext indicating the earlier class. This information was additionally mirrored within the reporting instruments.
In follow, nevertheless, we discovered that after modifying an occasion to mirror a brand new system kind, Flo was typically not in a position to accurately establish the system the subsequent time it was used.
My Flo Modes
The My Flo Modes are selectable from the Moen app house display screen, and are primarily designed to regulate how and when the automated shutoff characteristic works. These modes work as follows:
- Residence Mode: The traditional mode for day-to-day use. Residence Mode brings the common degree of leak and utilization safety, together with alarm notifications for higher-than-normal utilization and computerized water shutoff enablement. You’ll sometimes get an alert or notification earlier than Flo takes any drastic motion round shutting off the water.
- Away Mode: The mode to make use of if you end up away for an prolonged time period or on trip. Away Mode brings an extra degree of leak and utilization safety by studying what utilization is like whenever you’re away. On this mode, Flo can immediately set off an computerized shutoff when it detects greater than regular utilization or when it thinks a significant leak has occurred.
- Sleep Mode: This mode isn’t what you assume. Sleep Mode merely ignores all proactive and real-time assessments and silences all alarm notifications, and is designed to be used when irregular water utilization is anticipated like filling a swimming pool or spa, or having a number of company keep over. So whenever you are sleeping, remember to use Residence mode.
Alerts, Notifications, and Well being Checks
Flo can generate myriad alerts and notifications by way of textual content message, e mail, cellphone name, or in-app when in Residence or Away mode primarily based on extraordinarily granular settings within the Flo Notifications panel. The alternatives are in depth in each modes, and are categorized into Important Alerts, Warning Alerts, and Info Alerts. In all, there are 27 particular person settings for Residence mode and one other 27 settings for Away mode. Beneath every of these, you’ll be able to individually choose in or out of textual content, e mail, name or in-app notifications. Suffice it to say, you’ll need to rigorously evaluation these to make sure you are getting what you want to your scenario.
Flo additionally gives what they name FloSense, a worldwide alert sensitivity setting. A slider with a variety from Much less Alerts to Extra Alerts dictates how the system will reply with alert notifications when uncommon exercise is detected. So when you discover you’re nonetheless getting too many alerts, simply crank down this setting.
Flo has additionally built-in a plumbing well being verify characteristic, known as MicroLeak Take a look at. By default, this normal plumbing well being verify runs as soon as per day by robotically turning off the water predominant and monitoring for any leaks or abnormalities within the pressurized system. After it runs its course over a span of two to 4 minutes, the water predominant is turned again on and outcomes get reported primarily based on its settings within the Notifications panel.
To check this characteristic, we opened a faucet to provide a circulation of about 1/10 gallon per minute then initiated a guide MicroLeak Take a look at. The check instantly detected the water circulation and raised an alert within the app, noting a ten.79% drop in water strain. The app prompt we verify all of the fixtures in the home to ensure they have been tightly closed and sealed.
Leak Detection and Computerized Shutoff
Moen says leaks as small as one drip per minute could be detected. We weren’t in a position to confirm that, however we have been in a position to simulate a bigger “leak” in our water community.
In our testing, we simulated an Away Mode leak and computerized shutoff situation. First, we set FloSense to most sensitivity. Secondly, we adjusted Away Mode Notifications to set off immediately and instantly notify when any sudden water use was detected, and lastly, we put the Flo into Away mode.
Then, all that was left was to activate some water, so we opened a rest room sink faucet. Immediately, we obtained a textual content indicating sudden water utilization, and instantly we might hear the whir of the Flo because it activated its shutoff valve and turned off the water. This all occurred inside a handful of seconds.
Handbook Shutoff
Within the occasion of an influence outage or community outage, the Flo shutoff valve can nonetheless be operated manually by utilizing the included hex wrench. The thumb flip should be absolutely depressed previous to rotating it clockwise the required 90 levels to open or shut the valve.
Flo by Moen Evaluation: Integrations
Flo by Moen can combine with a number of good house ecosystems, together with Amazon Alexa, Google Residence, Good, Ring, and Alarm.com. However don’t count on too many options to be uncovered by these integrations.
By the use of instance, we examined the Google Residence integration—however performance was restricted to controlling the open/shut place of the shutoff valve, in addition to the mode selector. Nevertheless, this minimal degree of integration is typical for Google Residence and will not absolutely symbolize different platforms.
Flo by Moen Evaluation: What’s Lacking and a Few Points
Flo by Moen is mostly very nicely thought out and operates with no hitch. Nevertheless, whereas the reporting by the really helpful Moen Good Water Community app is in depth, you’ll be able to solely evaluation information from the previous week. For instance, there isn’t any facility to view the historical past of earlier months, or to check August of this 12 months to August of final 12 months.
In equity to Moen, if you would like extra in-depth reporting by week, month, or 12 months, you’ll be able to elect to make use of the standalone Flo by Moen app as an alternative. Flo additionally provides an online interface, with in depth controls and related deep reporting.
On points, few have been encountered they usually have been typically minor. Over the month or in order that we performed our testing, we sometimes skilled sluggishness when launching the Moen Good Water Community app. In these circumstances, the house display screen failed to attract, possible attributable to community points. A relaunch of the app just a few moments later sometimes resolved these points. Additionally, when cycle testing the Flo shutoff valve by repeatedly tapping the open/shut button within the app, the app stopped responding. We relaunched the app and rebooted the valve after these incidents and all gave the impression to be high-quality.
The Backside Line: A Water Community Security Web
The Flo by Moen Good Water Monitor and Shutoff is a perfect water community security internet for owners wanting to watch whole-home water utilization, follow water conservation, and defend their houses from catastrophic water harm. We have been impressed by its total easy operation by a number of weeks of testing on our water community, stable construct high quality, respectable accuracy in monitoring and measuring utilization, and total ease of use. We extremely suggest it.
