Nobody wants to be on the receiving end of a high water bill. Sometimes people do not realize they are over watering until after they get a large bill. There can be many reasons for a large bill and one of the reasons is two start times in your controller. Having multiple start times can also cause your system to run all the time. This is a handy You-tube video on how to check and remove start times from your controller. NOTE: This is for Hunter brand Pro-C controllers.
Archive for the ‘Lawn Sprinklers’ Category
How To: Check and Remove Start Times (Video)
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011Beware of the Low Cost Contractors
Friday, June 10th, 2011This multiple part blog is going to look at different short cuts some irrigation contractors take.
This past Summer I had a friend ask me to come out to evaluate an existing lawn sprinkler system. I was happy to do this for a friend and it gave the a chance to examine another contractor’s work. What an adventure it turned out to be. The system was a builder’s special or lowest bidder installation. In our industry there are contractors who specialize in installing cheap sprinkler systems. To do this they take short cuts you need to know about to understand the difference between a cheap sprinkler system and a properly installed system.
- Improper Plumbing: The plumbing for the sprinklers system had been attached to a 3/4″ faucet line. This is a common short cut to save on plumbing costs, no additional copper needs to be run and the existing water shut off is used.
- The controller was not straight and was held up by one nail on the wall. The wires running to the controller were draped across the back wall of the garage. The wires exited the garage and were bare and without conduit.
- Too many heads on each zone and over spacing of heads. The front yard only had one zone, the heads were over-spaced and too many heads were on the zone. This combined with the poor plumbing meant the front yard was not being watered properly. The heads were 40′ feet from each other and the heads only sprayed 20′ – 25′, this was creating dry spots and a head that wouldn’t work.
- Poor head placement: Also in the front yard, the boulevard was not being watered properly. To save labor the heads for watering the boulevard were placed in middle of the front yard. The heads watered over the walk and onto the boulevard. This created over watering and dry spots due to poor coverage. Over the period of several years the water wasted would cost more than installing the system properly.
Tips 5 – 8 to be continued next month, see you then!
- Rob Cooper, Certified Irrigation Contractor (CIC)
How to Reduce Your Sprinkler System’s Water Usage
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011This past Summer a landscaper ask me to look at a sprinkler system at a Minneapolis residence. His customer was concerned about the environment and conserving water. Each time she looked at her water bill she was concerned at how much water her household was consuming. Over the course of one Summer, the sprinkler system was using 170,000 gallons of water. While that is a large amount of water it isn’t unusual for a sprinkler system. My goal was to decrease her water consumption and maintain the same beautiful landscape.
Here are the water saving methods I recommended.
- Replace the sprinkler system controller. In the last few years there have been some innovative new controllers coming to the market. Old controllers should be replaced with these new weather based controllers. The new Weathermatic and Hunter Solar Sync adjust sprinkler run times based on the weather. The controllers take in a number of factors, warmth, precipitation, wind speed, time of year and type of sprinkler system. This allows for a very tuned system that allows the sprinkler system to only put down as much water as is needed.
- Replace traditional spray head with Hunter MP Rotators. This is a new product can be retrofitted in existing spray heads. It can save 30% more water than traditional spray heads. The MP Rotators, create multiple streams of water that rotate, this means larger water droplets, no more mist, less wind drift, less evaporation, and less runoff. This is an easy retrofit and one I recommend.
- Replace flower and vegetable gardens spray heads to Hunter drip tubing. Drip tubing have emitters ever 12″ to 18″ and slowly drip to saturate the ground at the root of the plant. Water is put only where it is needed, eliminating evaporation and water waste.
Payoff:
This customer in this example saw water savings of 60% from the Summer of 2009 to 2010. This saved 120,000 gallons of water, this saved a valuable resource and money for our customer. 120,000 gallons equaled a savings of $500 dollars for this Minneapolis residence.
The devices pay for themselves at different rates. Your quickest payoff is from the controller which usually pays for itself in one to two years. Replacing spray nozzles with MP Rotators and drip tubing, usually sees a payback in four to five years.
New 2011 Twin Cities Metro Area Public Utility Water Rates.
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011Is your water bill higher? Think your lawn sprinkler system has sprung a leak? Chances are your bill is higher because of a bill the Minnesota state legislature passed last year. Minnesota statute 103G.291 has become active as of January 1, 2010. It states that all cities in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area must adopt a utility rate structure that encourages conservation. However, the exact implementation of these laws has been left to the individual municipalities. This means that every city will have different rates and rate increases for over-usage. We have compiled a list of residential water rates for various cities around the area and this is what we have come up with. Just click on your city to see your new water rates.
Note: Some cities use measurements such as units, cubic meters or cubic feet for some reason. So, in addition to the city’s structure we have done the conversion to gallons for you for a better frame of reference.
For ways to conserve water and lower your bill contact us and check out our previous blog post.
- Apple Valley
- Bloomington
- Brooklyn Park
- Burnsville
- Chanhassen
- Chaska
- Crystal
- Deephaven
- Eagan
- Eden Prairie
- Edina
- Excelsior
- Farmington
- Golden Valley
- Greenwood
- Hopkins
- Inver Grove Heights
- Lakeville
- Lauderdale
- Maple Grove
- Medina
- Minneapolis
- Minnetonka
- Minnetrista
- Orono
- Plymouth
- Prior Lake
- Richfield
- Rosemount
- Roseville
- St. Louis Park
- St. Paul
- Savage
- Shakopee
- Shoreview
- Shorewood
- Victoria
- Wayzata
Winterization – Part 2
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010A friendly reminder, don’t wait until it below freezing to get your sprinkler system winterized. It is important to try and schedule your winterizing at least a week before the temperature drops. If you are unable to get your system winterized before the first hard freeze, wrap the vacuum breaker with a blanket or towel. This will help prevent the copper pipes from freezing and breaking.