For those of you who have the ability, a very loud, inexpesive, remote alarm capable, water alarm with low battery alert can be fashioned out of a smoke alarm.
Solder 2 wires, 1 each to the contacts used in the test button of the smoke alarm.
The other end of the wires (which can be as long as you want, even on another floor) are your detector points.
The main argument against this setup is that the water alarm can be confused with a smoke alarm. (In my house, the smoke alarms are wired together so there is no confusion.)

gtoal wrote:Two questions to leakfrog owners:

1) is the alarm the kind that you can actually locate where the sound is coming from? Some alarms are very directionless and if you've forgotten you have the leakfrog or if you have several of them, it might be hard to locate?

2) is there a low battery warning or do they eventually just suffer a silent death?

thanks

G

3) Do they float or do they submerge underwater? Or more specifically, are they waterproof? How long between getting wet enough to trip the alarm and getting so wet they short out?

Thanks

Anyone know how loud these things are? Will I hear the alarm on the 2nd floor if it's in the basement? Would they wake up a light sleeper from that distance? I could use one but don't want a hindsight enabling device, want a real-time alert.

Will these detect leaking brain matter from dolts who ask questions that have already been asked and answered about LeakFrogs?

I think with a little bit of hacking one could use this to tweet a leak a la this kitty twitty cat toy example from Make Magazine Volume 22.

In for three. Never heard of them, never had a leak, but from all the comments, it sounds like something that will get the hubby pretty excited. Plus, he STILL has not gotten a backup sump, so maybe this will save our basement someday.

If he's not as excited as you all are, they're good stocking stuffers for the brother's in law.

I bought 2 of these about 2 years ago when i first joined woot. it probably saved thousands of dollars already. early cleanup means no mold and virtually no damage. i start cleanup as soon as the water gets in the basement and touches the leak frog.

after all that time, the leakfrog is still the best purchase i made on woot. in fact, when my wife argues that i waste money here, i bring up the leakfrog and magically that ends the argument

p.s. just ordered 2 more.

How tall is the Leak Frog?

bellafrau wrote:Amen to that statement. Got a 16 year old water heater that's weighing on my psyche.

"All hail LeakFrogs!"

OK, I'm being 100% honest...a couple of years ago, mine went at 17 years old...it was a builders' model installed when they built the house.

Yours is going to blow soon. Serious. If I were you, change it out before the flood. With the money you save from a newer, MUCH more efficient unit, the bill won't be so painful to bear. Saving yourself the water cleaning, soaking up, mopping and shopvac'ing...you'll thank me.


I WISH I had a leak frog when it happened. So much water to clean up.

critterz5 wrote:How tall is the Leak Frog?

Sure you're not looking for this?

Been waiting for these to come back around...

In for a couple two packs...

Darn you Woot, I'm in for 3 sets to prove my Wootness and to gift at Christmas. These will make excellent gifts for my inlaws and blood family alike.

In for two! :-D

I have a massive fish tank and a pair of Woot leakfrogs has saved my floors several times. My ever expanding frog colony will protect the kitchen and bathrooms too!

An inexpensive way to potentially save you thousands of dollars in damages to your home.

Do yourself a favor.. Get a pack or two..
This alarm has already served me twice..
The first time a leak had sprunk on my water filter under the sink and prevented me from having a huge disaster on my hands.
Second time the disposal had gone bad, rusted through and everytime I was running water in the sink, it was leaking all underneath and I had no idea.
I just bought 3 more as I have been waiting for these to return on woot.. These will make great holiday gifts.. Trust me!

Looks like these would make great paperweights for a person that spills coffee on his/her desk.

wooterall wrote:Anyone know how loud these things are? Will I hear the alarm on the 2nd floor if it's in the basement? Would they wake up a light sleeper from that distance? I could use one but don't want a hindsight enabling device, want a real-time alert.

They are loud enought to hear all over in our home..

krissyMS wrote:Excellent!!! In for 2!!!! after all the water problems we had in our new house last year, this will help me sleep a bit better at night

yes you will.. unless of course you get waken at night like we did.. This was when the water filter decided to spring a leak at 3:30 in the morning.. It woke us up and we quickly turned off the water.. For under $20 I prevented what could have been several hundrerd dollars worth of kitchen cabinet damage.

mykexyz wrote:In for 3. After buying a house, you learn to hate water.

After living in a house for 10 months, to come home and find 100 gallons of water in your basement, you learn to hate it more. Then, after clean up, hiring a waterproofing contractor... 3 weeks later to find over 1,000 gallons of water in your basement (4 inches deep throughout), you learn to REALLY hate water.

Thank you Woot, for responding to my request on the World of Woot community. LONG LIVE THE LEAK FROG!!!!!

I bought 2 this morning, and may have to 'increase' my order to 4. I still have nightmares about the 1,000 gallon flood. It took 13.5 hours to remove the water, an "emergency" call to Roto Rooter, and a cold shower after the hot water heater pilot went out.

1) is the alarm the kind that you can actually locate where the sound is coming from? Some alarms are very directionless and if you've forgotten you have the leakfrog or if you have several of them, it might be hard to locate?

2) is there a low battery warning or do they eventually just suffer a silent death?

3) Do they float or do they submerge underwater? Or more specifically, are they waterproof? How long between getting wet enough to trip the alarm and getting so wet they short out?

1. you will not be able to tell where the sound is coming from. by the time it goes off you will of forgot you bought one of these. You will spend 3-4 min looking for "that sound" but it's loud enough you will hear it.

2. Silent death but good battery life, check it every 6 months when you check your smoke detectors.

3. they float and are fairly water proof, I guess you could hold it underwater and see if it still works. since they float, it should never short out.

WOOT DEALS, This price was the same as another site a few weeks ago. Has ANYONE NOTICED that since Amazon bought Woot, that there really isn't any great deals like there use to be.

NightGhost wrote:Product Website

I wonder why the site says it will be available in Nov 2010? Woot has had these forever.

Woody1150 wrote:I wonder why the site says it will be available in Nov 2010? Woot has had these forever.

Woot has been out of them for a while. I tried to find some after buying my house. I posted on the World of Woot forums a few months ago asking 'bring back the leakfrog!'.

In December 2008 I gave some that I bought from sellout.woot as Christmas presents, and my sister loves it. Now that I have my own leaky house, I wanted some, but could never find them unless I wanted to pay an astronomical price.

indihar wrote:Don't diss the Leak Frogs...

Leak Frogs are cooler than Fezs...but not quite as cool as bow-ties...

What about a Fez, bow-tie, and mop?

I always managed to miss these during the Woot Offs. Now that I've had a sump pump installed, I can finally have some of my own!

In for 2 anyway; they'll make a nice backup.

I got several of these when woot had them a couple of years ago and they are great! I used them as cat pee detectors, put in the places my cats had been leaving me "presents". When they go off, they scare the bejabbers out of the cat, solved the problem in a couple of weeks. Now I can just leave them around even without batteries in them and the cats stay away. I can say they can be rather annoying when your grandson visits and has to "test" every one multiple times.

A WOOT CLASSIC. If you have been on woot as long as me you love the frogs as much as the woot monkey.

I have owned 8 of these for over 5 years. It was one of my first woot off purchases and I am approaching 200 items and over $5000 on woot. Having owned them for 5 years I can assure you they work flawlessly. I have one under every sink, by the water heater, washer, and sump pump.

TRUE STORY:

I was about to go to Florida when I first moved to Chicago. It was a ugly Chicago November day before the Thanksgiving holiday. We have been getting a lot of rain. Never having a sump pump, I grew up in Florida, I purchased these frogs to warn me of water. For some strange reason, I felt I needed to go home to check what temp I left the heater. No one was going to be home for 2 weeks, so I didn't want to run the heater all day. I turned down the temp to 54 and I was walking out the house I heard a beep. I was asking what the noise was, I open the basement door and it was louder. As I walked down it got louder, it was my FROG. The same frog everyone laughed at when I purchased as a waste of money. Several friends said it wouldn't work, it is junk. I found out my sump pump floater was stuck and wasn't working. It would have been a disaster if not for my GREEN WATER FROGS. They work great. May have save me $1000's of dollars in damage. I have a 70 inch Sony Theather system in my basement, my MAN CAVE! WOther over $15,000.

I check them every time I change my smoke detector batteries and I haven't changed the batteries yet. It has been 5 years.
Don't be fooled by the friendly frog face, these little boogers work great.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE FROGS, Plus they make interesting conversation pieces when they are noticed. I love my water frogs and so will you. It is a woot classic, like the woot monkeys and Brides of chucky.

Scenario: Teenage son doing his own laundry drops a sock in the utility sink, into which the washer drains. He goes on videogaming and rocking out with his headphones on, never hearing the water pouring over the sink, onto the floor, into the heating ducts, and into the basement. Dad comes home from work to shut off the washer and start the salvage and recovery.
It happened. Afterward I invented a drain extension - a length of ABS pipe that I was able to fit into the drain hole of the sink. I cut vertical slots into it. The aim is to block clothes, lint, etc that might stop the drain, and allow drainage to continue. It's working well since.
I also bought washer supply hoses with automatic shutoffs. I'll still invest in a few leakfrogs to detect other problems. Water damage is a real pain.

wow they come back from land of the dead with a more expensive tag.

These leakfrogs are effective in detecting cat pee on hardwood floors!

(Guess I can never resell these now ;-) )

bellafrau wrote:"All hail LeakFrogs!"

I for one welcome our new amphibian overloards.

My pups are gonna love fetch'n these. Well... until they get too soggy and then...!!!

zyzzx1 wrote:these have been around longer then you and they have been on many, many, many previous Woots. Why can't you tell us something we don't already know

Now don't be a hater; be a happy LeakFrog!

hmb3223 wrote:Leakfrogs are TOAD-ALLY worth the investment.

Toads are actually characterized as not having those protruding eyes the way frogs do, so your pun is technically inaccurate. I hope you feel the requisite amount of shame for your blunder.

These work great UNLESS your WIFE happens to hear one going off, and then removes it without telling you! Maybe next time the sump pump overflows, she'll realize the peeping was meant to signal something.

When's the last time Woot had LeakFrogs?

I have one by the oil tank in the basement. Do you think the frog will let us know if we have an oil spill?