Business is Good––But It’s Not All Our Fault

We try to do the best we can.  But, as far as I know, no one else in the area does what we do. We don’t install sprinkler systems.  We don’t mow grass.  We don’t do landscaping.  We don’t spray weeds. 

All we do is repair and upgrade sprinkler systems.

And we think we know why that’s important. 

Installing a sprinkler system is pretty simple after you do it a couple hundred times.  Everything is under the installer’s control.  S/he plans the system, digs the trenches, connects the pipes, plumbs the heads, runs the wires and connects them to the controller mounted in the garage.  Before s/he covers everything up, the workers compare what they sees on the ground to the plan.  

Put another way, if you have workers that understand how to put all the pieces together and how to run a trencher, then the most important piece in the puzzle is the sprinkler Plan.  If the Plan is engineered correctly and the workers did what they were supposed to do, voilà!, it’s done.

––––

Please, now, consider repair.  Everything’s been running fine for years until . . .

Zone three quit working.  (If you are picturing what I have in my mind, the skill difference between someone who installs a sprinkler system and someone who repairs one, is evident and huge.)  There is nothing visual to indicate 1. that zone three has quit working or 2. that this yard even has a sprinkler system! 

Who are you going to call?  Here’s your choices: 1. The landscaper/irrigator/mower/jack-of-all-trades person who charges by the hour, or, 2. the one who does sprinkler repair only and guarantees his price and gets your okay before he ever starts the job?

If you chose the sprinkler repair specialist with the guaranteed up-front price, may I respectfully submit Rainstat Irrigation as your provider? 

Please call Drew at 254.829.3800 to schedule a free, no-obligation an up-front quote that we call a Promise.

Are We Running Out of Water?

You can hardly move around in this world without hearing about the water crisis.  "In the 20th century, we went to war over oil.  In the 21st century, we will go to war over water."  Really?  Before we go further, know that I'm biased.  I believe that governments and news media have a propensity to attempt to keep everyone scared.   It's like everyone graduated from the Chicken Little School of Outlook.  I am reading this book, Unquenchable - America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It, with my own set of filters that are ready to reject Robert Glennon's premise out of hand.

So why are we "running out" of water, and why should we care?   We have exactly the same amount of water today that we did at creation.  Remember Einstein's "matter is neither created nor destroyed"?  What then, is the problem?

First, we have more people.  

Second, we are fouling our own nests by our cavalier handling of fresh water.   Most of our water is saline and, therefore, undrinkable.  A look at our surface fresh water is telling.  The Great Lakes own 95% of fresh water in the US.  It would be an understatement to say these lakes are big.  But, if you want to see what can happen when you mix big bodies of water with bad decisions, all you have to do is look at the former USSR and the Aral Sea.  This was the world's fourth-largest inland body of water.  Today, it has lost 90% of it's water.  It all started by diverting fresh water that flowed into it for "good" but short-sighted purposes.  

If we continue to write checks without deposits to at least equal the withdrawals, we end up with no money.   All of life needs water to continue living.  We will run out, however, if we use too much.  We can't supply more water, so the role of the steward is becoming more important.  

We see a small role here.  

We believe we can help ensure that the the water you use is not wasted. 

Thanks for your interest.  More and more, I believe this is going to be of interest to us all.

Doug Saylor

P.S. I've changed my title here to CWS, Chief Water Steward.  I'm taking this seriously. 

Home Owners' Associations Wasting Water?

Home Owners' Associations may be wasting a lot of money on their water bill. Why? Because they are set up to be the perfect water wasting machine. Everyone in the Association pays into the the fund that pays the water bill.

The one that pays the water bill has nothing to compare to, so the bill gets paid as a "normal" expense. So the sprinkler system runs during the rain, (very bad for PR, but not that big an impact on the bill), waters the same amount whether it needs it or not, and has been shown to be watering up to 100% too much.

The HOA scenario is exactly the same as just about every sprinkler system around with one huge difference. Some Home Owners' Associations are paying tens of thousands of dollars in water bills.

A Rainstat Controller could be saving that Association from 20% to 50% of that expense. We're talking about some real money here that could be spent on other areas or used to reduce fees or offset future increases . . .

We are in the process of preparing proposals for some Waco HOAs with very aggressive pricing. We want to make a point that the old, dumb controllers need to go away. They require you to make decisions you aren't equipped to make.

Dumb controllers require you to convert your "inches of rain" thoughts into "days and minutes" actions. You have all the weather information you need--probably on your cell phone. But how on earth do you translate that into the language your dumb controller speaks?

If you do get it figured out, it goes out of date the next time the weather changes.

A Rainstat Smart Controller replaces just the water your plants use and reprograms itself every day! So it becomes impossible to waste water through over-watering or runoff.

Are you a member of a Home Owners' Association? Do you know of a Home Owners' Association that waters large areas of common area grass? Tell them to call us for a Value Proposal that reflects an actual Return on Investment. It's free.

Call Drew at 254.829.3800 or Doug at 254.744.1724 to schedule a site visit.

The New Cost of a Sprinkler System-Count Your Zones

Perhaps you have just moved into a home that does not have a sprinkler system, or you're building a new home. Maybe you've read that the addition of a sprinkler system is smart, both from a resale standpoint and as a necessary convenience. So you call around to get some prices from a few companies. (In case you didn't know, Rainstat rarely installs a sprinkler system. We just repair and upgrade them.) Do you go with the lowest? How about the highest? How do you know?

The cost of a sprinkler system is normally thought of as the initial cost--the cost to get it installed. But, how much does it cost to operate? We believe you need to consider operating costs because it is inevitable that costs are going to go up. Maybe a lot.

What factors do you consider when you are trying to determine how much it costs to operate your new or existing system? The process of calculating your system's precipitation rate, a water audit, (some cities that are running out of water are requiring it. Not here, thankfully.) is more complicated than we want to go into here. It can be calculated if you know each head's flow and distance or by literally placing tuna cans all over your yard and measuring the water in the cans over a set amount of time. Call this the Left Brain approach.

Your sprinkler controller, aka "clock" or "the box on the wall," turns your sprinkler system on and turns it off. That's it. Simple. But the decision of how long it stays on for each zone is the critical factor in your operating costs. How is your system broken up into separate, distinct zones? Do you water the shady part of your yard on the same zone you water the sunny part? The shady part needs less water. Is there any way for you to let that part run less than the sunny part? If not, you have a decision to make, "Do I water log the shady part or starve the sunny part?"

These areas are called "hydrozones." And the more accurately you group similar plant materials, shade and slopes, the more efficient you can be--which normally means more is better. But here's the rub.

Your irrigation contractor wants you to have the absolute best system money can buy, but he knows you don't know how to judge that. He also wants you to choose him and knows that his competitor is also bidding this system. So he compromises. He designs your system by covering the area with as few zones as your water supply will allow. Lower price now, higher price every month after that, forever.

What's the difference in price? Easily double--or more! Will you recoup that? Yes, but it can take some time--or maybe not. That's your call.

The bottom line is this: Every new sprinkler system MUST have a scale drawing that shows each head and each zone's area. Under the new rules that went into effect in 2009 it MUST also show every major tree (shade) and hardscape (sun exposure). Look at the plans. Did the irrigator divide your zones by hydrozones? If s/he did, it is probably more expensive initially and cheaper to run.

Now you can get that calculator out and engage your left brain again. Happy calculating!

P.S. If you want to really save water, let us install our smart controller and weather station. It programs itself every day so no water is wasted. Ever.

Thanks for reading!

September, The Foothills of Winter

September is when the weather breaks. Usually. It's a "transitional period" sprinkler-wise. And, it's one of the most water-wasting times for sprinkler system owners and managers because it is still summer and summer schedules seem to be sticky.

Here's the averages you need to start with: The average rainfall for Waco in September is 3". The need for water as expressed in the evapotranspiration (ET) rate is 5.7". So you need to replace 2.7 inches for the month. The reality of it though is the 2.7" needs to be weighted toward the first half of the month when, like today, Labor Day, it is supposed to be in the upper 90s.

So, if you don't yet have a Rainstat Controller (it makes your adjustments for exact water savings every day), please pay attention to your sprinkler's schedule and make the transitional adjustments.

Specifically, I'd stay with my August need of 5.7" until we start seeing some high temperatures in the mid 80s with cool nights. Then I'd drop the schedule to 25% of the August run-times.

Is all this Greek? Call me at 254.829.3800. It all has to do with conserving water (and saving you money) while keeping your landscape vibrant and healthy. The Rainstat Controller is a "Green" or "Smart" controller. It's like a thermostat for your yard.(sm)

Thanks for reading,
Doug

More help on our web site

The Rainstat Controller and Weather Station solves the problem of scheduling your sprinkler system for water savings and a beautiful landscape. But what if you don't want to spend $1k to avail yourself of this new device?

Answer: Program your controller to cooperate with the weather. You may have discovered that your weather man talks about "inches of rain" while your controller talks about "minutes of run-time." What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Please stay tuned. We are in the process of writing a free white paper on programing your controller correctly and continuously in conjunction with a redesign of our web site.

More later . . .

If you don't want to jump through these hoops, get a Rainstat Controller. It's like a thermostat for your yard.

How Long Should You Water In July and August?

Here's a rule of thumb: July and August call for 1.5 inches in addition to our normal rainfall (which is usually pretty-much nil) in the Waco area. But your sprinkler controller thinks in time not inches. So let's convert inches to time so you can better manage your sprinkler system and your water usage.

Rotors, the heads that shoot a stream of water and the head rotates, precipitate at about .5 inches per hour. That means it takes a whopping 3 hours a week to lay down 1.5 inches of precipitation! There always seems to be a trade-off between buying water and having a beautiful stand of grass. You will make you own decision on expenses, but 3 hours for rotors is the ticket to beautiful grass during our hot summers.

Sprays, the heads that shoot water in all directions at once, precipitate at 3 times as much as Rotors. They only need to run for an hour per week to get the same 1.5 inches of precipitation.

How often? The Waco area generally has very heavy clay soil. If you run your system for too long, it just creates runoff and wastes water. Try 3 times a week at 1 hour each for Rotors and 20 minutes for sprays. If you still have runoff, cut your time in half and double your days. For example set your controller for 30 minutes for rotors and 10 minutes for sprays and run it every day but, say, Sunday.

Your grass will thank you and your checking account will wonder what happened.

Remember to change it again when the weather breaks in September.

If you don't want to constantly tweak your sprinkler's controller but want green grass and as low a water bill as possible, consider our Rainstat Controller and Weather Station. It's not for everyone but you can check it out at our site. It's like a thermostat for your yard. You set it once and forget it.

Questions? Call any time. 829-3800.