My Water Leak Sensor Is Saying "Conductivity Error"

How Does My Sensor Detect Water Leaks Normally?

Notion water leak sensors use the conductivity of water to detect if a leak has occurred. With the water leak task enabled, the sensor has an open electrical circuit that runs between the two brass pins on the baseplate of the sensor. When water is present, electricity can flow between those two pins and the sensor can detect that change, triggering the water leak alert.

Why Does My Sensor Say "Conductivity Error"?

Water is a good conductor of electricity, but there are of course many materials that can also conduct electricity. If your sensor is placed on a conductive surface, or there is some conductive material that gets between the brass pins on the bottom of the sensor, that may cause the sensor to think that a leak has occurred even if no water is present. 

Our team is constantly checking to make sure that Notion sensors are sending accurate notifications. We want to make sure that we are alerting you only when a sensor actually detects water. Thankfully our team recently made some updates on our back-end that tells us when there might be an error with the the brass pins. This is referred to as a short-circuit, and the app will tell you that your sensor has a "conductivity error."

How Can I Fix It?

To troubleshoot this error, check to make sure that the brass pins on the bottom of your sensor are not in contact with anything that might conduct electricity. This might include any kind of metal or liquids that are not water. We recommend picking up the sensor and thoroughly cleaning the pins as well as the area under the sensor before placing it back down. You may want to replace the foam adhesive on the sensor baseplate as well. If the sensor is placed on a metal surface, consider putting a small piece of cardboard or plastic under the sensor to further insulate the brass pins from the metal. 

Still have questions? Contact our support team by submitting a request here. We will do our best to help you however we can.