Customer Reviews for Taco Comfort Solutions LeakBreaker Water Heater Shut-Off Valve with Control and Sensor

Our company used to use the Tayco leak breaker system. We used literally hundreds of them. I’ve been going back to multiple failures of the valves, the ball valves get stuck and do not shut off I have contacted Taco multiple times but no one really cares.if you are putting this in an area that can be flooded look for something else we are now trying flood stops. Note it also didn’t matter if water was softened or not I have one in my own house with a softener and it still gets stuck we’ll be taking it out soon

The Taco water heater shut off valve was so easy to install. The easy actuator release allowed me to install the valve in my water line without fuss. Easy electrical hook-up with just three plug-ins on the controller and I was done. Lightweight yet solid construction ensures this valve will last a long time without stressing my water lines. Now I have peace of mind that if my water heater leaks I won't have to throw away all my stuff in my basement and with the extra dry contacts available, I'll be able to connect other monitoring capability as well. I'm now considering another valve to shut-off all my water if a leak occurs other than at the water heater.

This is an inexpensive insurance policy to hopefully stop a potential flood do to a hot water tank leak. Can you imagine what it would cost if your basement flooded. I’ve decided to put this next to the hot water tank and not in the drip tray under the tank because it also serve as an alarm if the sump pump was to fail allowing water to back up in the basement, the sensor would sound alerting us that there is a problem. Installation was easy for me, I just had to tap into the main “PEX” water line and followed the instruction. I decided to use both battery and electric plug in, that way if we have a power outage the unit will still work. If you’re on a well system you could add this to the main line coming into the house and put the sensor close to the water tank.

Second to a house fire a major water leak is one of my biggest fears as a homeowner. Even though our hot water heater is in the basement and has the code required drain pan that goes to a sump pump, it's almost ten years old, and I just don't see it being able to handle the full forty gallons of water that would come rushing out the bottom along with the cold water supply that would keep feeding it from a 3/4" supply line. Shutting off the water supply is critically important if you want to prevent water damage, especially if your hot water heater is located inside the living area. Along comes a possible solution. This is the Taco LeakBreaker and from what I've seen so far I really like the way it's designed and constructed. The shut off valve is a full port ball valve. This style ball valve is more reliable than gate style valves that are cheaper to buy but tend to leak at the handle, collect sediment, and get frozen open over time. Let's face it, how many homeowners are exercising the water valves in their home on a regular basis? The actuator has a manual bypass so if the unit should fail you can manually override it to keep the valve turned on or off. You can even remove the actuator assembly that turns the ball valve shaft which essentially just makes it a stand-alone valve but without a handle. Also included is a wafer board water sensor that sits flat on the floor as close to the hot water heater as possible or in the catch pan if you have one. The water sensor plugs into the main control module or the "brain" of the unit. The brain is responsible for reading the water sensor and then activating the shut off valve. Water leaks can happen even when there is a power outage so the brain of the unit can be powered 24/7 by a set of four AA batteries or you can also use the included six volt AC/DC wall wart to power the unit which leaves the batteries as backup power. If you don't have an outlet near your hot water heater the batteries allow you to still take advantage of its capabilities. I ended up running an additional 110 outlet to the ceiling near the hot water heater so I don't have to keep replacing batteries in the brain. This is the optimal way to go but requires a knowledge of electrical wiring in addition to plumbing. When my house was built the builder installed a gate valve to shut off the cold water supply to my hot water heater. I decided to get rid of that valve entirely and put the Taco leak breaker valve in its place. Installation was a piece of cake because the brass valve has 3/4" FPT (female pipe thread) on both ends. I soldered a 3/4" copper MPT (male pipe thread) to the inlet of my hot water heater and threaded a 3/4" PEX male adapter into the inlet of the Taco shut off valve (don't forget the teflon tape). Soldering brass to copper is really difficult so I'm glad Taco used a female threaded inlet/outlet setup on the valve. If you don't know how to do this kind of work I would recommend having a licensed plumber install the ball valve for you, and then you can do the rest of the installation yourself. One additional thing I REALLY like that Taco did, is that they included two additional ports (and the plugs for them) on the brain module labelled, N/O Com N/C. I haven't had a chance to test them but I think these could be used to tie into a home automation system to send you an alert, or trip a siren. Very cool. If they can be used this way and your heater leaks you could rush home to clean up the water before too much damage is done. I only have a few minor complaints about the product that Taco could easily alter. Nothing that affects the star rating in my opinion. 1) The water sensor and actuator wires are only eight feet long. In order to put the "brain" module up in the rafters of my eight foot basement ceiling (away from accidents) I had to extend the wiring on the water sensor. Luckily this was easy to do without splicing the wiring because the water sensor and the plug that goes in to the brain both use screw down terminals. It was easy to just remove the factory wiring and substitute a longer piece of two conductor stranded wiring. I needed about 12ft of length on the lead so I used a wire gauge one size thicker than what Taco used. The wall wart power wire is about ten feet long. 2) The wafer board has four plastic standoffs that keep it about a 1/16" of an inch or so off the ground. However, they are not fixed in place and could get knocked out. 3) The wafer board is a little on the large side. About 4" by 1.5". If your catch pan is on the small side you could have some difficulty getting the wafer board in place. 4) The leak alert is not very loud. Even with it in the rafters of the basement I probably won't be able to hear it from the floor above. My final thoughts. Please don't use this in place of a proper catch pan and drain. Even with the LeakBreaker the tank is still going to empty itself along with all of the hot water lines running throughout your home. Forty gallons is still a lot of water. I haven't had it installed very long but every time I have tested it, it shut off the water valve properly. This is one of the better products I've had the chance to review but if I knew it existed would definitely want to buy.

excellent valve

When it arrived my plumber said it was one of the best on the market.

Had to install it on my new water heater per the HOA. I tested it before the plumbers came out to make sure it worked and it was fine, alarm went off and the valve closed as it should.

My plumber installed two of these Taco Leakbreakers in my house. Both started beeping for no reason. Plumber came to your house today and completely removed it. I will remain without a sensor. This was a very unpleasant experience. I cannot recommend this product.

Easy to install and change batteries. User and maintenance friendly.

Don't waste your money. It does not work. The motor does not have the power to completely turn off the valve and the throws an error. It does a test every 2 weeks and fails. Company reluctantly sent replacement and had same problem. Bought a third and same problem. Motor is pitifully under power to turn valve. Suggest buying main water shut off system that supports multiple wireless detector. The Taco leak breaker is garbage.

Product:Good. Warranty: ? Got 2 of them. One worked just like it should. I can also shut off water supply by pushing a button instead of having to crank a valve now. Called about the other’s defective sensor, and was told by Home Depot I would have to return the whole assembly for warranty, not just the part. Since I wasn’t going to undo the whole thing, had to find & replace the sensor on my own dime. ($25)

Installed by my plumber in Oct 2017, purchased from a plumbing supply house. In December 2020, a leak from ABOVE the water heater, not from the water heater itself, caused the LeakBreaker to trip. It could not be reset by any means short of removing the power head from the shutoff valve and opening the valve with a wrench. Taco has refused to acknowledge the problem with their valve, promoting instead a software change to the control unit. My plumber has replaced this unit with a different manufacturer's product. If it were allowed, I would give this product 0 stars.

I had two water heaters and had a plumber install a Leakbreaker unit on both units. Within 3 weeks both units continually tripped and shut the water off. No visible moisture and the units were both running on 110 v not batteries. Really disappointed in these units. I finally shut both off....real disappointment!!!

Simple to install, good instructions. Recommend placing a small non-metallic weight on top of the sensor to hold it down because the supplied wire is stiff enough to raise it off the floor.

Easy install!

Easy to install. Directions semi-clear. So far works as advertised, but I'll know for sure when my hot water heater fails. Note that the valve is female-female, so if you hook a flex hose to it, you'll need a male/male connecting pipe.

Easy to install and works exactly like it's supposed to.

- Full port brass ball valve - Easy to remove the actuator from the valve for installation/service - Sensors can be daisy chained, can buy more sensors but they have to be wired together so for a big house impractical. - My next step it to add this to the home automation system, with an output module in parallel with the existing sensor which will short the sensor out and indicate a leak. This will allow for more Z-Wave, etc. sensors to be used to shut off the valve. Will also be able to control from phone, computer, etc., if desired. - There are NO/NC outputs available to tie into another device be it a siren or HA system. They are rated for 2.1A 24V, so in theory if you used this at a water heater you could actually have it pull AC power to the water heater through a relay so that the water heater wouldn’t dry -fire if the water is shut off for any reason. - There is a knob to manually override the valve. - The valve has a lot of stiction out of the box, hopefully with time and water this loosens up so it's easier to actuate both by hand and through the motor. - Battery backup is a nice feature so even if power goes out can still close valve without need for some external UPS. - AC adapter is universal input so can plug in anywhere. Manual only states 120VAC, wall wart says 100-240VAC 50-60Hz - Max shut off pressure is only 125 psi. Would be best to place behind a whole house regulator to make sure it will actually shut off when needed. - Easy wiring with connectors, screw terminals to secure wires. - The PCB has a spot for a second valve that is not populated with the connector or the corresponding components on the back of the PCB - Takes about 3 seconds to open/close. - Buzzer is ok but if it's hidden away in utility room might not hear it, but you will notice no water and then easily identify issue. - Sensor could come with some easy way to secure it. There are some holes but when you place it on the floor something that prevents it from moving would be nice. Sensor PCB is light and just the bend in the wiring can easily move it.

This is well worth the piece of mind that you get along with it being cheap insurance to keep your space dry and it’s from a brand you can trust. My brother has more acidity in his water and experienced a failed water heater that filled his basement with 3 inches of water. Now I am installing this in my home to recent such a thing from happening to my family. The controls work well and allow you to use either a wired connection via a power supply you plug in or the wonders of battery power should you not have an outlet nearby. Keep in mind, you need to check the battery life periodically to prevent a failure. While most homes these days have had plumbing pipes updated, the weak link remains at the water heater and this easy install shut off valve is something everyone should have if you have 3/4” or smaller cold water lines running into the water heater. Get yourself some cheap insurance from a brand you can trust.

We have two 50 gallon hot water heaters in the basement of our new home. Since our hot water heater in our last house leaked, we thought it would be good to have something to stop future leaking problems. We had our plumber here to work on something else in our home. While he was here he installed the shut off valve for us. He said it was easy to install. My husband said he could have probably installed it himself. We were fortunate to have a plug nearby the hot water heaters so we could plug the system in. One thing we found is that an extra sensor can be purchased so that both hot water tanks can be protected. We have one cold water pipe that feeds into both tanks. The Taco company was prompt and helpful to answer any questions my husband had about installing the extra sensor. The extra sensor was under $20.00. We found it on the internet. It may be awhile before we see the benefits of this product. However, it certainly provides peace of mind knowing that we are protected from a hot water tank leak.

The Leakbreaker is one of those devices you never want to need, but you do. I just replaced our 30 year old water heater and in al those years we never had any problems but that creates a false sense of security. Water heaters can and do leak and this device will detect the leak and shut off the water supply. It's not all that hard to install on your existing water heater inlet pipe and put a short nipple in the other side of the Leakbreaker valve with your choice of either teflon tape or teflon thread sealant, I use thread sealant. Place the sensor on the floor or in your drain pan, if you have room, and the control unit on the wall. Make the connections and test the unit. The unit is a little pricey but that's nothing compared to the cost of cleaning up after a major leak.

Great idea to have so you don't end up with water damage should a leak occur. Install is easy as long as you have easy access to the plumbing to install it, nothing special on the plumbing side. Having the senor and control in easy wire run proximity will likely be more of a challenge. Nice that it can run off of battery so it will work even when the power is out. There are a couple of dry contacts that can be use connect to another device for signaling (I hope to connect it to a smart device so that I can be notified of what state it is in). On missing feature is a remote way to control the valve. This would be nice so that you could have multiple sensors around your home and if any of them sensed a leak the valve could be shut off though some home automation method and be notified at the same time.

Peace of mind! If you ever have come home to find that your hot water heater decided to fail and your basement floor is soaking wet, you'll wish you had this device installed. Installation is easy for an experienced do it yourselfer but I recommend having a professional plumber handle it. It will operate with batteries or plug in power ( use the plug in power ) This little device will save you a lot of headaches!!!

The LEAKBREAKER WATER HEATER SHUT-OFF VALVE WITH CONTROL AND SENSOR, is worth every penny!! This is not an accessory, this is a necessary!! I think every home owner needs to add this to their existing hot water heating system or any other water system that could have the potential of failing and causing any kind of damage. You will need a plumber or if you are skilled at plumbing stuff to install the valve but other than that it is very simple to install and monitor. It will take care of itself after that. You can go away feeling confident that you will not come home to a disaster.