First Alert WA100-3 Water Alarm for Leak Detection and Flood Alerts, 3-Pack

I rarely write reviews, but this is such a great product that I wanted to review it. We've had major water leaks in our house over the years. So after a pipe burst recently, I bought these and put one under every sink in the house, as well as near the hot water heaters and washing machine. I had tried the other brand, and it was not reliable. The other day one of these alarms went off. We have a 2-story house, and when I say this alarm is LOUD and you can hear it ANYWHERE in the house, I mean that! (I wish that our smoke alarms were this loud!) There was a slow leak under one of our kid's bathroom sinks. The metal contacts on these REALLY WORK! (For instance, if you pick this up and have water on your hand and touch the contacts, the alarm goes off. So you have to just dry them off before placing them back.) These are just great! Battery-operated, so change the batteries when you change the ones in your smoke alarms. They're easy to test, too: Just touch the contact with a wet hand. I don't worry about leaks in the house any more. These WORK! Someone mentioned the fact that there are two contacts and that both must be activated for the alarm to work. Here's the solution: Both contacts are on the same side. Place that side of the alarm face down. If there's a leak, it will hit both contacts. The leak that we had under the sink that I mentioned above was a very slow leak, with very little water. It easily reached both contacts.

Orginally bought a single at the store after exper. a major home flood from a storm. Guess have a bit of post traumatic still as I bought a 3 pk on Amazon after testing them as one of my many pre alerts if water starts coming into the cellar.The unit is a square box with 2 strew holders in back. There is a side off door that houses a 9v battery. You take out this adapter from inside the box and approx 6 ft of cord is attached with a rectangle plastic plate and 2 oval metal contacts. The idea is when water hits these contacts that are place on the floor, the alarm goes off. I took one and nailed a thin piece on wood from sill plate to half way down wall and placed 2 screws on wood for unit to secure. I let the wire hang 6 feet down and than place a heavy nail on plastic piece to anchor it flat to floor. I test it monthly by picking up this plastic piece near floor and applying a drop or two of water across bottom of plate. It is very loud and will wake me on the first floor.I have a total of 4 in my cellar. I even hung one near my sewer trap and water pipes-just in case............................. So far so good. Living by Murphy's Law UPDATE 7/13/17 July 1,17 had Country Emergency Flash Flood warning and it did come quickly. I wouldn't have no idea water was coming into the cellar if it were not for these alarms I purchased after Sandy hit. I have 4 set up and a spare. The nail I put on the bottom sensor really kept it in place. The noise was not nice with all 4 going off at one time. They do work and will help you try to say on top of your water issue. I can not recommend these enough and they can save your live. My 81 yr old relative who heard them when I was outside preparing for the flood had no problem hearing them in the cellar and TV on. If you live in a Flood Plain get these by First Alert. I have always done well by this company. I did find the 9 volt battery that comes with units not very good and placed a new Duracell in them and I was set for a yr.

These water alarms work just as described and the 3-pack is a great bargain. They are simple to set up and get working. Unpack, remove battery cover, install battery (9volt included), put cover back on, stand alarm where you think water may accumulate. Done! If you need or prefer the water sensor be further away from the base unit, simply extend the sensor plate (it's attached to the base unit with a cord) from the base unit and let the sensor plate sit where you think water may accumulate. The sensor plate has two sensors. When water touches both sensors, it completes the circuit and the alarm sounds. The unit works as described and is extremely simple to set up, so as a basic unit, the are great. To get them to fit to my exact situation though, I did do some "finessing". But that was also pretty simple. Since the sensors sit on the bottom of the device, and in addition, the bottom of the device is kind of curved, the device doesn't sit flat on the ground very well. I'd suggest First Alert do something about that for those who wish to have their alarm stand up. But if you have a wall close by, I'd suggest mounting the alarm to the wall with the included screws and anchors. Since I didn't have a wall close by (I used one unit for my water heater and another unit for my sump pump) I glued a neodymium magnet to the back of each unit. One I mounted on the water heater and dropped the sensor plate into the overflow pan under my water heater. The other I mounted to a metal beam near the sump pump and dropped the sensor plate into the area that would most likely flood if my sump pump failed. They both tested fine when even a small amount of water was poured under them and they quit alarming when I removed the sensor plate from the water. A couple things I would suggest to First Alert. The alarm is as described, but it would be nice if it were louder. Seeing as how items like sump pumps and water heaters are usually in out of the way places (basements, back of cupboards, garage, etc) and perhaps behind more than one door, it would be nice to have a really loud alarm or perhaps an alarm that changed tone as it sounded. From the first floor, I could hear the alarm in the basement, but not right away and only if I didn't have other sounds going. Second, to know whether the battery was working or still working, it would be nice to have a power light that would show as long as the battery is still strong enough to power the alarm. That way, we could see at a glance that the device was still working. Once the battery reached something like 30% power, it could go out. That would tell us it's time to replace the battery, yet the device would still work for just a bit longer, while we had time to go out and get new batteries. Last, I put a label on the front of each alarm, with the install date, so I know to check the batteries after a year. First Alert includes a place for you to write that in on the back of the unit, but that's a nuisance to me. I want to be able to see it at a glance and not have to move the alarm around, possibly disturbing the sensor placement, just to know if it's time to check the batteries. But overall, I do really like these simple, basic units.

I am lucky to have this product bought. It sounded very large when there was water leaking. Cost me little, but help me to prevent a Hugh damage - if I did not know that there was a problem. Everyone should get one to put any place with potential water leaking. I bought a total of 10. Set a reminder in my phone for replacing the battery next year in one go.

Worth its weight in gold. Put one on the laundry room floor. The next day my DW let the sink overflow. Alarm sounded. Only a few drops through to the downstairs bedroom.

No flood yet so no idea if they work but they are easy to work with...

A must next to the sumpump.

Works well as advertised.