Product Library / Water Protection & Plumbing

Zooz Titan Water Valve Actuator (ZAC36)

Compiled by SmartHomeWorkflow Research · Zooz · Water Protection & Plumbing

Compatibility

Protocols: ZWAVE^[3][12]

Needs before it works: Only for the smart half, and Zooz draws the line precisely: 'The ZAC36 does not need to be connected to a hub to function with the attached water sensor; however, to control the device remotely, you would need a Z-Wave hub.' The included wired probe closes the valve on its own. Everything else — app control, scheduling, freeze automations, notifications, reporting to other sensors — needs a Z-Wave hub. Zooz names its compatible hubs: its own Z-Box Hub (recommended), SmartThings (driver install required), Home Assistant via Z-Wave JS, Hubitat 2.2.9 or higher, HomeSeer, Homey, Ring Alarm, Alarm.com automation hubs, Ezlo Plus and Ezlo Secure, and Indigo — with the caveat that Indigo supports no S2 security.^[1][4]

What it can do^[1]

Listed capabilities are what we could establish from vendor documentation. An ability missing here is unestablished — not necessarily absent.

Subscription reality^[1][7][11]

? Works without a subscription: Not established — no source we accept has addressed fees for this product in either direction.

Vendor account required: No — no vendor account is involved.^[1][11]

Not established, and the honest answer is a step back from what this page used to say. The earlier answer — no subscription — was read off SILENCE: getzooz.com's ZAC36 page carries no fee language at all, and 'nobody mentions a subscription' is not the same claim as 'there is no subscription'. WHAT WAS CHECKED on 2026-08-26: the product page again, which contains no occurrence of subscription, free app, monthly, fee or cloud; and Zooz's support site, which refused to serve us even though its own rules permit it. ⚠ Everything known about this device points AWAY from a fee — it is a Z-Wave actuator with no vendor servers in the path — but that is reasoning rather than a source, and the local-operation facts on this page already stand on their own evidence. What would settle it: any statement from Zooz that the app or the device is free to use.

Maintenance reality^[3]

• Works without the internet: Yes — the core function runs on the device or your home network. A vendor cloud may still be involved in remote access.^[3][12]
• Mains-powered from an included 12 V DC (1 A) supply on a 9.5 ft cord, drawing 0.12 W on standby and 8.4 W while driving the valve — so it needs an outlet near the shutoff, and it does NOT ride out a power cut. Clamps over an existing 0.5"–1.25" quarter-turn ball valve with no tools and no pipe cutting; a spacer is included for low-profile handles. Clearance requirements are real and worth measuring first: 3" to each side from the valve centre, 1" between pipe and wall, 1.25" between handle and pipe. IP66-rated for indoor or outdoor use, including an outdoor water main, though Zooz says to avoid direct sunlight. Operating range 14–122 °F. Built-in temperature sensor reads -40 to 257 °F for freeze detection, and there is an 85 dB sounder. Z-Wave range up to 400 ft line-of-sight on mesh, up to 1,300 ft with Long Range on VER 2.0 hardware; S2 security and SmartStart supported.
• Security updates: No security-update support date is on record for this model yet. We haven't yet checked whether Zooz publishes one, so this is a gap in our research — not a statement about the manufacturer.

The catch

This is the answer to the question the rest of this category dodges — and the reason is a wire, not a radio. Plug the included probe into the jack on the power cord and the Titan closes the valve on its own: Zooz states it twice, that it 'will automatically shut off as soon as water is detected, even if the hub is down', and that 'if the included wired probe is triggered, Titan will still shut off the water, even if all wireless communication fails.' Almost nothing else in this category can say that. Now the costs of it. The probe is wired and short, so it protects the ground right around the valve — which is usually a basement or a utility closet, not the upstairs bathroom where the leak actually starts; covering the rest of the house means Z-Wave sensors, a hub, and an automation, at which point the hub is back in the critical path. It is mains-powered with no battery backup, so a power cut takes the whole thing offline, probe included. It clamps onto an existing quarter-turn ball valve up to 1.25 inches, which means you need one, and you need real clearance around it: 3 inches to each side, an inch behind, 1.25 inches above. And it is Z-Wave only — Zooz says outright that you cannot connect it to Alexa or Google directly, so if you do not already own a Z-Wave hub, the sticker price is not the price.

Who it's for

Households that already run Z-Wave — SmartThings, Home Assistant, Hubitat, Ring Alarm or Zooz's own Z-Box — and want an actual shutoff rather than another sensor that beeps. It is the strongest pick in this category for anyone who wants the valve to close when the network is down, and the only one here whose failsafe needs no hub, no cloud and no subscription. It is the wrong pick if you own no Z-Wave hub, if there is no outlet near your shutoff valve, if your main is a gate valve rather than a quarter-turn ball valve, or if you want whole-home leak detection out of one box.

Sources & method

Numbered sources below back the facts marked with the matching number above. This is a research profile: compiled from manufacturer documentation, certification registries, and published testing — we state facts, not verdicts, and we have not physically tested this unit. How we work →

Compatibility and lifecycle information reflects the last-verified date above and can change without notice (firmware updates, cloud-service changes, discontinuations). It is provided as-is, for information — verify with the manufacturer before purchasing. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it. Full terms: Terms of Service.

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