AcuRite measures whole home: water, soil, HVAC

I've tested a number of AcuRite weather stations over the last couple of years. Although they sell some of the least expensive products out there, the decreasing price of electronics has allowed them to do this without sacrificing quality.

I'm a big fan of monitoring what's happening in my home, in addition to the weather outside. By doing this, you can prevent things like frozen pipes, chilly exercise rooms, malfunctioning HVAC vents or moldy storage items.

This spring, I've tested the "Indoor & Outdoor Multi-Sensor Station." It comes in a lot of different configurations and you can customize it with the sensors you need.

What it can do for you is measure temperature and humidity in up to seven different locations in your house, along with new sensors (never before seen in the consumer weather station industry) that measure the presence of moisture (for leaky appliances or basements) and remote conditions (vent or soil temperature).

To test as many capabilities as I could, I started with the Indoor & Outdoor Multi-Sensor Station with 3 Sensors + Liquid & Soil Sensor (shown above -- the new, black LED version -- very cool). I then added the Add-on Spot Check Temperature & Humidity Sensor and the Add-on Water Detector (they plug into the other indoor sensors). Here's what my display looks like now:

Now I have temperature and humidity tracked wirelessly in six locations -- four in the house (including an HVAC vent) and two outdoors (including a soil sensor) plus moisture tracker for our leaky dishwasher.

The system has programmable alarms that you can have go off when certain conditions are met (for example if the dishwasher starts leaking). This particular station doesn't send data online, but they have some that do -- and are planning more, so I'll be reviewing those soon.

Above is how I mounted two of the sensors in my kitchen. Fortuitously, the leaky dishwasher happened to be on one side of the cabinet, while the vent was on the other.

DISCLAIMER: AccuWeather does not have a current business relationship with AcuRite. This is not an official endorsement from AccuWeather, Inc. Product was supplied by the vendor for this review.