Okay, let’s talk about my little adventure into smart water monitors. I’d been hearing about these gadgets, Phyn Plus and Moen Flo, supposed to catch leaks and maybe save you from a flooded house. Sounded pretty good to me, especially after a buddy of mine had a pipe burst while he was away. What a mess that was. So, I figured it was time I looked into getting one myself.
Getting Started: The Research Bit
So I started digging around. Right away, two names kept popping up: Phyn Plus and Moen Flo. Seemed like the big players. Both promised to watch your water use, spot leaks big and small, and even shut off your water main automatically if things went really bad. Peace of mind, right? That’s what I was after.
I looked at what each one did. Phyn seemed really proud of its pressure sensing tech, saying it could figure out what fixture was using water. Moen focused more on flow, temperature, and pressure, and had this daily health check thing. Both needed cutting into the main water line, so I knew I’d need a plumber. No way was I tackling that myself.
First Up: Installing the Phyn Plus
I decided to go with the Phyn Plus first. Don’t ask me exactly why, maybe the tech sounded a bit fancier at the time. Called up my plumber, showed him the device. He hadn’t installed many but knew what to do. Took him a couple of hours, cutting the pipe, fitting the Phyn in. Looked pretty clean when he was done.
Then came the setup. Connecting it to my Wi-Fi was the first step. The app walked me through it, wasn’t too bad. Took a little while for it to connect, had to try once or twice, but got there. Then the Phyn started its ‘learning’ phase. It needed a week or two, it said, to figure out my normal water habits. Lots of flushing toilets and running taps to help it learn.
Living with Phyn Plus
Once it settled in, it was pretty quiet. The app showed water usage, which was kinda neat to see. It did flag a couple of things early on – like my sprinkler system – calling them leaks until I told the app what they were. It uses pressure waves, so sometimes it thought a neighbor using water was me, but that seemed to get better over time.
- The app was okay, gave good info on usage.
- Identifying specific fixtures? Hit or miss, honestly. It wasn’t always right.
- It did catch a running toilet flap once, which was genuinely useful. Sent me an alert.
- Never had a major leak scare, thankfully, so didn’t see the auto-shutoff in real action, besides testing it myself through the app, which worked fine.
Why I Tried Moen Flo Too
After living with Phyn for about a year, I got curious about the Moen Flo. Maybe it was the different approach, or maybe I just like tinkering. I had a small cabin property that needed some protection too, so it felt like a good chance to compare them directly rather than just reading about it. So, I ordered a Moen Flo for the cabin.
Installing the Moen Flo
Got a different plumber out for this one, closer to the cabin. This guy had actually installed a few Moen Flos before. Seemed a bit more straightforward to him, maybe? Looked like a similar process though – cut the pipe, fit the device. Took about the same amount of time.
Wi-Fi setup was smooth again, maybe even a bit quicker than the Phyn. The Moen app seemed a little more polished right off the bat, I thought. It also had a learning phase, but maybe felt a bit less demanding than the Phyn’s initial setup.
Living with Moen Flo
Using the Moen Flo felt a little different. It runs a ‘Health Test’ every day, basically shutting off the water for a few minutes to check for tiny leaks by monitoring pressure drop. Kinda smart. You can schedule when it does this so it doesn’t interrupt your shower.
- The app felt more user-friendly to me. Clearer layout maybe.
- Water usage tracking was solid.
- The daily Health Test was reassuring, felt proactive.
- It also picked up a small drip from an outdoor hose bib pretty quickly. Alert came through, I checked it out, tightened it up. Job done.
- Like the Phyn, I tested the remote shutoff via the app, and it worked perfectly.
Head-to-Head: My Takeaways
So, having used both, what’s the difference in practice?
Installation: Pretty much the same deal. Both need a plumber, both need power nearby, both need decent Wi-Fi.
Leak Detection: Both seem to work. Phyn’s pressure sensing is clever but maybe prone to more ‘what’s that?’ moments initially. Moen’s flow and daily pressure test feels very direct, maybe less guesswork. Both caught real (minor) leaks for me.
App: This is personal taste, but I slightly preferred the Moen app’s interface. Both give you the core info and control you need, though.
Fixture Identification: Phyn tries to do this actively using pressure signatures. It’s cool when it works, but wasn’t reliable enough for me to count on it. Moen doesn’t really push this feature in the same way.
Extra Features: Phyn talks a lot about pressure warnings. Moen has the temperature sensing (useful for freeze warnings) and the daily automatic Health Test. I found the Health Test particularly useful for peace of mind.
Cost: Check current prices, obviously, but they were in the same ballpark when I bought them. Sometimes Moen has subscription options for more features, Phyn didn’t when I got it. That could be a factor.
Final Thoughts
Honestly? Both are good devices. They both do the main job: monitor water and shut it off if there’s a disaster. If you forced me to choose one today for a new install, I might lean slightly towards the Moen Flo. I liked the app a bit better and the daily health test felt like a concrete checkup on my pipes. Plus, the temperature monitoring is nice for potential freeze protection.
But the Phyn Plus is also a solid piece of kit. Its pressure sensing is neat tech, even if the fixture identification wasn’t perfect for me. It caught that running toilet, which saved water and money.
Really, you probably can’t go too wrong with either. It might come down to which features sound better to you, or maybe which one your plumber prefers installing. For me, getting hands-on with both was the only way to really know the difference day-to-day. Hopefully sharing my experience helps you figure out which way you want to go.