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Water Usage

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cmslll

Active Member

Posts: 5

Location: USA

1

Sunday, May 13th 2007, 5:30pm

Water Usage

Ok folks I need some help. My water bill runs anywhere from 18,000 to 30,000 gallons per month when I use the sprinkler system.[V] I think my city water meter is not metering correctly, but I cant prove it. I have a 2 inch meter, which is odd for a residence, but the house is old and no one knows when it was installed. I had the sprinkler co. that installed the system several years ago to check the whole system for any problems any they found none, and stated that each zone could only use 30 to 35 gpm max. Ever time I run them, and I have checked close, they use between 50 and 65 gpm per zone. The city says there is nothing wrong with my meter and will not replace it. Could my sprinklers be using this much????? Is there any way I can check the meter to see if it is metering right??? I have only lived in the house for about a year so I dont know much about what went on before I got here. Any help or advice would be greatly appreacited.

jmduke7

Advanced Member

Posts: 158

Location: FT. Walton Beach, Florida

2

Sunday, May 13th 2007, 5:42pm

There are several ways to check to see if your meter is accurate. One of the easiest and least expensive would be to calculate your consumption based on the nozzles in each head and the number of heads per zone. You can do this by flagging (or some other marking device) each head as you manually turn on a zone. Once you have flagged the heads turn off the zone and copy down the nozzle size and refer to the manufacturers web site to determine its flow rates. Add up all the rates and then reference it with your meter over a certain time frame.

One of the other ways to check your meter is to either hire a certified plumber or to install a flow device / meter. But as you may can easily guess, they will both cost allot!
Josh
Irrigation /Landscape Lighting / Pump and Well Specialist

cmslll

Active Member

Posts: 5

Location: USA

3

Sunday, May 13th 2007, 5:53pm


Thanks jmduke7, I had the sprinkler guys tell me what the max flow for each head on each zone was and they said that 30 to 35 gpm was the max flow total on any zone at one time. I checked them one by one and according to the meter they were flowing 50 to 65 gpm per zone and since the sprinkler pro said they could only do 30 to 35 I begin to suspect the meter.

jmduke7

Advanced Member

Posts: 158

Location: FT. Walton Beach, Florida

4

Sunday, May 13th 2007, 6:46pm

In my area it is not real common to see a 2" meter on a residential job, so I am to assume it is a large system. 50 to 65 gpm on a 2" meter is not uncommon, so I am a little confused at to why they told you a maximum of 30-35 gpm. Maybe there was some sort of confusion on their part.

Best of Luck!
Josh
Irrigation /Landscape Lighting / Pump and Well Specialist

HooKooDooKu

Supreme Member

Posts: 683

5

Monday, May 14th 2007, 9:05am

Does this water meter feed the whole house or is it strictly for the irrigation.

If it's for the whole house, why not try a direct measurement with a garden hose? Find any large thing that you know the size of (5 gallon bucket, 25 gallon trash can, etc). Since you think the meter might be off by as much as double, it should be easy see if it's even close.

If it's not feeding the whole house, is there some way to rig a part of it up for a direct measurement? For example, do you have a manifold designed for expansion that you could expand to add a hose spicket and again measure directly?

cmslll

Active Member

Posts: 5

Location: USA

6

Monday, May 14th 2007, 5:59pm

The meter feeds the whole house and the sprinkler system. I have measured it thru the house by filling a gallon jug in 30 seconds and timing it and reading the meter for 20 minutes and it read exactly 40 gallons but I was wondering even though it reads right at low volume is it possible to be off at high volume with the sprinkler system on if it could over meter?????

Tom

Supreme Member

Posts: 306

7

Tuesday, May 15th 2007, 3:55am

you mentioned your sprinkler guy said the max flow is 30 to 35 gpm. As pressure increases there is more flow thru every sprinkler head. Its possible that you have very high pressure creating your high gpm usage. Have you measured the pressure?

cmslll

Active Member

Posts: 5

Location: USA

8

Tuesday, May 15th 2007, 6:47am

Because of the 2" meter and pressure, I measured it @ 75psi I think that 60 to 65 gpm is being forced through the heads.
To solve the problem can I install a flow control to reduce the flow or could I just water for a much shorter peroid of time?????? [:D]

Tom

Supreme Member

Posts: 306

9

Tuesday, May 15th 2007, 10:12am

If your getting even coverage with the existing setup, by all means just reduce the runtimes.

how long are you watering your spray zones? and/or rotor zones?

With your high water usage you could benefit from an irrigation audit which would measure the actual application rate for each zone. With that info you could set your timer up for the correct runtimes. There may be a company in your area that offers the service.


Or, you could set out some cans (tuna cans will work well) and measure how much water accumulates in them over a given time(say 10 minutes). With that info you can set your timer up correctly.




jmduke7

Advanced Member

Posts: 158

Location: FT. Walton Beach, Florida

10

Tuesday, May 15th 2007, 1:58pm

Good idea and good post Tom! I agree, I really don't think at this point your meter is wrong. I just think you need to control your watering cycles. One way to do this is to consider an ET based system. ET based systems record weather conditions today, and automatically adjust the watering requirement on the next day to accommodate for any loss in evaporation and transpiration (hence... ET).
Josh
Irrigation /Landscape Lighting / Pump and Well Specialist
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