What is Drip Detect™?

Drip Detect™ is the Control's way of checking your plumbing for small, easy-to-miss leaks which produce so little flow they would otherwise be undetectable. An old or damaged toilet fill valves, corrosion in copper pipes, a loose connection in an appliance such as a washing machine or ice maker, or a dripping faucet can all cause these easy-to-miss leaks.

Here's how it works:

Select when and how often you'd like the Control to perform the Drip Detect test. It can be scheduled for any day at any time. For example, you can set it to run on the first of every month, every Tuesday, or even every day. It’s important to note that the default setting for Drip Detect is set to “On” for the 1st day of every month at 3:00 AM EST.

At the scheduled time, the Control will close the valve for up to 10 minutes. If you happen to use water during the test, the Control will automatically open the valve and postpone the test. The Control will try to perform the test again an hour later. The Control uses a combination of information including pressure and flow within your pipes to determine whether there may be water loss from your plumbing system (e.g. a pinhole leak or dripping faucet). At the end of the test, the Control will reopen the valve and send you a notification if an issue was detected. With Drip Detect, you are secure in knowing that even the smallest of problems in your home plumbing won't escape your notice.

Drip Detect Alerts:

a) Test Failed – This means that the Control detected a possible issue with your plumbing. Reasons why a Drip Detect test could fail include the following:

1. Water loss was detected (you may have a leak)
2. If you have an expansion tank, a false positive could have been reported. False positives occur when water is turned on for a very short amount of time during the Drip Detect test, ONLY IF YOU HAVE AN EXPANSION TANK. If this is the case, we suggest manually re-running the test and ensuring that no water is running during the test. To read more about how an expansion tank can affect Drip Detect, click here.
3. You may also see a false positive if you have an R/O filter or a whole home humidifier. 

b) Test Postponed – This means the Drip Detect test was interrupted by water use, and the test was not completed.

If it’s time to run a scheduled test, StreamLabs will postpone the test before it begins if:

1. Water is currently in use. We don’t want to turn off your water in the middle of your shower.
2. The valve is currently closed. Drip Detect requires the valve be in the open position at the start of the test. We don’t want to open the valve without your permission in the event you closed it for a specific reason.
3. The Control is not calibrated. The Control must be calibrated for Drip Detect to run.

If the Control is currently running a Drip Detect Test, it will postpone the test if:

1. Water is currently in use. The Control can sense if you turn on the water. If this happens, we will open the valve and postpone the test.
2. You open the valve. Opening the valve using the App or the control panel on the Control interrupts the Drip Detect test.

If you receive this error message, the Control has automatically postponed the Drip Detect test an hour and will continually postpone the test at one-hour increments until no water is running and the valve is open.

 c) Test Passed – This means the Drip Detect test did not detect any leaks. Note that you will not receive a push notification saying the Drip Detect test passed unless you ran the test manually.