When you get the water bill each month, do you ask yourself whether you’ve been overwatering your flowers? And how do you know the bill is accurate? Both questions lead into the realm of automatic systems: deploying water and accurately metering it.
Water flow meters have been around for some time, but the next generation of meters is really groundbreaking. These units combine flow, pressure measurement and data logging into one compact device. By integrating these different functions, new meters eliminate the need for interconnecting and configuring separate systems. This increases overall reliability, lowers costs and improves data resolution, resulting in the ultimate in water management.
A high-tech feature of the new water meters is the ability to download new firmware to their CPU’s from a central site, making them resistant to obsolescence. Sizes of these miracle devices range from ½ inch to two feet, making the selection of the optimum and most cost-efficient water meter easy.
Suppose you have just a finite number of plants (indoors or out) that you want to water even when you are away from home? An automatic plant watering system is just the ticket. For indoor use, you might consider a state-of-the-art self-watering system that can provide water for up to 20 plants over a 40 day period. The miracle of this system is that it runs on a nine-volt battery, and doesn’t require running water. A tank is filled with 6.5 gallons of water and then connected through tubing to each flower pot. You can program up to four different watering programs to meter out a precise amount of water each day for ten, 20, 30 or 40 days. An LED indicator tells you all systems are “OK”.
Moving outdoors, you will also want to automate the watering of your trees, shrubs, bushes and all other outdoor plants. The high-tech solution is to use a programmable water timer with a built-in solenoid valve. You hook up your irrigation system, consisting of hoses, sprinklers and drip tubes to this modern marvel and select from up to six different timed watering cycles per day. This kind of system is highly flexible, allowing each cycle to run anywhere from one minute to 23 hours. A digital programming screen allows you to set a seven-day watering schedule. A rain sensor can shut down the system on rainy days, thereby saving you needless expense.
With today’s ultra-modern watering technology, no plant in your house or yard need ever go thirsty again!