Iris Smart Water Shutoff Valve?

That’s funny…it’s in their leaked Black Friday add…unless I’m thinking of a different one.
If we’re talking about he same product, it could just be that they are out of them right now, and will be getting a big shipment in for BF.

Here’s the post about their BF deals…

When I was in a local Lowe’s a few days ago, I saw them there…granted, not many…maybe only one or two, but I guess I just assumed they will be getting more.

Also funny is that, when I did a search for some general terms related to this product on their site, it didn’t come up with it, but when I searched for the same terms on Google, it came up with this…

http://www.lowes.com/pd_579898-255-8810300L_0__?productId=50134588

I’ve personally seen several across 2 Lowes stores in the Raleigh, NC area over the last week or so.

It does show it as a Lowes product, but I cant add to cart because it is unavailable.

It appears to be unavailable for shipping.
So, if you don’t live near one, I guess you may need some assistance from somebody willing to help you out in that department.
Otherwise, if you live near one or more Lowe’s stores, you could go see if they have any in stock.

Did you check the add I re-posted above?
If they do have them at your local store, you can get it cheaper right now.

I bought one from Lowe"s shortly after they came out. At that time they had them in the store but not on the shelf. After just under a year, my first valve is now leaking. Because they were on sale and because the Yuma, AZ Lowe’s had one in stock, I bought it online for store pick up. My disclaimer is that the water in Yuma is not very good and it’s hard on valves. I also don’t use it in a conventional manner. I use it to turn on water to a Reverse Osmosis system so it gets heavy use while open and is also opened/closed once or multiple times daily.

I picked up one of these from lowes last week at the sale price and used a $20 off coupon as well. Quite happy with the price.

I just installed it today (first time working with copper), but my V2 hub sees it as a zigbee outlet and not a water valve. I am new to the smartthings world and am not sure how to manually select a device type, if that is even possible? Any ideas? The conversation in this thread makes me think something is wrong?

Edit: just saw a recent thread about the same issue and have manually chosen the device: Leaksmart water valve app help please

Where is the store was it located? Plumbing or electrical with the Iris stuff?

I purchased online and picked it up in the store. But at my store they have cards for them in the iris section that you take to the cashier.

How do you manually choose the device?

Go into the IDE. Select Devices, then select that particular device. Select “edit” and change the “type” to “Zigbee valve”. You can then also give it a different name and label if necessary. Select update and done. The Zigbee valve device type will give you a simple on-off tile.

Sorry, meant to say, open/close tile

Any comparison of the LeakSmart vs Econet Valve? At first I was thinking the LeakSmart because I have a twist valve like Dlee thus to use the Econet I’d have to install a standard ball valve. However seeing these wise bypass pictures I realize I’d need standard ball valves for the bypass anyway.

Given that, presumably the econet would be an simpler install since I’d just need to put in a single ball valve downstream of my twist valve and install the econet on it. No bypass should be necessary as if the econet fails I can simply remove it and operate ball valve manually, right?

As such is the only real benefit of the LeakSmart over the cheaper Econet the battery backup? Curious if I’m missing any major selection criteria. Obviously zigbee vs zwave could be deciding factor but not too big in my case since I have both networks decently built out.

I’m looking at this for a remote home so unlike a primary residence, it’d get activated fairly often as I turn the water off when I leave. Thanks in advance for the feedback.

I have bought both.

I bought and returned the econet. They sent me 4 or more mounting kits and it would not mount correctly to my valve for a number of reasons. The econet support was good and they were easy to work with for trying different mounting kits and ultimately returning it.

Right. Technically you really don’t need the bypass for the leaksmart either because you can take the top off and turn the valve manually. I opted for the bypass though.

Battery back up is a nice feature, but the current device types don’t read the battery. Supposedly the new leak smart version can accept a pending OTA firmware update that will include consumption monitoring.

Overall I’m happy with my purchase. The econet seems flimsy in comparison after the fact, but the price point is what initially made it attractive. If you can install the leak smart yourself or don’t mind the plumber bill, I would go with the leaksmart.

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Thanks greg, allow me to ask a neophyte question. I’ve been thinking more about the bypass configuration. Is this just a plumbing best practice? I mean I can understand a bypass around something like a water softener that might be under repair for an extended period of time, during which you’d want water (in any hard/soft state).

But here we’re talking about using valves to bypass a valve… I must be missing something, but aren’t you just moving the point of failure to one of the new bypassing valves?

My plan is to hook up this Smart Valve downstream but in line of my current manual valve. So installation should be easy. Shut off manual, drain existing water, install Smart Valve downstream, open both. If the intelligent part of the valve dies I can just operate manually until I decide what to do. When repairing I can use same installation process (granted causing downtime)

I guess I’m just not 100% seeing the value in the extra bypass hardware. Keep in mind I’ve done no plumbing, don’t have a torch, no idea how to sweat copper, don’t even have a crimp tool. My plan was to use idiot proof but more expensive sharkbite stuff. The extra T’s and three extra valves seem like it would add up a little bit… Sure that’s a one-time cost and shouldn’t be hardship inducing for anyone willing to spend $160 on a Smart Valve item, but still…Its more connections I could screw up :smile:

Am I missing some obvious advantage the bypass provides?

I think your assessment is fair. When I discussed it with my plumber - he recommended installing the bypass and that the difference in cost to do it was small. Perhaps it is due to his ignorance on smart valves - but he felt I should do it and for just a few extra dollars I said go for it. You can open/close the smart valve manually, but it requires pulling 4 screws out first.

One nice thing I can think about having a valve downstream of the smart valve is that if I ever have to have it replaced - there will be a lot less water to drain from the pipes before being able to start working. But that’s not a huge deal.

I used sharkbite push to connect male and female threaded fittings on my installation, which makes the Leaksmart Valve easily removable if necessary. The issue I am dealing with is there is quite a bit of water that would drain from a leak even after the valve is closed. Also, it is hard to tell on the Smartthings App if the valve is open or closed.

That’s very true, but it’s better than not having the water shut off at all. I’ve thought about maybe adding additional valves closer to the potential failure points, but that comes with limitations as well. Aside from the cost aspect, access to pipes and the limited sizes the valve comes in are other limitations.

I use a custom device type for my valve (it’s not the Iris), but I remember the device type for the Iris version (zigbee valve). It should say Open or Closed.

I am thinking of using a 24 volt inline valve on my sprinkler line that would open if the water was shut off. When I do that manually at the same time the Leaksmart valve closes, water flow stops much quicker.

Thanks for tip on Zigbee valve. works much better now.

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Indeed! For me I have a separate meter and feed for sprinklers, but your idea got me thinking that I could pull off the same thing with just a little extra plumbing and a close by floor drain.