Buying
A leak detector costs a few dollars and guards against water damage, one of the most common home insurance claims. Placement is the whole product: under the washing machine, behind the dishwasher, beside the water heater or at the lowest point of a basement — not where you would notice water anyway.
It is one of the cheapest useful purchases in this catalog.
Under the washing machine. Behind the dishwasher or under the sink unit. Beside the water heater, or at the lowest point of a basement floor. Those are three common sources of leaks in a house.
One detector per place: which is why the GOMETY three-pack is the right quantity.
The middle of a floor. A sensor there reports a leak that has already spread — which is the same news you would have had from your own feet.
For places you will never reach again: under a bath, behind a built-in appliance. Write the year on it with a marker, because in ten years nobody remembers.
For an empty house. Arrange the key holder before relying on it.
Washing machines and dishwashers are among the most common sources, and a sensor underneath costs almost nothing.
Where slow leaks do damage over weeks before anyone notices.
Where nobody is there to hear anything and where damage accumulates unchecked.
Where a tank or an inlet fails out of sight and the first sign is a ceiling.
| Your situation | The device | Why |
|---|---|---|
| At home most days | Water detectors | You can act on the alert |
| Away often | An automatic shut-off valve | It acts without you |
| Under appliances | A cheap sensor | The commonest source |
| Loft tank | A sensor beside it | Failures are silent until the ceiling |
Leak detectors are the definition of devices nobody thinks about, which is why they fail unnoticed. A dead battery, a sensor knocked out of position while cleaning behind an appliance, or a lost connection all leave you unprotected without any sign.
Water and electricity together.
90 dB · three units · two electrodes on the base · wall or floor · ABS
Three water alarms at 90 dB with two electrodes on the base, which GOMETY states trigger immediately on contact with water. Wall or floor mounting, in ABS plastic, with no wiring or programming.
Best for: Covering three risks at once — the usual number in a house with a basement.
Wi-Fi · push notifications · 2 upper and 4 lower sensors · sounds locally and on the base
A connected leak detector: X-Sense states six sensing points — two upper and four lower — with a push notification to a phone as well as a local alarm and a tone from the base station.
Best for: A property you leave — a holiday home, a second home, or any house whose owners work away.
85 dB · sealed 10-year lithium battery · miniature floor sensor
A miniature floor sensor with a sealed lithium battery that SEBSON states lasts ten years. No battery to change, and no battery compartment to corrode.
Best for: A place you will not revisit — under a bath, behind a built-in appliance, beside a boxed-in water heater.
85 dB · two floor probes · stands on the floor · basement, laundry, kitchen, utility room
A standalone water alarm that stands on the floor with two probes underneath. ABUS states an 85 dB tone that sounds as long as the probes are in contact with water or another conductive liquid.
Best for: The floor beside a washing machine, a dishwasher or a water heater.
Local if the house is usually occupied, because a washing machine fails during a cycle with somebody in. Connected if the house is regularly empty — a noise in an empty building is a tree falling in a forest, and an empty house is where a leak does its worst work.
A wet finger across the electrodes on the base. Do it when you fit it and once a year afterwards, because a local alarm usually does not tell you its battery has died — it simply stops being a detector and goes on looking like one.
They cost very little and water damage is among the most common home insurance claims. Under appliances alone, they earn their place.
A detector tells you; a valve stops the water. If you are often away, only the valve actually helps.
At the lowest point water would reach: under appliances, beside tanks, in the bottom of a cupboard containing pipework.
For anything more than a couple of days it is sensible, and it is free. A leak in an empty house does remarkable damage.
Designed for: Covering three risks at once — the usual number in a house with a basement.
Its main asset: Three units, which is the number most houses actually need
Its main gap: 90 dB is modest through a closed door
Designed for: A property you leave — a holiday home, a second home, or any house whose owners work away.
Its main asset: Push notification to a phone: it works when the house is empty
Its main gap: Requires the X-Sense base station and Wi-Fi
Designed for: A place you will not revisit — under a bath, behind a built-in appliance, beside a boxed-in water heater.
Its main asset: Ten-year sealed lithium battery — nothing to change
Its main gap: Sealed battery means the whole unit is disposable when it dies
Designed for: The floor beside a washing machine, a dishwasher or a water heater.
Its main asset: Nothing to configure — put it down and it works
Its main gap: Local only — nobody hears it when the house is empty, which is when leaks matter
$18 – $35
2 models
$43 – $60
4 models
Device against device, already covered, inside this guide or this aisle.
The devices listed are drawn from the catalog of this site. Specifications are those the maker and the Amazon listing publish; prices are what Keepa recorded on the date shown, and both move. The order follows declared specifications, the balance between stated strengths and stated limits, and price. No device here has been installed or tested by us, and no page claims it was.
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Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.
Cameras, alarm kits and safes swing by thirty dollars or more across the year, and the biggest "discounts" often land at prices the same model sold for six weeks earlier. UniverTrack tracks the real price history across retailers, spots fake reductions, and alerts you when it is genuinely the moment to buy.
