Anyone who has an irrigation system knows how costly it is to run the system through the Summer months. I've blogged in the past about "smart irrigation" and gave strategies on designing an irrigation system to maximize efficiency, which results in maximizing your dollar because your not wasting water when you don't need to.Irrigation technology has come a long ways in the past 5 years with a focus on water conservation. Low volume nozzles, irrigation heads with check valves, rain sensors and wind sensors are some of the products which focus on conserving water when utilizing your irrigation system.
If you don't have any of the above options on your existing irrigation system, there is an easy fix to instantly make your irrigation up to 30% more efficient from a water conservation standpoint.
It's called the "smart controller." How can a controller be smart you ask? I'll explain...Smart contollers look like a normal irrigation controller but it's "what's under the hood" that make them special. It's more like a computer than an irrigation controller.
You can input information regarding YOUR specific irrigation system. Which zones are watering lawn, which zones are watering shrubs, which zones are getting full sun, which zones are getting shade throughout the day, are you watering with pop-ups or rotors, etc. You then tell the controller where you are. Some do this automatically and some you can input your zip code. After all the information is received, the irrigation controller receives weather data through satellites and adjusts your irrigation system based on daily weather conditions to provide the exact amount of water needed for a healthy landscape. This is an extremely basic description of what the smart controller does. I would probably lull most people to sleep if I went on and on about the features and options that smart controllers provide. 
Smart controllers do cost more than a standard controller. However, with the water you save (which equals the money you save), you can re-coup that money in a years time. Considering an irrigation controller should last 10 to 15 years.... that's a lot of money in your pocket!
The money savings get even bigger for commercial sites which are typically much larger than residential systems.
I pulled this statistic off the Hydropoint website. WeatherTRAK is Hydropoints' smart controller version.
Saving $6,000 and 1.1 million gallons of water with a single WeatherTRAK smart Irrigation controller. The Dorchester community achieved full return on their investment in the first seven months after Property Manager Ned Fleming upgraded the aging irrigation system. And the lush grass, shrubs and native sea grapes have never looked better, despite one-day-a-week watering restrictions. Below is the link to that article!
http://view.exacttarget.com/?j=fe7015737065057d7114&m=feff1771766306&ls=fdf110727d67057572117875&l=fef51070726c03&s=fe2710787d66057a7d1472&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe28157375660c75711d74
I was just reading the Weathermatic website and the Dallas Cowboys have Smartline controllers to irrigate the landscape at newly built Cowboys Stadium. They have over 400 zones and are using the same type of controllers we've installed for our customers!
Here is a link to Weathermatics' version of the smart controller.(Smartline) It has tons of detailed information regarding their Smart Smartline Controller.
http://www.weathermatic.com/index.cfm?page=SmartLine
Most of the other major irrigation manufacturers (Rainbird, Hunter, etc.) offer their own version of a "smart controller."
There are manufactures website links on our blog for a lot of the products we commonly use in our industry!
Give us a call and we can tell you what it would cost to step into Smart Controller Technology!
www.olympiclawn.com
253-261-2700
Thanks for reading the blog!
Derrik Tribble
The Lawn Psychologist
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