Tips on Setting Your Timer Correctly
Setting your irrigation timer can be a nightmare and it's one of the biggest reasons people over or under water their landscapes. It's no wonder it happens when you look at just how many choices of irrigation timers are on the market... every single one of them with some new bells and whistles or "feature" that you just can't live without. But here is the big secret to remember...
They all do EXACTLY the same thing.
Yes... every single irrigation timer on the market does exactly the same thing. Sure they all have different added "features", and if you're so inclined to learn and use them, that's great... but at the end of the day they all have exactly the same function...
To turn on your sprinklers on a specific day of the week, at a specific time of the day, for a specific amount of time.
How long you water and how often is entirely up to you. Most timers sold over the last 10 years will give you all the flexibility you need to properly irrigate your landscape. Here are a couple of things to remember:
- Make sure that the date (or at least the day of the week) and time are set correctly
- Stations or "Zones" turn on specific areas of your landscape. Know where these are.
- Most timers have at least an "A" and a "B" program. Newer timers will have several more.
- You will have to create a "program" to tell your timer what to do. You have to ask yourself: What stations or "Zones" do I want to turn on? How long do I want those stations or "Zones" to run for? What time do I want them to turn on? And on what days do I want that program to run?
- All of the stations you have programmed to come on within that program will come on for how you set them. If for instance you would like station or "Zone" 1 to come on at 10:00 am on Saturday but you want station or "Zone" 2 to water at 7:00 pm on Friday you will have to create a different program.
It's a simple thing that can be very complicated. The biggest tip I can give you is that once you think you've programmed how you want it to water, reprogram the time on the clock (usually fairly easy to do) to 1 minute before it's supposed to come on. Then stand back and countdown to find out if you've been successful or if there's something you may have missed.
If all else fails give us a call or book an appointement online for one of our Irrigation Professionals to come out and take care of it for you!
