Rain showers save parks $$$

[DanaMac]

Just a little local article

Gazette (http://www.gazette.com/articles/city-55016-schroeder-parks.html)

[FIMCO-MEISTER]

40,000 saved every time they can skip a watering. I'm tellin ya a hands on water determiner can mean huge savings.

[Mike Leary]

I'm tellin ya a hands on water determiner can mean huge savings.

I don't care how many bells and whistles the clocks have; there is NO substitute for a real smart tech on the site.

[Kiril]

I don't care how many bells and whistles the clocks have; there is NO substitute for a real smart tech on the site.

Generally I will agree here. It takes much time and effort to dial in a system. Sadly, I don't think 95% of the irrigators out there really understand how much it does take.

[FIMCO-MEISTER]

Generally I will agree here. It takes much time and effort to dial in a system. Sadly, I don't think 95% of the irrigators out there really understand how much it does take.

Install the WATER MEISTER! Hottest fantasy controller on the market!

[EagleLandscape]

Rain sensors anyone...? 48hr rain delay?

[FIMCO-MEISTER]

Rain sensors anyone...? 48hr rain delay?

Not good enough John. Average tools for average work.

[Wet_Boots]

Install the WATER MEISTER! Hottest fantasy controller on the market!Being responsible, at least in part, for the MEISTER portion of some pigtail seller's ID, I expect a royalty payment. payup

[Mike Leary]

Being responsible, at least in part, for the MEISTER portion of some pigtail seller's ID, I expect a royalty payment. payup

Manure is in the mail.

[JDiepstra]

Great article. Every municipality should read it. I get ticked off cause the cities around here all love to run their sprinklers while it is raining.

[DanaMac]

I believe they may all (or most) be on central control systems where they operate them from the office. When the city was subbing to me for the low income housing properties, they were changing most of those out to central control and flow sensors. I think the parks are this way for a lot of them, but I could be wrong.

[FIMCO-MEISTER]

Being responsible, at least in part, for the MEISTER portion of some pigtail seller's ID, I expect a royalty payment. payup

I'll dump the Meister before I send one red cent.:drinkup:

[Wet_Boots]

No one appreciates true creativity :cry:

[EagleLandscape]

Not good enough John. Average tools for average work.

If all that is happening is; is some Parks & Rec guy pressing the on/off button when water falls from the sky, I highly disagree categorizing that as the "right tool" something as simple as a 24-72 hour rain delay function on a clock with a rain sensor would do the same thing.

Joe Suspenders doesnt know the first thing about available soil water capacity and how to relate that to the plants...

Now agreed if something along the lines of CalSense or SL was installed, we would be getting somewhere.

These municipalities are the same ones watering 3x a week 15mins a station regardless of whether its 95* or 65* degrees... thats where the real waste of water is.

I've seen first hand how central control systems with the "city irrigator" is crapola. The guy that ran all 300 irrigated acres at Texas A&M had central control. they wasted more water than a 5yr old with a garden hose on a hot summer saturday. This guy would literally be watering all of the time in the rain, flooding the lawns, it was unreal. Not to mention the already huge problem we have the high Na and Cl in the water, this one guy pretty much single-handedly destroyed the quality of the plants on campus. Every irrigated area was so flocculated it wasnt even funny. Not to mention drowning the campus in that high pH water added to complications by introducing tons of availability on the minerals in the high pH range. it was a disgrace to a campus that prides itself on agriculture.

[bicmudpuppy]

Generally I will agree here. It takes much time and effort to dial in a system. Sadly, I don't think 95% of the irrigators out there really understand how much it does take.

Realizing you don't actually have the system "dialed in" is humbling. May has been HOT. Seasonal averages should have had us below 80 and we've been flirting with 90's. I had almost an inch of rain last week and the system shut down for 4 days. I started things back up, but scaled back, only to find that I didn't scale things back enough after one full cycle. With highs in the low 70's, I didn't make near the correction I should have from near 90's. On the flip side, I am constantly hearing that the property is in the best shape it has ever been in. Nobody can believe that 70+% of the irrigated property is only being watered every third day. Those that have gone before never skipped more than one day between waterings and once the temps came up, they watered EVERY day. That the lower maintenance areas started out on a 5 day interval is way beyond their comprehension levels. The best part is that the computer is now programed to work "my" way, and I don't think they could find anyone who could understand what I have done for less than twice what my check looks like. They would probably have to call the sales rep and load the backup of what it looked like before me, and then go back to watering daily and hitting hot spots with the remote every day. We've only had the hoses out once so far, and that was when those 90 degree days caught me by surprise. Oh, and yes, that was me on my own horn with a LOT of wind :) :weightlifter:

[FIMCO-MEISTER]

If all that is happening is; is some Parks & Rec guy pressing the on/off button when water falls from the sky, I highly disagree categorizing that as the "right tool" something as simple as a 24-72 hour rain delay function on a clock with a rain sensor would do the same thing.

Joe Suspenders doesnt know the first thing about available soil water capacity and how to relate that to the plants...

Now agreed if something along the lines of CalSense or SL was installed, we would be getting somewhere.

These municipalities are the same ones watering 3x a week 15mins a station regardless of whether its 95* or 65* degrees... thats where the real waste of water is.

I've seen first hand how central control systems with the "city irrigator" is crapola. The guy that ran all 300 irrigated acres at Texas A&M had central control. they wasted more water than a 5yr old with a garden hose on a hot summer saturday. This guy would literally be watering all of the time in the rain, flooding the lawns, it was unreal. Not to mention the already huge problem we have the high Na and Cl in the water, this one guy pretty much single-handedly destroyed the quality of the plants on campus. Every irrigated area was so flocculated it wasnt even funny. Not to mention drowning the campus in that high pH water added to complications by introducing tons of availability on the minerals in the high pH range. it was a disgrace to a campus that prides itself on agriculture.

Not sure how a r/f sensor would have made much difference. INCOMPETENCE IS INCOMPETENCE IS INCOMPETENCE. On a property like TAMU you are going to have to run it with a central control.

I can think of at least 10 guys on this forum that would have avoided the paragraph you just wrote. I wonder if the person managing the irrigation is doing that and nothing else?

My point is that in todays water climate just putting in a R/f sensor with a delay is okay but just an avg job at management. Water management can go way beyond a R/F sensor. If we accept that as great water management we do ourselves a huge disservice.

[Kiril]

Realizing you don't actually have the system "dialed in" is humbling. May has been HOT. Seasonal averages should have had us below 80 and we've been flirting with 90's. I had almost an inch of rain last week and the system shut down for 4 days. I started things back up, but scaled back, only to find that I didn't scale things back enough after one full cycle. With highs in the low 70's, I didn't make near the correction I should have from near 90's. On the flip side, I am constantly hearing that the property is in the best shape it has ever been in. Nobody can believe that 70+% of the irrigated property is only being watered every third day. Those that have gone before never skipped more than one day between waterings and once the temps came up, they watered EVERY day. That the lower maintenance areas started out on a 5 day interval is way beyond their comprehension levels. The best part is that the computer is now programed to work "my" way, and I don't think they could find anyone who could understand what I have done for less than twice what my check looks like. They would probably have to call the sales rep and load the backup of what it looked like before me, and then go back to watering daily and hitting hot spots with the remote every day. We've only had the hoses out once so far, and that was when those 90 degree days caught me by surprise. Oh, and yes, that was me on my own horn with a LOT of wind :) :weightlifter:

Right on Bic. Amazing what soil with some oxygen, organic matter, and the right amount of water can do for your plants & turf. Sounds like you are well on your way to your goal. :clapping:

[EagleLandscape]

Not sure how a r/f sensor would have made much difference. INCOMPETENCE IS INCOMPETENCE IS INCOMPETENCE. On a property like TAMU you are going to have to run it with a central control.

I can think of at least 10 guys on this forum that would have avoided the paragraph you just wrote. I wonder if the person managing the irrigation is doing that and nothing else?

My point is that in todays water climate just putting in a R/f sensor with a delay is okay but just an avg job at management. Water management can go way beyond a R/F sensor. If we accept that as great water management we do ourselves a huge disservice.
If active hands on management, from someone like you, me, Kiril, or ML was watching this deal, calculating and taking into consideration ET, then yes. It's super valuable.

I am sure that is not the case in the article that was posted. problably some guy with an on off switch acting like a pseudo - smart RF sensor.

Hands on system, with ET capabilities is the best in my opinion.

Just hands on, or just ET controller still has room to improve.

[Mike Leary]

On a property like TAMU you are going to have to run it with a central control.

Like John says, Central is not the cure-all. We've done service work for a large chain that had Maxi in all their locations, run by a company in Portland. All they could do was monitor flow; the plants either died of thirst or drowned. The chain finally got rid of Maxi and went to stand-alones with local techs doing the programming; worked much, much better. Not only did the plants and turf do well, but in one year, we saved them thousands of dollars in water bills.

[WalkGood]

Generally I will agree here. It takes much time and effort to dial in a system. Sadly, I don't think 95% of the irrigators out there really understand how much it does take.

More than 95% of customers do not want to spend the extra money.

"Hey the grass is green and my flowers are blooming....."

[Mike Leary]

More than 95% of customers do not want to spend the extra money.

If you can prove you can save on water and power bills, they'll come around.

[Kiril]

If you can prove you can save on water and power bills, they'll come around.

Not to mention ferts and chems. When people start paying through the nose for water .... and that is not far off, they won't even blink at what it costs.

[WalkGood]

If you can prove you can save on water and power bills, they'll come around.

Part of that (water) is very locality specific. Water here is kinda cheap and so far plentiful. Electric is high here, but most people are NOT on wells/pumps.