Floodstop Washing Machine Valve Shutoff Kit
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Floodstop Washing Machine Valve Shutoff Kit
Customer Review: Great idea... very cheaply made
Summary: 3 Stars
This product is a very good idea. The self shutoff hoses that are now available have problems with stopping the flow when they shouldn't, which this device solves. Other water sensing electronically controlled shut off valves are available, but cost a lot more than the Floodstop. But the Floodstop is not perfect.
The biggest problem is that the unit is very, very cheaply made. It's a Chinese import, and smacks of it. This is the sort of product that needs to be seriously reliable and thus made to a high level of quality. It's not. The cables and connectors are as cheap as possible, the control unit is in a flimsy housing, and the valves themselves are not very rugged. As an example, where the interconnecting wires terminate to the cheap plug-in connector at the controller unit, there is no "strain relief". A little flexing there will cause the wires to break. Another example is the plastic housing that protects the solenoid that operates the water valves. Again, the wires are not strain relieved, so that any accidental tugging or excessive vibration are likely to cause the soldered connection to break. I may sound too critical, but I'm an engineer and would never design a device that is supposed to be "high reliability" like this - cable and connecor issues are huge sources of failure. If any problems occur with the wires of the Floodstop, the user won't know about it and the thing will simply not work when it's needed. It wouldn't have taken much for the unit to be designed to be much more robust. There are some other sensing shut off valves on the market that cost considerably more. I appreciate that this one is priced lower, but Floodstop cheaped out much too far IMO.
There are a couple of other things I didn't like. The cable length works for many installations, but it's too short for others. There isn't an optional longer wire available, and you can't buy the connectors separately (so I was told by the distributor) to allow you to make your own, nor will they provide a part number for the connector. If we had a number, the connectors could probably be purchased from one of the online electronics hobby stores or an industrial supplier. You can still do it, but you'll have to match up the connector. It looks like a common low cost part. It just seems that the it's a bigger hassle than it needs to be if you need a longer cable.
Personally, I don't like wall transformers for this type of device. Washers and dryers (especially the newer styles) vibrate a lot. If the wall transformer falls out of the socket (and we've all had this happen) then the system is dead. It would cost more, but building the power supply for the system into the control box and having a simple line cord that plugged into the wall outlet would be a more reliable configuration.
The plumbing connections on this are designed with a female hose thread and washer on the inlet side of each valve and a male hose thread on the outlet. This is clearly intended to connect to your existing washing machine valve, which is fine. However, if you are plumbing up a new installation, you might well prefer that the inlet be 1/2" pipe thread, to get rid of the rubber washer. Rubber washers are much more likely themselves to leak than pipe thread. If your inlet side hose gasket starts to leak, and the valves automatically shut off... you will still be leaking, because this washer is located upstream of the shutoff valve. Unfortunately, the hose connection on the inlet of the valves supplied with this kit are integral with the valve -- you are stuck with them. The manufacturer does offer other valves, but not in a dual kit that you need for a laundry application. So, if you need anything other than hose inlet connections, call the distributor. The guy I spoke to said that they "may" be able to configure a kit with different valves -- although if they could, I have no idea what such a "custom" kit would cost.
On the positive side, the device does seem to work well. My sensor took more water than I thought it would to trigger a shutoff, but that's probably a good thing to avoid nuisance tripping. I did get a second sensor. The sensors are pretty simple printed circuit boards.
Like others, I purchased a Furman MP20 so that in the event of a drain leak, the power to the washer will shut off and avoid pumping soapy water all onto the laundry room floor. In my experience, drain leaks are at least as much of a problem as burst supply hoses, although obviously a supply hose that bursts will flood your house until someone discovers the leak. In any case, I think a REALLY well designed device would include the power relay as well, so that you wouldn't have to pay the (significant) price for the Furman unit. As an option, you can do the exact same function as the Furman with X10 home automation components for much less money. I expect the Furman is more reliable than the X10, and that's why I chose the Furman... but I have no real data to back that up other than reading internet comments on X10 and Furman.
Again, it's a great idea. Remember, this thing will probably be dormant for 5 or 10 years before you need it... but then, when there's a leak, it needs to absolutely work. After getting this, I hope it will work when I need it, but am not confident. Next time, I will be looking at one of the other higher-end water sensing shut off systems... preferably made in the USA and designed to be more rugged and with a long lifetime. Wish I understood that this was a cheap import before buying. A one year warranty seems kind of pointless for a device like this. A safety system, like this one, that's not designed to hold up for a long time could be a false economy.
Customer Review: Great product and easy to install
Summary: 5 Stars
I learned that since I have a washing machine on the 2nd floor of my house and that hoses can periodically fail (they suggest replacing them every 5 years) I decided I wasn't going to find out that I needed new hoses after they burst and flood the house.
I purchased and installed the Floodstop after reading the many positive reviews.
Installing was easy enough. The hardest part was applying the Teflon tape to the water connections since they are in a tight spot. After I attached everything I manually tested the unit by using the ON / OFF buttons. At first they would not work and then I realized that I had to rock the button with my finger a bit to get it to engage.
Next came the water test once I hooked up the sensor. It worked like a charm. A tiny drop of water caused the sensor to trip and the valves to shut off.
I appreciate that I can also install an alarm sensor for my GE Concord system that is monitored by Alarm.com. That way I will be informed if there is in fact a leak and the system has shut off.
Hopefully I will never need the system, but I now have peace of mind. We have a laundry room in our basement as well and I'll be installing one of these down there.
Customer Review: OnSite Pro Floodstop - great device; but be sure to test valve shut-off
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently purchased the two-valve model for use with a new washing machine in a New York apartment. This seems to be a generally well-made product, and installation was fairly straightforward. I was able to install and test it in under an hour.
The only negative comment I would have is that for a device that people install once and then count on to work properly to forestall a possible future disaster, it makes no sense that the control cables to the motorized valves have connection sockets that are not more foolproof. If you are not careful when connecting the cables to the motorized valves, the pins within the connector can be easily bent and fail to make the connection. Because of the design, you CANNOT tell by looking at the connector that this has in fact happened, and the valve motors are so quiet and smooth you can't easily hear or feel that they are functioning. The only way to detect the problem is to actually test the valve, by seeing if it actually shuts off the water when activated. Testing the valves of course makes sense to do anyway, given the risks of the valves not working, but I suspect people may not perform this critical test to check that BOTH valves actually do shut off the water flow. In addition, every time you disconnect and reconnect the cables this problem can occur, so the valves need to be tested any time the cables are reconnected. I've read at least one review where a person had water damage occur because one of the valves failed to operate, and I bet this was nothing more than a bent interconnect pin in the cable to one of the motorized valves.
I know about this problem because it happened to me, and as someone with decades of experience with electrical devices, I know that this is a design issue rather than a user problem. I would hope OnSite Pro corrects this potential problem in the future by using cables that use a more easily visible, and more fail-safe, interconnect. Because major leaks are relatively infrequent, not many will complain about this because they won't ever discover the problem, but will continue to erroneously believe that they and their property are protected.
That said, this appears to be an otherwise excellent product, and I would highly recommend it - just be careful when connecting the motorized valve cables and be sure you test BOTH valves with actual water pressure to be certain they work correctly after installation, and any time you disconnect and reconnect the cables.
Customer Review: Peace of mind ... almost
Summary: 5 Stars
I just received this product today. The installation was very simply and it only took about 15 minutes. Overall, I am very pleased with this device. I have tested it several times and without fail, every time the sensor detects water, it faithfully shuts off the two water valves.
The plastic controller housing seems a bit cheap but the valves appear to be high quality. The wall plugin transformer is black with white plastic wire and all other parts of the device are white, so why the black transformer housing? So in the aesthetics category, I would give this product only three stars. But I did not buy it for looks or to show of to friends and family, I bought it for its utilitarian and functional purpose and for that I give the product an overall 5 stars.
There is one water risk that this device does not solve directly and that is if the drain line were to become detached or clogged and the washing machine were to begin draining on to the floor, the water supply lines would be closed but there is nothing to stop the washing machine from continuing to pump all its water content out on to the floor. Fortunately this device includes a set of both normally open and normally closed IO contacts. Using the leads provided, coupled with some relay controlled power outlet, you can use this to disconnect power from the washing machine thereby stopping the water pump. If you do want to take this additional step, make sure to obtain a relay power controlled device that supports a high enough amperage for your washing machine. I am planning on using a Furman MP-20 Power Relay Accessory to solve this. There are probably cheaper options out there but with this device there should be no hassles, just connect the IO contact leads from the controller box to the MP-20.
I also am using a FloodStop system on my hot water heater which is located in the attic. I am using the 3/4 threaded model, but here is a link to the compression fit model:
FloodStop System for Water Heaters
**UPDATE** 2010-01-22
Received and installed Furman MP-20 Power Relay Accessory today. Connected to NO (normally open) contact closure leads on FloodStop. Works great!! Now when water is detected by FloodStop, not only the hot and cold water valves get closed, but also the power to the washing machine gets immediately disconnected. This will prevent the pump on the washing machine from burning out if the water leakage is not detected immediately and also prevents water on the drain line of the washing machine from being pumped out in the case where the drain line has been compromised.
**UPDATE** 2010-06-23
6 month test passed! Both hot and cold values closed completely with the detection of water on the sensor pad.
**UPDATE** 2010-10-06
Wife asked me to take a look at why the washing machine was not working today. The Flodstop was tripped and the Furman MP-20 powered off the washing machine. No noticeable pools of water on the floor, so I started thinking something may be wrong with the Floodstop unit. But sure enough when I picked up the sensor there was a little bit a water on the surface. After wiping off the water and resetting the unit all is working perfectly. I will count this as a successful test :-)
Customer Review: Security everyone should have
Summary: 5 Stars
Washing machine floods are not uncommon. Prior to purchasing this unit, I had a different model that saved us from disaster when our 5-year old washer flooded the laundry room from an internal leak. That unit used a solenoid, which started making a lot of banging noises after 5 years. This model is made much better and has the added benefit of battery backup. Installing this device can easily save you 100 times it's cost.