4 Mistakes You’re Making With Your Residential Sprinkler System

If you had a sprinkler system installed, you have no watering worries in the world, right? Just sit back and relax while the gentle spray does all the work.

Well, not exactly. You’d be surprised how a few common sprinkler system mistakes can waste water and cost you money. July is “Smart Irrigation Month”, a perfect time to review your irrigation habits.

The good news is, these four common residential sprinkler system mistakes are totally preventable. Take a look.

Watering When Your Lawn Doesn’t Need It

Have you ever seen a residential lawn sprinkler system steadily watering away — in the rain? Or maybe just after a downpour? We’ve seen it happen, too. That ends up being a lot of wasted water, especially when you consider residential outdoor water use in the United States accounts for more than 9 billion gallons of water each day, mainly for landscape irrigation.

The answer: Smart irrigation controllers. Instead of just turning on based on what time of day it is, these brainy controllers use local weather and landscape conditions to tailor watering schedules to actual conditions in your landscape.

They automatically adjust for changes in weather and seasonality, using as little water as possible while keeping your landscape looking its best. Neave Irrigation is an authorized installer of Rachio, the smart irrigation device that gives you control of your sprinklers and watering bill, right from your smartphone. Rachio controllers save most users over 30% on outdoor water usage when compared to standard controllers.

No more wasted water. Smart.

Lack Of Maintenance

It’s easy to assume your sprinkler system will keep chugging away as efficiently as the day it was installed, but even the best systems need regular maintenance.

Tall grass or plants around sprinkler heads can block the spray and prevent water from reaching your lawn or other plants. Lawn mowers and foot traffic can damage parts. Dirt, small rocks or other debris can occasionally clog sprinkler heads.

You might assume your system is efficiently watering away, but many systems are watering before you are awake in the morning.  You will not find out that  it’s really missing spots, watering erratically or not functioning at all until it’s too late. Regular maintenance by a professional will make sure your system is working at its best all season long.

Poor Targeting

It’s part art, part science to make sure each sprinkler’s spray reaches the next sprinkler head — we call that head-to-head coverage in the business. That’s the goal for even, efficient watering.

Dry spots from uneven water distribution will turn brown and die, or you will have wet spots in order to overcompensate for the dry areas, and too much overspray onto undesired surfaces or areas wastes valuable water. Watering your driveway, patio or paths doesn’t help anything and just wastes water.

A properly adjusted sprinkler head should spray large droplets of water, not a fine mist, to minimize evaporation and wind drift.

At Neave Irrigation, we take extra care to eliminate dead zones, where precipitation falls on concrete or other hardscape, to maximize the water you use. Our design team will ensure that your sprinkler system distributes water perfectly, only where you want it.

Passing Up An Irrigation Audit

If somebody offered to visit your property and show you how to save money by watering as efficiently as possible, would you take them up on it?

That’s just what the pros at Neave Irrigation offer with a professional irrigation audit. Neave Irrigation can inspect your irrigation system to measure its water efficiency and performance.

This allows us to identify problem areas that are draining your landscape and finances of precious resources. For example, hoses and manual sprinkler heads often end up creating flooded areas because they are forgotten about. Then plants and grass suffer.

Another irrigation mistake our experts commonly spot during an audit is putting different plant types on same watering zone as well as putting different types of sprinkler heads (such as rotary and spray or drip) on same zones. All zones should have the same type of watering mechanism along with plants that share similar watering needs — not mixed. This can lead to water waste and over-watering.

Chances are, innovative new products have arrived on the market since you had your irrigation system installed that can make your system even more efficient. The experts at Neave Irrigation can upgrade your system with advanced nozzles, heads and smart clocks that weren’t available before.

Our irrigation audit inspection ensures your landscape has head-to-head coverage, smarter timing and the proper nozzles in place. If you want to improve your watering efficiency, Neave Irrigation experts will show you how. Want to schedule an audit? We’d love to hear from you.

Leave The Watering To Neave

One of the simplest ways to irrigate smarter and more efficiently while avoiding mistakes is to let the professionals handle it.

The experienced pros at Neave Irrigation can help you devise a smart irrigation system for your landscape. Starting a landscape from scratch? The rest of the Neave Group Outdoor Solutions team can design, build and help you maintain a landscape that works together harmoniously with your water supply.

Neave Irrigation offers customized automatic sprinkler systems that will keep your lawn and landscape healthy and well watered, while using water as efficiently as possible.

Neave specialists aren’t just experts on sprinklers. They’re trained to know the irrigation needs of various plant life so they can offer the best possible advice. Neave Irrigation has Certified and Licensed professionals on staff.

The best way to celebrate SMART Irrigation Month is to give us a call. If you’re in the Hudson Valley, call us at (845) 463-0592. If you’re in Westchester County, call (914) 271-7996; from Connecticut, dial (203) 212-4800. Or, fill out our simple web form, and we’ll contact you about setting up your free consultation.

Image: Wet grass