Not long ago, we received a free offer from State Farm, which provide our home insurance. On request, they would send us a free “Ting,” a small device that plugs into an electrical socket and monitors your home’s system.
It is designed to detect electrical faults that, they say, are responsible for many devasting home fires.
If they’ve convinced State Farm to sponsor the free offer, that sounded like something that we wouldn’t want to refuse. So I replied, Yes, and in a couple of week the little yellow box containing a Ting monitor arrived on our front steps.
It’s small. A little over half the length of an iPhone, although thicker. It plugs into any socket.
It ended up in one of our bathrooms, plugged in next to a nightlight.
It was easy to set up with the Ting app we downloaded, with connects to the internet via your home’s wifi system.
Here’s what the company says.
**If an electrical fire hazard is detected, your service also includes the following concierge services, which we’ve designed to be easy, provide you peace of mind, and ensure you’re never on your own.
Notification via the Ting Sensor app and separate outreach to you via email, phone, and/or text
Instructions from a Ting Fire Safety Team expertIF professional remediation is needed:
Coordination with you for onsite professional remediationNOTE: Not all hazards require professional remediation; we don’t arrange onsite visits without your permission.
Live, remote moderation by Ting technician of onsite professional remediation
$1,000 credit towards labor cost of professional remediationIf the hazard is an external ‘electric utility service’ hazard: guidance for reaching out to your utility
You then receive a weekly report, with graphs showing each day of the week with the recorded voltage.
I don’t know whether other insurers are making similar offers, but I would grab one if you have an opportunity.
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Doesn’t really explain how it can detect a problem other than through a voltage surge. Kitchen fires, like stoves left on will not show up, I believe.
I think the Installling choice of Smart Meters, lauded by HECO, deserve an educational column.
You are correct. Ting detects faulty wiring leading to a short that could spark a fire. A fire caused by unattended cooking would not be detected.
Mahalo. Ordering one today.
We’re up and running, four days from your post! Mahalo, Ian.
It sounds like some ting to consider.
Have had one for a couple of months. In an older house, it is nice to know that no problems are detected at the moment. It is also nice to be able to see precise power outage info on the app on my phone. After the free 2 years, I wonder how much it will cost to keep.
Checking the company website, it appears that the monitoring costs $49 annually after the free period expires. It doesn’t say whether continuing with the paid plan after the two free years will earn a discount on your home insurance.
We have First Insurance and they don’t ever offer anything extra. Maybe they will if someone important reads this post. We recently moved from a house to a condo and the power goes out all the time but we can’t figure out why because it won’t do it when the electrician is testing. It’s an old building that was recently renovated but it’s still an old building. I worry that it is something that could cause a fire so sounds like a good precaution to take to have a monitor plugged in all the time so we can see what happens before the outages occur. It might even inform the electrician since he can’t stay long enough to observe the problem. Thanks for the suggestion.