%2520v2.png)
Over the last decade, there have been a variety of smart consumer technology products that have hit the market and are all aimed at making our lives easier, simpler, and better. But what about products that can do that and help us prevent bad things from happening to our most valuable asset—our homes. Imagine that you go on vacation and get word of multiple days of sub-freezing temperatures happening at home. You could worry, but your network of smart products is at the ready: the network detects the freeze on its own and tells your faucet to purge the water lines in order to eliminate the risk of expanding and bursting pipes.
Well, this idea of an invisible smart home—where a suite of connected products automatically prevents bad outcomes—is not just an idea, it already exists. And that’s what that was the focus in a recent panel discussion at WIRED HQ during CES 2022 where WIRED Executive Editor Brian Barrett spoke with Mark-Hans Richer, the Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer at Moen. They discussed the new frontier of the invisible smart home—from design to security—and how technology can integrate into our everyday lives to help optimize our routines and prevent disasters before they strike.
Moen is at the forefront of the industry and has a new system that connects homeowners to their home’s infrastructure in ways that both improve their daily lives, monitor water usage, and protect them from catastrophe. Through the Moen Smart Water Network—the Smart Faucet, Smart Leak Detector, Smart Sump Pump Monitor, Flo Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff, and Smart Shower—people can take control over their home’s water all from a seamless smartphone app.
“You can do all kinds of things you’ve never been able to do before,” says Richer. Moen’s voice activated faucets can dispense precise measurements—down to two tablespoons—at exactly the temperature you ask for. When you take a shower, you can ask it to turn on until it reaches your desired temperature, and then it will shut itself off so you don’t waste water before you get in. “We’re here to use technology to make sure that people can manage their water in their home in ways they’ve never been able to before, and have only good things happen.” Having this sort of control not only allows you to control your water consumption, it also helps you become more aware of when and how you’re using the water in your home.
Leaks are up to six times more prevalent in homes than fire or theft. And water damage in a home can not only cost thousands of dollars to remedy, but precious memories can be destroyed as well. According to Richer, studies showed that Flo Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff protected against 96% of leak events. The system detects a leak, automatically shuts off the water, alerts the user, and escalates it to a call center if they don’t get a response from the homeowner. “Until now there hasn’t been an ability for a homeowner to be able to control that,” says Richer. “This is a big deal.” These devices are working night and day behind the scenes, so you can install them and forget about them, whether you're asleep at home or on a trip in another country.
But what about products that are too smart for their own good? Moen ensures multiple layers of protection on every product. Their Smart Sump Pump Monitor, for example, has a battery backup because multiple levels of security are crucial to true home protection.
By 2030, Moen has a mission to conserve one trillion gallons of water through innovation. What if the products you buy can not only make your day a little better, but can also do something positive for the planet? The Moen system lets customers monitor their water usage room by room, and are designed to reduce waste themselves—right down to the drop. By giving consumers a better idea of how they use water in their home and pairing that knowledge with smart fixtures designed to waste less, Moen can help empower us to help protect our most important resource. “This is the use of technology that makes behaviors a little bit more informed, more intuitive, and beneficial,” says Richer.
This story was produced by WIRED Brand Lab for Moen.
