My house insurance have just sent me a free device I had never heard of, called a Leakbot.
I had to look it up as had no idea what it was or how to use it. The device itself is a small black box with a button on the side and a clip on that back. You install its app, then enter the device serial and it walks you through setting up Wi-Fi and an account. Once finished you have to find where the incoming water supply is, which is normally where the stopcock is located and you clip it to that mains water supply pipe. And that is it.
But what does it actually do?
It's meant to be able to monitor, log and track water usage in your house by detecting the sudden changes in temperature and air pressure in the pipe. After a few days it starts to log daily water usage, and once it has enough data it can then detect unusual continuous water flow which could indicate a water leak in the house. It will then alert your phone and aid you in contacting someone to fix it.
I'm currently sceptical if this will actually do anything, but it was free from my house insurance, and with it fitted they cover the cost of repairs. If I had to buy it, it would have cost £150, so for they price you would hope it works. We will see.
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I know what you mean. Is this just technology invented to fix a problem that didn't exist?
But as insurance companies are backing it and giving it to top tier customerd for free I have to think there's something in it.
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Most builds these days have a water meter fitted.
£150 is a lot of money....
£150 buys a lot of water....
Drink a load of fluids & stab yourself several times to see yourself leak lots....
£150 is a lot of Jack Daniels when you can buy a 70CL bottle for £13.50.
Bot-off!
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That is true. And I get what you mean. It's more like the smart reporting part of an electric smart meter. It would work better if this tech was integrated into the actual real water meter that does measure water flow accurately. Maybe it will be in the future, then people can monitor their daily water usage and get paranoid about that too.
At the moment it's just a way for insurance companies to try and prevent big water damage repair bills.
I'm still very skeptical about this device. It's already texted me a warning saying it had detected a leak. My wife was filling up the bath!
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