What’s the Cost of a Broken Sprinkler Head?

Life is busy so we automate as much as we can. You set a schedule so that you know your landscaping will continuing looking healthy even if your week’s double booked. Then you open your water bill and it’s double, triple, maybe even quadruple what it was last month. We’ve all been there.

The likely culprit is a broken sprinkler head. The average flow rate of a broken sprinkler head is 15 gallons per minute. That means if you run each zone for 10 minutes and you have a broken head you’re losing 150 gallons of water. If you run each zone for 30 minutes you are losing 450 gallons of water. That’s just one broken head on one zone.

All of this adds up to a huge water bill you weren’t expecting. A simple way to prevent this expensive issue is to visually check your zones once a month. Most systems have a test feature that will allow you to quickly run through all zones to check for issues.This allows you to detect any broken heads, leaks, stopped up nozzles, or any other problems that could be causing your system to be less efficient that it should be.

Another option is to add a flow meter that monitors your average flow rate and notifies you when the flow rate is significantly different.

Easy tips to keep your system running at peak performance

  • Visually check your system at least once a month, checking for broken sprinkler heads and your spray pattern.
  • As the temperature cools off you can reduce your sprinkler run times. Start with 5 minutes less per zone and see how your lawn looks.
  • With winter approaching, remember to cover all exposed piping to protect it from freezing.
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