It’s been nearly two years since we first introduced you to Phyn, the joint venture between electronics giant Belkin International and plumbing heavyweight Uponor. At the time, Phyn was little more than a mission statement, pledging “to provide an intelligent water solution that protects families and their homes from leak damage, enables mindful conservation, and enhances household water usage with automated and anticipatory controls.” And now, it’s made good on that promise. At CES 2018, Phyn introduced Phyn Plus, an intelligent water-monitoring system that promises to protect families and homes from leak damage.
By the time most homeowners are alerted to leaks and potential problem areas, the damage has often already been done. Indeed, Phyn notes, more than a trillion gallons of clean water are wasted through leaks every year. But the Phyn Plus hopes to change that. As soon as it’s installed, the system monitors and measures even the smallest differences in water pressure, which means that identifying a leak is an almost instantaneous process. Once an issue is found, Phyn Plus alerts users, and automatically shuts the water off so that small problems don’t become big ones.
The accuracy of the Phyn Plus system depends upon HD Pressure Sensing, in which the device measures minute changes in pressure — 240 times per second — in order to “fingerprint the unique signatures of each fixture and catch plumbing issues” no matter how small. The company also leverages advanced algorithms to interpret multidimensional sensor data from the many sensors, which means that you should only be alerted in the case of an actual problem, rather than being inundated by false alarms. And to ensure that its product is truly ready for market, Phyn has spent the last year collecting more than 10 billion data points across 10 million water events including toilet flushes, shower flows, irrigation, and leaks to train the Phyn Plus. That training process continues in your home, as the water system gets smarter as you use it.
You’ll be able to buy the Phyn Plus beginning late spring for $850 exclusively through the Uponor Pro Squad. Initial markets will include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Toronto, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C.
