This is a neat device that most homeowners (if not all homeowners) should consider making use of. It’s a simple solution to preventing a devastating event. It is the Ting Smart Electrical Sensor by Whisker Labs, which is a small device that plugs into any outlet in the home and gives you an insight into what’s going on inside your walls.
Using machine learning technology and years of analytical data, the device monitors the electricity in your home looking for any kind of predictable hazards. If it detects an anomaly or any form of a power surge, it will notify the user via the app, letting them know something is wrong. This allows the user to check all of their devices (or hire a professional) to determine what could be the cause.
This could prevent an electrical fire from occurring by allowing you to eliminate any devices that could be failing. Or bad wiring or anything else that could lead to many thousands of dollars in damage and personal loss. Anything that is detectable by simply monitoring the network of wires within your walls, at least.
The idea is fantastic and makes you ask “why on Earth hasn’t someone thought about this before?”
It gained the attention of companies like State Farm, which offers direct support for the Ting sensor. If the sensor detects something, the insurance company will actually send someone out to help determine what the problem is. Not only that, but they will actually provide the sensor to the customer. Which is a neat perk. Hopefully, some of the other insurance companies (like Allstate and other well-known names) will consider offering similar services to their customers as well. I’m sure Whisker Labs is also reaching out to some of them.
You will be coughing up a little cash to add one of these to your home though. The MSRP is $349.99, which is pretty pricey for something that simply plugs into your wall and looks like an anti-bug/rodent device. However, the potential savings it could offer you as well as the comfort of knowing your home has an added defense against such things is absolutely priceless. Plus, if you use State Farm, you don’t have to pay for the device.
Also, it isn’t the first time a company has attempted something like this. You may be familiar with Sense, which is a more complicated device that offers a smart solution to monitoring everything in your home. It looks for certain power signatures to determine what power is being drawn by what devices. Allowing you to determine what eats up the most, and where you can save by cutting back on certain use, or turning things on and off throughout the day. It also allows you to monitor solar collection so that you can compare it against use as well (using the Sense Flex combo).
Sense does all of this while also offering a beta feature to monitor for electrical safety concerns just like the Ting sensor can. It’s been in beta for a while, so the company is likely combing through a lot of data to help fine-tune the feature as carefully as possible. It also means it may not be perfect just yet. However, it’s a step in the right direction and they do offer a limited service for free (during the beta) where the company will help investigate any problems it detects (by limited, they are only able to accept so many requests).
The idea to protect your home from electrical fires by monitoring your electricity in such a way is a fantastic idea and an important option to consider for your own home.
If we get our hands on one, we will make sure to come back in a new story to let you know what we think.
