Water Heater Shut-Off Valves & Leak Protection

A water heater is the appliance most likely to flood a house, and the one most often installed where nobody looks. These are automatic shut-off valves that sit on the cold supply to the heater and close it when a sensor finds water on the floor or in the pan. Orders ship from Seattle, WA.

Taco LEAKBREAKER is a control unit with a motorized 3/4 in. NPT ball valve, actuator and floor sensor, built specifically for a water heater. It is resettable and testable after a trip, so a nuisance alarm does not mean a service call, and it signals with a two-color LED and an audible alarm. The LB-075-H-1LF ships with one sensor, the LB-075-H-2LF with two, for a heater with both a pan and a nearby floor drain. The eLink version (LBW-075-H-2LF) adds WiFi and reports status and trips to your phone.

FloodStop 20001 is the same idea at a lower price point: a 3/4 in. NPT MIP x FIP valve with control unit and sensor. The MIP x FIP body threads inline with the existing supply nipple, so the install is a union break rather than a pipe cut.

Sizing and placement. All four are 3/4 in. NPT, which is the supply on effectively every residential tank heater. Put the valve on the cold inlet, upstream of the heater, and the sensor at the low point of the pan or the floor. A shut-off on the heater protects the heater only — if you want the whole house covered, a main-line valve is the right device.

Related: All water leak detectors and shut-off valves · Flo by Moen whole-house shutoff · FloodStop appliance kits · Water heaters