Saving Water with LawnCheck

LawnCheck makes it easy and convenient to create and maintain an optimized watering schedule that lets you eliminate wasteful and expensive over-watering. The following four methods enable you to measurably cut your water use while preserving and enhancing your landscape:

• Monthly/Seasonal Control     (20% to 30% Potential Savings)
• Weather Dependent Control     (5% to 15% Potential Savings)
• Incremental Time-On Control     (5% to 15% Potential Savings)
• Split Cycles              (0% to 20% Potential Savings)

Monthly/Seasonal Control

When you setup your watering program within LawnCheck, you can apply the schedule on a monthly basis. LawnCheck lets you to scale the application of water on a percentage basis for every month of the year giving you monthly control from 100% to 0% of your schedule.

Many automated timers are set to apply water so that a landscape won't be damaged during the hot summer months. This results in over-watering during the spring and fall. So if June, July, August are your hottest months, you can specify 100% application during those months. For April, May, and then September, you can specify 75% of the application, thus automatically scaling back on a seasonal basis. For year around scheduling, you can shut water off completely in the months that you don’t want to irrigate.

Weather Dependency

Seasonal control allows cycles to be automatically modified monthly to match irrigation need based on average seasonal need. While total output has been reduced, over-watering is still possible due to the need to protect landscape from extreme temperatures.

With weather dependency it is possible to turn extra cycles on if the temperature is warmer than expected and turn cycles off completely if the temperature is cooler than expected. This allows main program settings to be reduced to that needed to cover average irrigation needs instead of extreme irrigation needs. If more extreme weather arrives supplemental cycles will automatically cover the extra need. Cycles can also be stopped in the event of precipitation.

Weather dependent control allows your irrigation program to be matched to the currently occurring weather pattern. It allows you to apply less water in cooler weather and more in warmer weather. The average effect is to reduce water used by 5% to 15%. The savings are a result of reduced application in cooler weather and reduced application in seasonally expected weather. In hot weather, application may be increased. The actual amount of savings provided by weather dependency will vary based on current weather cycles and the amount of over-watering currently programmed into the controller.

Incremental Time Control

How much water does your landscape need? Could you be over-watering because your present timer-box limits your choice of watering times?

Most timer boxes provide water-on settings in increments of 5 or 10 minutes. But with LawnCheck, you can select watering times to the minute. For example, if you are currently applying water for 10 minutes, with LawnCheck you could try 8 minutes and cut your water usage by 20% without harming your landscape. This 20% savings adds up over time, plus you will also be able to combine this technique with the others listed for increased savings.

Split Cycles or Cycle/Soak

In some situations the landscape can't absorb water as fast as an automated irrigation system can apply it. When this happens water that is not absorbed runs off of the landscape, sometimes straight into a storm drain. This "run off" water is a total waste of water. Runoff can be effectively reduced or eliminated by "splitting" a program into multiple cycles each separated by an intervening period of delay. This technique gives the landscape a chance to absorb all of the water that is applied and lets water soak down deep into plant roots.

LawnCheck has a feature called "Multi-Cycle" that provides cycle splitting easily with one mouse click. LawnCheck's Multi-Cycle feature can divide a program into 2 or 3 cycles each with an adjustable intervening delay. With five independent programs, each Multi-Cycle capable, LawnCheck makes it easy to save water by eliminating runoff.

Each of these water saving methods compound to provide substantial savings. LawnCheck provides the capabilities to easily implement these techniques to ensure that your landscape receives just the right amount of irrigation to help to ensure healthy growth.