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The original was posted on /r/homeassistant by /u/Xibby on 2025-08-06 05:30:08+00:00.
A few weeks ago, maybe a month or two, someone else posted something similar to this subreddit and I’m here to reiterate…
The best time to buy and setup your water leak sensors was a months ago, or yesterday. The next best time is now!
Yesterday evening our water heater’s tank sprung a leak and the tank emptied on the utility/laundry room floor. With the water turned on and tank leaking it overwhelmed the floor drain and got into the carpet in the hall.
Thankfully I had a load of laundry going and discovered the problem quickly, got things shut off, and multiple runs of the carpet cleaner took care of the patch of wet carpet.
Technician from install company came
out and checked it today, saw it was still under warranty and scheduled a crew to replace it under warranty tomorrow. Warranty replacement was signed off on by technician so fingers crossed we won’t be paying for a new one.🤞🏼
We got so very lucky. It could have easily happened the day before when we didn’t get home until late.
I made a run to IKEA tonight, got 14 BADRING leak sensors (2 for utility room, 1 sump well that has no pump because it’s been dry for 24 years, 2 kitchen, 4 bathroom sinks, 3 toilets, 2 spares…)
I also got a handful of IKEA smart plugs to help build out the Zigbee mesh since I didn’t have any hard wired Zigbee. It’s just been on the todo list since I added the SkyConnect dongle to my Home Assistant Blue.
Warning, the BADRING sensors are kinda a pain to get paired. I’m alternating between lick fingers and touch the prongs and tapping the button every 10-15 seconds… setting off the sensors seems to have a higher success rate.
Don’t wait. If you’re on this subreddit, you presumably have Home Assistant setup. Even if you don’t have Home Assistant at least get leak detectors with an audible alarm.
My IKEA run for 14 sensors and 4 smart plugs was $250. I figure I’ve used up all my luck (had plumber come out and replace cheap plastic toilet shut off valves that were dripping in March.)
Do it! Do it now!
It will likely save you thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.