Question about Irrigation Bill usage
 

Hello,
This is my first post, and I hope I'm doing it correctly.

I have been watching my water bill from Minnesota, and the last several months the usage has really jumped compared to last year. We've had our home watch guy check the lawn, and there are no soggy areas. The irrigation has been turned off for the last month due to all the rains. A call to the CDD said this is normal. Does it look normal to you? If not, what is our next step?

Thanks for any ideas, or thoughts you have on our bill.

Cheryl & Richard

Diaphragm problem on one of your shutoff solenoids? Are the areas around the sprinkler heads wet?

My irrigation uses close to 1,000 gals every time it runs. If my bill showed the 8,750gal usage that yours does I would assume it ran twice a week for four weeks: eight times for 8,000gals.

You write that the irrigation is turned off - the bill appears to show otherwise.

OP, IMHO, you need to contact an irrigation specialist and have your entire system checked. I have had my Hunter control change ALL of the settings apparently on its own, I also somehow had enabled the A, and then B, C and D programs causing lots of water usage. A specialist should be able to determine exactly what is going on.

Is it just shut off at the box in your garage, or at the box in the ground? If just the box in the garage, it sounds like you have a leak somewhere.

Or your neighbor turned it back on and pointed all of the sprinklers toward his lawn :)

I don’t have separate irrigation, but I imagine it has meter box? If so you should be able to cut irrigation off look see it meter still shows movement. If not you have no leaks from meter to shut off valve. Now with valve turn on watch meter reading see if the numbers are going up? If so you have leak from shut off valve out to yard some where? I would at least try to isolate it. I don’t know how the charge for irrigation water? Maybe their minimum charge whether use it or not?

He is in Minnesota…………….

We had similar problem and had all valves replaced and stopcock put in irrigation line (already had one for inside water) so we can "properly" turn off the irrigation, rather than just at the timer.

our home watch guy check the lawn, and there are no soggy areas“

Have the home watch guy do it or get someone?

Irrigation Usage
 

Even with all the rains, a well-maintained irrigation system & new rain sensor, our irrigation bill increased 77% over last month. I've contacted the community district and asked them to come back out to read again. No reason for the increase!
Ernie & Lee Ann

Looks a bit low and normal unless it has been turned off.

Here is my usage chart from last month. I live here all the time in a Courtyard Villa. I think my sprinkler system is on twice a week for ten minutes in the back and three times a week for ten minutes in the front.

Two years ago I lived in a home in The Villages with a larger yard and a pool. My water usage was around 12,000 to 14,000 gallons a month. My first month in my Courtyard Villa, my irrigation was 38,000 gallons! Turned out a pipe was completely broken off and running without restriction whenever the irrigation was running—which was daily for a half hour. And the water was coming out on the neighbor’s property.

When installed it's programmed by that company. Typically there is a feature that has seasonal as part of the setup. Of season in this mode it is set to run 1 time per week then in warmer months it is twice per week. You can easily check the watering days now and it is likely 2 or even 3 days a week. You can turn off the seasonal function on your own.

i need to have my how is good in the villages

We had a leak under ground in the pipe between 2 heads. We only discovered it when our bill was high, although it was shut off, and we did a really thorough exam.

Village Tinker always gives the best advice. Have a pro give it a go