Water may seem like it will always be here, but it is a very precious natural resource. Approximately thirty percent of the United State's water usage is applied to outdoor landscapes. In times of drought or hot summer weather, water conservation is especially important. Most of us have driven by a park or commercial building and been annoyed to see sprinklers running during a cloudburst.
The state of New Jersey passed a law in 2000 that requires auto lawn sprinklers to have sensors that make them to stop working when it rains. These high-tech sensors are relatively new, having only been for several years and come in both wireless and wired versions. The New Jersey law applies to systems installed from December, 2000 and forward, but these sensors should also be added to legacy sprinkler systems.
The best systems shut down when small amounts of rain is noticed and stay off until watering is again needed. They will even compensate for the amount of rain that has fallen and provide less water to the landscape when they resume sprinkling. Thus, if there is a only a brief rain storm the system will deliver less water than if a heavy downpour takes place, and will adjust accordingly when it restarts.
Rain detection sensors typically use moisture-absorbing disks that swell when they absorb water and decompress as they dry out. This swelling and shrinking acts upon a switch in the system the controls the activation and deactivation of the lawn sprinkler systems. Lawn systems can that use conductance probes that measure how much rain has fallen. If wiring a system with sensors proves difficult because of location or other factors, the new wireless sensors offer an excellent alternative.
Thinking green is on everyone minds including: government officials, corporate managers, and everyday citizens. This has made state-of-the-art sprinkler systems with automatic sensors definitely an environmentally sound statement. The state of New Jersey recognizes that sensor technology for automatic sprinkler systems can assist its citizens in achieving measurable water conservation goals.
