Making water shutoff automatic

People might not be aware that installing the motorized shutoff valves does NOT automatically turn off the water – you have to set this up in your phone app.

Why doesn’t it? YoLink makes all kinds of sensors and actuators – door and window sensors, security sensors, sprinkler controllers, garage door openers/sensors, etc. So, while adding the sensors to your app automatically tells you when they’re wet – what do YOU want to do about it when that alert happens? You have to tell it what to do explicitly.

There are 2 parts to this – first, we have to create a “scene” – think of a movie scene, where some events happen in sequence, and you’re the director. Next, we need to tell the app to execute that scene when any of the sensors get wet.

1. Create the scene

First, from the main screen, click on the “Smart” button:

Now we need to create a new scene – click the “+”:

We need to give this a name – click on the default “New Scene” and call it something – I used “Water shutoff events”:

Now, we need to tell the scene what to do when it’s executed – click on the “+” to add a behavior:

That brings up this screen – click on the “Device Actions”:

Now the app shows you all the devices which can be executed – in our case, it’s the cold and hot water valves – click on the checkbox to include it:

Click the “Close” radio button to tell it to close the valve:

Click the checkmark to save your work:

Do the exact same thing for the cold water valve. Click the checkmark to save your work.

Click the checkmark in the Scene page to save the completed scene. You’re done with this part.

Bonus – create another scene to turn the water back on

You can also create a second scene to turn the water back on – you can execute scenes manually by clicking on the “play” icon on the scene in the “Smart” screen – you can also turn off both hot/cold simultaneously this way.

2. Create the action

Go back to the main screen and click on the “hamburger” icon to get to settings (seriously – those three lines are called “hamburgers in the web biz)”:

Next, go into the “Alarm Strategies” section:

Edit the Default alarm:

Select the Trigger Action:

Click on the “Shut off water events” button:

Now, just click all the “Confirm” and “Save” buttons. You should be good to go!

How do you know if your shutoff valves are working?

Just like your smoke detector, you should test that your sensors shut off your water at least once a year:

First, validate you can turn the hot/cold water on/off with your phone
Take any sensor and get it wet – that should trigger the shutoffs. I like to put a sensor in my kitchen sink and turn the water on – then watch it shut itself off when the sensor gets wet. It makes a very effective demo of the system.

Back to Setting up leak sensors, etc. - what do you need, and how to set it up