Flume2 Smart Home Water Monitor and Leak Detector – Real-Time Water Usage Tracking, Easy Installation, No Plumbing Required

I have a slab leak. While rerouting the pipes I'm looking for a water usage monitor and remote shut-off valve. I have doubts about a battery-driven monitor without plumbing. But it ends up being my best option.First, if I can't monitor the main meter, I have to buy 3 monitors, one for the house and 2 for irrigation. I can change that but it requires a lot of work - digging.My meter is underground on the public sidewalk. It looks dark and small in there and I didn't think the Flume will fit inside. But if somebody can plumb something in there, there must be plenty of space for the Flume.The other thing is meter compatibility. I have a Neptune without clear markings so it may be the one that is not compatible. But I think as long as you don't have a too new one, it should be compatible.The installation is easy. You just need to tie the Flume on the side of the meter with a thick rubber band. I had two potential problems. When the app tries to connect with my wifi, an error shows up telling me to retry. It doesn't surprise me as my wifi 6 has the same SSID for both 2.5 and 5 GHz. I might have tapped retry and they the app jumps to calibration without confirming that my wifi is connected. I tried to confirm before putting my Flume down the rabbit hole. There's no way to go back on the app. There's no wifi indicator. I tried to add a new device but it wasn't allowed because all the devices have a serial number. So I just put the Flume next to the meter and it worked.The 2nd potential problem is that the app tells me that the Flume moved more than once. It hasn't.I could have calibrated the app with the readings on the meter. But I'm impressed enough. I think the Flume is detecting the rotation of the red dial, which is exactly what the meter does to measure water flow. If a metal or a magnet rotates, it will disrupt the electromagnetic field around it. So without calibrating, I believe the Flume will be accurate, maybe occasionally missed a turn.First, it's reassuring that my slab leak isn't deteriorating into a measurable amount on the meter. When the app says zero, the red dial doesn't move and I don't have to pay for the leak.I reseeded the lawn and I was using a lot of water since to let the grass grow. But the Flume tells me I'm using over 300 gal of water a day when the sprinklers are on. I checked and all leaks are very minor. I have the incentive to change the watering program.And recently I removed the flow limiter on my showers. The app tells me that it's about a quarter for a long shower.The usage report is on every hour. So you can know how much water you use for the washing machine, dishwasher, and maybe flushing if you plan enough.Now for the remote shut-off, instead of an expensive valve, I found a mechanical "hand" to turn off the quarter valve for about $40. I tried and it should work. But it doesn't fit my very old valve because it is very bulky - the valve body is much thicker than the pipe. Any newer valves will fit.

Very easy DYI install, no subscription, useful in understanding water use and spotting water leaks. Especially for those with yard irrigation systems, flume is a no brainer that pays for itself in no time.

I have been buying on Amazon over 15 years and this is my first time to give a negative review. This is because I always screen my product and read reviews carefully. My electrical engineering background also helps me avoid many issues which might be troubling to others. When I saw Flume water leakage detector on Amazon, I bought it right away since I see this product is so essential to me since my home had several water leakages in the past 10 years. Each leakage mounted a huge water bill. After a tricky installation, I was able to see my water usage every hour on the app’s dash board. The app allows you to set water leakage report if water is continuously running for a minimum of 2 hours. If you are willing to pay a subscription fee with Flume Insight, you can reduce this detection period to less than 2 hours. Two hour of leakage could leak tons of water. I have to suspect that the flume company wants users to pay this fee by setting this 2 hour limitation on purpose since there is no cost to reduce this period to a much reasonable number such as 30 minutes. Because of this 2 hour limitation, most flume users like me will not actually test the leakage notification because nobody wants waste water for at least two hours. Unfortunately, one day my sprinkler valve was malfunctioning, instead of running water for 4 minutes, it ran about 4 hours until we physically found this problem. I received neither push notification nor email during the water leakage or after. We wasted about 2700 gallons of water according to the flume app. I felt so guilty since California suffers such a severe drought that cities asked every home to reduce 15% of water usage. I immediately took this case to Flume and after support staff checked my setting, they reported this case to flume’s engineering team. Ten days later, I got response back from flume’s support staff, saying that due to my unique situation, the AI model didn’t catch my leakage. If the same thing happens today again, I will still not receive a leakage notification. No fix date is promised to me. I don’t understand what AI it is if it can’t simply perform such a basic function, i.e., send me a notification after the water has been running for more than two hours as listed in the flume app since the flume app have already recorded the water usage in these 4 hours. I don’t know when this issue will be fixed and I also don’t understand what uniqueness of my water leakage. I have a very regular sprinkler system and a normal lawn. Since I have passed the one month return date, I have to cross my fingers so that Flume will fix this issue eventually. Meanwhile, I need to check my sprinkler after each running. There is another potential issue. After wifi network is disconnect for any reason, the flume only occasionally in a random pattern to email the network disconnection notice. If the flume app reports network disconnection, it should report every time like my Blink security cameras. Another minor issue for me is that water volume report is not accurate, for example, my toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush, but the app reports 3 gallons consistently. If you need an accurate report, you need to test it carefully. In addition, there is no manual in the box, you have to see flume web site to get the installation instruction. Since my requirement if not high, this product could easily get 4 stars from me if this missing notification issue is fixed and the flume app at least allow the customers to test the leakage notification by reducing the water running period to a much lower number. For me, the feature of leakage notification is the main reason I paid for and the flume company should allow the customers to test this function to gain confidence on the quality of its product.In summary, the features the flume company puts on Amazon might be true in the best condition, but not so in your “unique condition.” So test your detector carefully before the return window close. I also hope the flume company would put the water conservation ahead of getting fee base subscription by lowering the minimum value of water leakage detection free of charge.

I purchased this in March 2024 when my water bill topped $305 per month for 3 people. In the first month, things settled lower. Over about 6 months I replaced all the toilet flappers in the house, and one toilet valve ring. I didn't think those drips added up, but I guess they do. Mostly though, when a toilet doesn't settle quite right, the app pings me "leak detected" and we are quicker at getting it settled. My spouse is deaf, so this happens a few times a month. In 2025 the water bill is $200 per month. So it is looking like $1200 per year in savings. Happy about that.