Your utility bill shows how much potable water and how much irrigation water is used.
I recently received a call from the water dept. asking why my irrigation usage had doubled.
Turns out my irrigation panel had a problem and was running the system too long.

I heard some homes experienced some irrigation panel damage from the summer lightning storms.

Phyn Plus

Phyn Plus Smart Water Assistant + Shutoff | Smart home leak detector

Phyn offers two products both can only be used inside the home as they are not waterproof and require power. Neither will work for a separate irrigation system which was the original topic of this thread.

Phyn, the base model for 299.00 uses ultrasonic technology similar to Streamlabs 199.00 product.

Phyn Plus is 699.00 and is pretty high tech. The unit used a mechanical flow detector in the pipe to measure water and includes a water shut off function. It must be plumbed in.

It is similar to Flo, by Moen. Flo is cheaper but requires a subscription of about 60.00/yr.

So it comes down to what you want. Any monitor can have a wifi, remotely controlled, water shut off valve added for about 160.00 but must be plumbed in.

Does one have to have internet connection in the home while gone in order to have the system you are advocating?

Yes.

I am not advocating, just informing. I care just as much about water leaking in your house as you do about mine.

For me, with a rental, internet 365 is part of a very large home check. I use it for other things besides monitoring water for leakage such as servicing renters and protecting my asset.

Example does home watch really check the home monthly? (no). Is someone in my home, it should align with the the lease. I have got that data. A renter is coming and needs a lock code? Check.

Is my ac capacitor about to fail? It is at my fingers as well. It the ice maker stuck? The list goes on.

This one interests me. What device will inform you of that or are you just watching temp delta?

It is discussed on sense.com, community forum. You are far better of replacing this part annually or bi-annually. I would not buy a 299.00 monitor to spot a bad 12.00 cap.

Agreed ... but your message seemed to say you remotely monitored your A/C cap and was curious how you did it. I replace mine yearly and the contactor every 2 years. I always keep one of each "in stock".

Being a former utility worker that investigated consumption complaints I doubt lightning would effect a water meter in a pit unless it was a direct strike. These meters are ran on a lithium battery. They usually just stop registering or go backwards if installed the wrong way. High consumption is most likely a leak. Toilets are usually the culprit.

I had a running toilet and used 15,000 gals of water over my normal usage...I was not convinced till I had it repaired and my bill went down to normal...didn't even hear it running...it was the guest bathroom which I don't hear normally I got up and went in the kitchen in the middle of the night and heard something.

electric meter
 

Jumping in on this thread, with a electric meter question. I am a snowbird and will not be back to TV until mid-October. With most of the electric in the house turned off and plugs pulled, my bill has been for July and August 366kwh and 339kwh. Well, this month with me still up North, our bill showed 684kwh used. I compared it to last year in Sept and it was 347kwh. Had Seco read it again, and it came back to me as correct. I checked with our House Watch person and was assured nothing has changed in the house. The only thing I can assume was the AC system has been working overtime for some reason even with the same settings as previous months. Maybe a dumb question but could lightning make the meter spin?

You can see a failing cap based upon the voltage spike with the fidelity that Sense has (10,000/second). If you want Sense just to do this you are bad at math. Sense is used for other things and caps do not give that much lead time before failure.

Topspinmo,
Good Morning. I am a newbie to irrigation systems and would love to learn what you know about how long and when to run them so we are not wasting water.
Can you give us this info.
Thank You,
Phil Burt

It is your ac and the ambient temp outside.

For the calendar month of September 27 days vacant, three occupied with vampire load minimized, 2050 sq ft, stucco 82 degrees vacant 74 occupied I used a total KwH: 512.8, AC was 364.3 or 71% of total useage.

64.2KwH always on (vampire load) 12.5%. By vampire load minimized I mean TV, cables boxes, and water water softener unplugged.

I have been charged $100.00 over my normal water bill. I had my irrigation system turned off during the rainy season. They told me it might have been lighting that turned the water on. I had my system checked professionally and they said that did not happen.The water dept. checked the water meter and said it is fine. I argued with the water dept. that I never had a sign of a leak and they still made me pay. Not very nice people to deal with. B.L.