Roost's smart water detector monitors your home's wet spots
The utilitarian side of the Internet of Things.
Although less flashy than some of their connected home competitors, Roost's smart smoke alarms and smoke detector batteries are genuinely useful (and economical) pieces of a connected home. Now, for their next product, the company wants to protect your home from water damage as well.
The Roost Smart Water and Freeze Detector is a decidedly straightforward affair. Using the same core components as their Smart Battery, the system adds a water leak sensor, a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor to your existing WiFi setup and can alert you to things like water leaks or frozen pipes through Roost's iOS or Android apps. Although water damage is the main focus here, a couple of cheap temperature and humidity sensors could be an easy way to keep tabs on a vacation home, especially one with some wildly varying weather conditions.
The company claims a three-year battery life on each sensor, which can be placed in those damp corners of the basement or under a leaky fridge without the need for an outlet. (And naturally, they'll alert you via the app when those batteries do need changing.) All told, Roost says you should be able to set the system up in less than five minutes -- assuming the WiFi gods are feeling agreeable, that is.
The device ships in the fall of 2016, for an economical $49.
