How Flo by Moen watches your whole house from your phone — and how Air & Plumbing Today installs it in San Antonio and Austin
By the Air & Plumbing Today Team — Family-owned since 2012 — San Antonio, Lakeway & Austin, TX
A plumbing leak does not have to look like a movie burst pipe to wreck a house. In Central Texas, the expensive leaks are often the quiet ones: a pinhole in a copper line under the slab, a supply hose that fails while you are at work, a water heater that weeps into the garage overnight, or a fitting behind a tub that drips into the ceiling for weeks before anyone notices a stain.
The good news is the technology finally caught up with the problem. A device installed on your home’s main water line can now watch pressure and flow 24 hours a day, learn how your family actually uses water, alert your phone the moment something looks wrong, and shut the water off automatically before a small leak becomes a reconstruction project.
That device is the Flo Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff from Moen — often called Flo by Moen. Air & Plumbing Today can install one in San Antonio and Austin homes at an affordable price.
What Plumbing Leaks Actually Do to a House
Water looks harmless until it has somewhere to hide. Once it is inside a wall, under a floor, or beneath a slab, it follows gravity, soaks porous materials, and keeps moving until someone stops the supply.
- Floors and finish materials. Hardwood cups and buckles. Laminate swells. Carpet pads become a sponge. Tile may look fine while water travels through the thinset into the subfloor.
- Walls, ceilings, and insulation. Drywall loses strength when it stays wet. Ceiling stains are often the last thing you see, not the first thing that happened.
- Cabinets, furniture, and belongings. Kitchen and bath cabinets wick water from the toe kick up into the box.
- Mold and indoor air. In San Antonio and Austin heat and humidity, wet drywall and carpet can grow mold in a day or two. Remediation is a separate bill.
- Electrical and HVAC. Water in a ceiling can reach recessed lights, outlets, and air handlers.
- Foundation and soil under the slab. Most Central Texas homes sit on a concrete slab. Pressurized water escaping underneath can wash out supporting soil and contribute to movement and cracked floors.
- Wasted water. Household leaks waste nearly 10,000 gallons a year in a typical home. Nationwide, leaks waste on the order of a trillion gallons annually.
What Those Leaks Cost in 2026
The plumber’s bill to stop the leak is usually the smaller number. Restoration is what hurts.
- Average water-damage insurance claim: about $15,400 in recent Insurance Information Institute reporting. Water damage remains one of the most common homeowner claim types.
- Typical restoration project: most jobs land roughly $1,300 to $6,000. Minor leaks caught early can stay near $1,500. Multi-room damage often reaches $10,000. Long-standing or contaminated water can exceed $25,000.
- San Antonio range: many local jobs fall around $1,250 to $4,700, with larger events climbing much higher.
- Mold add-on: once water sits 24 to 48 hours, remediation commonly adds $1,200 to $6,000.
- The leak itself: an accessible fixture leak may be a few hundred dollars. A burst supply line is often $500 to $2,000 for plumbing work alone. Slab leak repair in San Antonio commonly runs about $800 to $4,500 from detection through repair, with reroutes and repipes going higher.
The pattern is the same every time: the longer water runs, the more rooms it reaches, and the more the bill multiplies.
Meet Flo by Moen
The Flo Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff installs in line on the home’s cold-water main — after the meter, the main shutoff, and the pressure-regulating valve if you have one. It is a whole-house monitor with a motorized shutoff valve built in.
Three sizes cover typical residential mains: 3/4″ (900-001), 1″ (900-006), and 1-1/4″ (900-002). Moen’s current list price is in the low-to-mid $600 range before professional installation. The core app, alerts, and shutoff features do not require a monthly subscription.
Moen recommends professional installation. The device replaces a section of pipe, needs 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, and needs a nearby outlet (extension cables are available).
What it does
- Watches pressure and flow, not sound. Sensors measure the water actually moving through the pipe.
- FloSense technology learns your home. After install, it studies showers, laundry, and hose-bib habits so it can spot “not normal.”
- Daily MicroLeak tests. It can detect leaks as small as a single drop per minute.
- Automatic shutoff. On a burst or other critical event, it can close the valve. You can also close or open it from the app, or by the manual knob on the device.
- Freeze alerts. It monitors temperature at the install location and can warn you before a pipe is at risk.
- Keeps working if Wi-Fi drops. Learned patterns stay on the device. You need the connection for remote control and notifications.
- Optional extras. Add-on moisture detectors, a short-outage battery backup, and protection-plan bundles exist if you want them.
How it works
- A licensed plumber installs Flo on the main cold-water line and connects power and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi.
- You download the free Moen Smart Water app, create an account, and pair the device.
- Flo learns your water habits and starts daily health / microleak testing.
- You see live flow, pressure, temperature, and usage history on your phone.
- If something looks like a leak, a running fixture, or freeze risk, you can get a push notification, email, and even a phone call — at home, at work, or out of town.
- If automatic shutoff is on and Flo judges the event critical, it closes the valve and tells you. Reopen it from the phone once the problem is under control, or override by hand at the device.
- Over time the app can categorize usage by fixture type and help set conservation goals. Moen says finding and stopping leaks can cut a large share of household water waste.
Your House, From Your Phone
- See whether water is flowing right now, at what rate, and at what pressure.
- Shut the whole house off with one tap before a trip — or after a 2 a.m. alert.
- Turn it back on from the airport after a neighbor confirms the hose is off.
- Review history so you can tell “someone filled the pool” from “something has dripped since Tuesday.”
- Watch more than one property in the same app (rental, lake house, a parent’s home).
- Use Home/Away-style modes so Flo is stricter when nobody should be using water.
- Pair with Amazon Alexa, Ring, and Alarm.com.
Old process when a washer hose fails on vacation: neighbor sees a waterfall, calls you, you call a plumber, hours of water are already in the floor. With Flo: alert on your phone, valve closes, you send a plumber to a wet spot instead of a ruined room.
Why This Matters in San Antonio and Austin
- Slab foundations. Supply lines often run under the concrete. A pinhole can run for weeks into soil you cannot see.
- Hard, mineral-heavy water. Local chemistry is rough on copper. Pinhole leaks are not rare here.
- Clay soils that move. Shifting soil stresses pipe and fittings.
- Empty houses. Vacation homes, rentals, and travel still leave pressurized water in the pipes.
- Heat and humidity. Wet materials do not get a cool season to recover.
- The occasional freeze. We do not get Minnesota winters, but we do get nights that split poorly insulated pipes.
Flo will not stop storm water or a creek. It is built to catch leaks that start inside your plumbing.
Air & Plumbing Today Installs Flo at an Affordable Price
Our licensed plumbers will:
- Confirm main-line size so you get the correct 3/4″, 1″, or 1-1/4″ unit
- Find a clean location on the cold-water main after the meter and shutoff
- Install and support the device so there are no new leak points
- Handle power and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, including an extension cable if needed
- Pair the Moen Smart Water app and walk you through alerts, remote shutoff, and modes
- Be the same company that can find and fix the leak if Flo ever flags one
That is an affordable upgrade in San Antonio, Lakeway, and Austin — far less than one moderate water-damage restoration.
Family-owned by Manny and Maira Mallen since 2012. Upfront pricing. Licensed and insured. 24/7 live answering. No problema.
Ready to Put an advanced leak prevention device on Your Water Line?
San Antonio: (210) 468-8071
Austin / Lakeway: (512) 309-5465
Online: airandplumbingtoday.com
Device details: Flo Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff
Ask about pairing a Flo install with a whole-home plumbing inspection so we can look at the water heater, valves, and visible lines the same day.
Let my familia help your familia. Call today — before the next silent drip becomes the next restoration invoice.