Time will tell. I have my water heater inside the house. Why anyone would put a water heater in there house is Nuts. I have had two leaks and the tenants did not shut water off. It flooded the closets and carpet. Hope this is the answer to my water heater problem.

The installation of the controller and power cord were easy. It came with Velcro mounting pad that stuck easily and securely to my wall in the hot water heater closet. The alarm will be when the batteries get low and the led display shows the current status of the valve. Turning it on our off is as easy as tapping a button. The light will blink until the valve is completely open or closed. The water sensor has a paper sleeve to allow laying there sensor in the metal drop pan without it touching the metal. Works great and even had a connection option to daisy chain the detectors for monitoring more than one spot.

After 6 valve cycles in a 3 year period of time the plastic gears stripped and the valve stuck. So I replaced it with something better.

Fortunately, all the valve cycles were done for testing and exercise purposes only. I never had a real leak.

I now have a Fibaro Flood Sensor ZW3, Water Leak Detector.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P2PJI6U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am using a Leak Intelligence Z-Wave shut-off Valve. (Well made, and industrial strength.)
https://www.amazon.com/Z-Wave-Valve-Control-Gopher-Certified/dp/B01LE84USO

This is connected to a SmartThings Hub so any water sensor in the house will close the valve. I can monitor everything with the SmartThings iPhone app. I get a notification as well as a text if there is a leak. The warnings continue every hour until I cancel.

I purchased this unit to replace an old Floodstop valve when I was also replacing my water heater. Installation of the new valve went smoothly, although I agree with comments about the wires being a little short to both the valve and the sensor. I didn't want to lengthen them, so the control unit's placement isn't optimal. I also found that my valve came in the "off" position, so I had to power up the unit and open the valve before installing it, otherwise I wouldn't have had water flow to fill the new heater.

The reason for the four-star rating is that I found that my old Floodstop control unit was dead. I had ordered this replacement because I was worried that the original (10-year old) Floodstop valve might have corroded up over the years, but I wasn't expecting the electronics to fail. Of course, the warranty is only for one year, but I'd prefer a warranty comparable to the life of water heaters (my old one was 10 years, my new one is 12, and I replace the in-house heater when the warranty is up, instead of waiting for a disaster to happen).

Great product, and great customer service from the manufacturer when needed. You should always shut off your main water supply manually whenever you leave your property, even if just for a few days. Even so, this unit can prevent thousands of dollars of damage should a leak occur while the main is open. It doesn't take very long for water to create damage, even a small leak can create big damage in a short time. This devise has a great sensor, printed on both sides, and literally just takes a single drop of water to trip the alarm and close the valve. We use this for whole house protection with sensors near a filter housing and pressure tank, and it does a great job. Very satisfied.

If I ever built a new house or renovated down to the studs (no plans to ever do either), I would make a point to run low voltage wire to every sink, toilet, and fixture (ice maker, dishwasher etc) so that I could place additional sensors for this unit under every single point where water could leak, thus signalling the unit to turn off water in the house. What an inexpensive way to protect from one of the biggest sources of damage to a home!