Zircon63931 Leak Alert Electronic Water Detector Batteries Included, 3-Pack

I've been using these alarms for about three years. They work so well that today I bought three more on a Lightning Deal at Amazon. I put them everywhere. The alarm is loud. My neighbor even once heard it and came over to ask what was going on. I guess if you're several rooms away with closed doors, you might not be able to hear it. If that's your concern, then maybe you should go to a more sophisticated industrial-type alarm that's perhaps wired into remote speakers. If you hold the alarm in your hand and touch the contacts with anything moist, for me the sound is ear-piercing -- loud enough that I will hold my thumb over the speaker hole to muffle the sound. I just don't think the loudness of the alarm is an issue, unless you're in a large house or building, or otherwise far away from where the alarm is. The alarm will go off with the slightest moisture touching the contacts. The only way to turn it off -- aside from opening the device and disconnecting the battery (those rectangularish 9 volt ones) -- is to dry off the contacts. Much of the time that can be done easily. If water gets under the contacts, sometimes it takes a half minute or longer to get them dry. To speed up the drying process, I will blast the contacts with hot air from a hair dryer. In any event, there's no off switch for the alarm. The device can be set flat on the floor or on its side to be less obtrusive. Either way, the contacts will touch the floor. If there's ANY water on the floor near the device, or even the slightest moisture near the contacts, the alarm can go off when you don't really want it to. That can be annoying. It doesn't happen that often with me. Maybe once every few months. At least I know that when water gets on the floor where the device is, the alarm (from what I can tell) will never not go off. I have smoke alarms too, and I find those to be much more annoying. The water alarms do not chirp and otherwise do not offer false positives. The batteries seem to last forever. I haven't had to put new batteries in yet. It's very easy to figure out if the battery needs to be replaced. Just moisten your finger or touch the contacts with anything that's even slightly wet. If the alarm does not immediately go off, it's probably time for a new battery.Not everyone needs these. I do need to know the moment there's any water on the floor (or under a sink). If you have any issues like that, I highly recommend these alarms. I paid about $7 apiece today. I think they're easily worth the regular price of $11.

Having a leaking water pipe in a part of the house that sometimes goes unnoticed for several days, I decided I needed a few good water alarms.After reading the reviews on both the Zircon and First Alert models, I decided to purchase a three-pack of each, the First alert being about a buck more apiece.Each brand included batteries and they are about the same physical size. Each operates in the same method, with the unit placed on the floor or other location likely to be flooded with the sensors at the bottom. The Zircon actually sits on it's back (flat side down) and the First Alert on its bottom (smallest side down). After a careful study of each, I think that the Zircon in a better choice for several reasons:- The Zircon will actually float and keep operating if situated properly- While both models seems to have an alarm about equally loud, the Zircon is a pulsating pitch, which to me would be more noticeable. The First Alert has a constant single pitch high alarm. In a remote location where the sound would be diminished, it would be less noticeable, blending in with background noise like planes or appliances.-The First Alert comes in a "frustration-full" plastic package which of course takes a demolition crew to get open. The Zircon in a simple small cardboard box with padding.-The Zircon is a little less cost.-The First Alert is more likely to get tipped over, placing the sensors in a location where they wouldn't activate until water was deeper. If it was knocked on it's front, the sound would be substantially reduced and water would enter the unit, possible making it inoperable.The only possible benefit of the First Alert it that the sensor can be set lower than the actual unit. It snaps off the bottom of the unit with about a 6 foot cord. For me, this was of no benefit, and a part that would likely become something that the cat would get tangled in or would otherwise get caught, yanking the unit to the floor. It may be of benefit to someone who needs to determine if there is water inside a deeper location such as a well pit or crawl space, however six feet isn't really long enough for any real sort of remote location.If I needed more, I would purchase the Zircon.

I bought a 3 pack of Leak alert after finding 7 inches of water in my basement. The PVC pipe had come off of my sump pump in the middle of the night and water continued to pump into my basement instead of outside. I don't spend much time in my basement and I don't usually check on it since the sump pump normally does its job. I knew that I needed some sort of alarm in case something like this happened again. I decided to get one for each window in my basement. I bought a different alarm to set inside my sump. Just a couple weeks after getting these, they saved my butt. I leave near Duluth, MN where we were just hit with record rainfall and had terrible flooding. I had water filling my COVERED window well and the water started pouring through the bottom of my basement window. The alarm alerted me immediately when the water started coming through the window. It gave me enough time to retrieve a pump for my window well before things got worse. I did end up with a little water on my floor, but I caught it before it filled the basement. These were totally worth the investment. They were loud enough for me to hear over my loud television on the next floor up. The one thing that you might want to consider is that these do not have a wire for setting down into a sump. You would have to rig a shelf or something. I bought another alarm that has a wire that I could set into my sump. That was the Glentronics, Inc. BWD-HWA Basement Watchdog Water Sensor and Alarm. That alarm works great too and I would recommend it as well as the Zircon Leak Alert.