FloodStop Ice Maker Leak Detector Kit with Automatic Water Shut-Off and Visual/Audible Alarms, 1/4" Compression

The system was delivered on time and arrived in good condition. I used it to protect against a portable humidifier flooding our bedroom. I placed the humid ire in a shallow pan and placed the sensor at the bottom of the pan. After I assembled the system, there was a small leak at the final connection and the sensor closed the ball valve with just a tiny amount of water present. It worked well.

I am an extremely skilled handyman, and even I found this installation challenging. Here are the problems that I ran into.1. Connecting from the nozzle of my manual shut off valve to the water entry side of the Floodstop valve was an adventure. I needed a hose that featured a 1/4” compression female at one end and a 1/4” compression male at the other end. I eventually opted to buy a spool of poly tubing and a compression union. I cut a 2 foot length of the tubing and using part of the union at one end of the tubing and the other part at the other end I was able to make the hose to connect the Floodstop to my manual valve. Total time about 3 hours and around $20.2. Figuring out a place to mount the floodstop control panel that was unobtrusive and that allowed me to use the existing cables was a real challenge. The problem is that the valve has to be within about 2 feet of the control panel and the control panel has to be within about 3 feet of the floor in order to be able to place the sensor under the middle of the fridge. To complicate matters, the valve has to be placed in a location that doesn’t prevent one from pushing the refrigerator all the way back. No one wants their fridge to stick out another 1 1/2”. My solution was to mount the floodstop on the right wall of the cabinet bay into which my fridge rolls. I then mounted the floodstop control panel on the opposite side of the refrigerator bay wall inside a cabinet that butted up to the fridge bay. This turned out to be a good location because it was out of sight but accessible by opening the cabinet door. The hard part was mounting the Floodstop valve to the inside wall of the fridge bay. There are no mounting holes and no mounting bracket for the valve. I eventually cut a wood form that I screwed to the bay wall and that allowed me to tie wrap the valve into the proper position. Seems easy but it took me about 2 hours to get the valve mounted securely and in a way that would not impede my refrigerator when I rolled it all the way back to the wall.3. The Floodstop plug/transformer combo is quite deep. And, of course, my refrigerator power outlet was dead center behind my refrigerator (as they all are). When I plugged the Floodstop into this outlet, I could no longer push my fridge all the way in as the back of the fridge would run into the Floodstop plug/transformer. I lost about 1”. My last project was to use an extension cord with a low profile plug to reposition where the Floodstop plugged in. Another $5 and some additional time getting the wires affixed to the wall in a secure and tidy manner.My guess is that this installation required about 6 hours of planning and execution and about $25 that I didn’t realize I would need to spend when I bought the device.Now the good news. After powering on the device and pushing the open button, the valve opens and allows water to flow at a very nice rate. When even the smallest drop of water gets on the sensor, the valve shuts and the alarm starts beeping. My peace of mind after installing the device is much improved!I do wonder if the folks at Floodstop have actually ever tried to install one of these in a typical US home. If they did, they would certainly run into the kinds of issues that I did, and would make improvements to make the installation easier. The key things that would have made my life easier are:1. Provide a bracket for the valve that allows one to securely mount the valve to a wall!2. Provide a 2 foot hose with male compression connector at one end and female at the other. This would solve the connection problem for a very high percentage of homeowners and would end the head scratching. With their current product, every single person will have to go to a well-stocked hardware store to get the parts needed to get the device installed.3. Make the cables between the control panel and the valve and the sensor at least 2 feet longer. People want to place the control panel based upon aesthetics and convenience. The cable lengths should not be the determining factor in where one must place the control panel.

The ice maker water input valve in my refrigerator burst and water began flooding out. Fortunately, I was standing in the kitchen at the time. I pulled the fridge out and shut off the water. After replacing the valve I found out about this device. I ordered and installed it, which was extremely easy. Form the pictures, you can see I had no problems with spacing or direction. The provided fittings were correct. I think it would have helped if the cable to the valve was a little longer. I let a little water pass over the sensor and the alarm sounded and the water shut off immediately! I live in a condo, so if I had been away from home the problem I had would have quickly become a disaster! I'm so impressed, I am now going to buy one for the washer.

I own the washing machine version of this device, which is OK but there are less expensive (& better engineered) options for that. I've not found an alternative to FloodStop for ice makers & RO systems, so I bought this FloodStop for my RO system. I did read all of the complaints about the connectors, but figured buying adapters if need be would not be a big deal. I was wrong. Like everyone else here, the engineering choice for the connectors is a classic example of "bad engineering". Neither my RO system nor ice maker use "FS 1/4-C" or "FS 1/4-C" fittings. (FS stands for Face Seal & uses a rubber gasket, and are NOT the same as the industrial FS standard.) Both use ferrule compression fittings like you see in droves at Home Depot, Lowes, Ace & Truevalue. And yes, I am an engineer. What a good engineer would have done is had the valve blocks made with NPT connections in this size range which are an extremely common standard (basic pipe thread standard), which then every customer could just go to their local hardware store & buy adapters, for a couple of bucks each, to whatever they wanted to connect to. (Ironically they make this unit with NPT sizes down to 1/2", but not in 3/8" & 1/4".) It's frustrating to fork out well over $100 for a badly engineered product for which connecting becomes a big deal due to incompetent engineering choices.

So far, so good! After having our reverse osmosis system blow a fitting and another time a cylinder cracked-- flooding our utility room, garage & patio... we got this and it looks like it will be very effective! I touched my finger to my tongue & then just "touched" the sensor and the alarm came on & the valve closed! So, it's really super-sensitive to moisture. Finally, no more moving the file cabinet and dragging out the carpet to dry it... It's worth it's wait in GOLD!!