X-Sense water leak detector

Scott Kramer

First week of January, I heard our older water heater make popping noises after someone took a shower. I called a couple of plumbers. One told me to immediately replace it, the other told me to drain it and the sediment inside of it, which may allow the heater to last a couple more years. Confused, I simply called the manufacturer and spoke with a technician. He told me not to drain it – that might completely destroy what’s left of it – and to instead keep using it until it fails anywhere between a couple of months and a couple of years from now. Now you may wonder why I just don’t replace it ASAP and avoid any burst it might experience. There are a couple of reasons. First, it’s more likely to either just stop working one day or develop a slow leak, rather than burst. And secondly, our local city codes have changed. Apparently, when the water heater next gets replaced, I will need to add a thermal expansion tank. Which will cost extra, of course. And because of how the heater’s positioned in a garage wall cutout, there will likely be some bracketing involved to secure the apparatus.

So I’m heeding the technician’s advice and riding it out. But to alert me the moment something goes wrong – especially as we’re doing some traveling this summer – I tried activating my five-year-old water leak detectors into the space by the water heater. Except they’ve all expired. So I decided to just get some new ones, in the X-Sense SWS0A ultra-thin smart water leak alarm that you can buy on Amazon.

In my short experience with this product, I’m impressed. It took just a few minutes to set up the entire system. The included instructions are very clear and intuitive, and you need to set up the smartphone app with it. Essentially you download the app, pair the base unit, and then add the alarms one by one. While I got the four-pack plus a base, I tested out the one alarm that I set up by the water heater by drenching a towel and then rubbing the sensors on it. Within seconds, the base emitted a loud alarm and the app notified me immediately that there was a leak detected.

That’s huge, because if no one is home to hear the audible alarm, at least I know there’s a leak via the app notification and can immediately contact a neighbor to stop by and turn off the water. In our case, I can remotely open my garage door and get the neighbor to shut down the water heater immediately. While that won’t fix my problem, it can greatly minimize water damage, reduce needless water and gas usage, and give me immense peace of mind.

Trust me, we’ve had a major flood in our home before that we didn’t know about until we got home after an evening out. And it caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Even had to stay in a hotel for two months while the house was restored. Don’t ever want to experience that again. I honestly wish the system could call my phone like my old detectors could – just in case I’m not looking at my screen – but the X-Sense approach seems pretty sufficient.

According to Google, water heater failures account for roughly 9 percent of sudden water damage events in homes, making them the third leading cause of plumbing-related flooding. So do yourself a favor and make a small investment into leak detectors for your home. Placing them under sinks and behind toilets may likely help you mitigate any potential water damage.