actually should be cranking back on the water. That’s really where a smart controller excels.”


WHY CLIENTS LOVE THEM When it comes to getting clients on board with making the switch, it doesn’t take much convincing. Santos says it’s hard to argue with the data if you look at the historical water use. Jundt says Conserva technicians ask customers with old controllers, “Why would you allow an outdated piece of equipment to control your water bill? Why not allow us to upgrade to a con- troller that will adjust to the current and future weather patterns?” Other water conservation efforts


Conserva Irrigation only installs smart controllers as part of their core


value proposition. Photo: Conserva Irrigation


and broken heads is the first priority before installing a smart controller,” Jundt says. “This will ensure better distribution of water and greater water savings.”


Santos says on commercial proper- ties it is more of a challenge to update an irrigation system with smart control- lers due to there typically being more than one controller and in some cases a single water meter.


“If you have a limited water supply the thing you have to be cautious of is not to overtax your system to where your smart controllers are increasing your watering but you could run into a situation where you have too much water being turned on all at the same time,” Santos says. The solution to this is finding a system where the smart controllers talk to each other, so they don’t overtax the system or where the controllers take turns and run through their cycles as quickly as possible. While it’s going to vary case by case how much water you can save with a smart controller, Santos says it’s typically 10 to 15 percent. In the cus- tomer’s mind, they might hear you’re guaranteeing 15 percent in savings, so you need to be careful to not over- promise and underdeliver.


Santos says they ask their client for three years of historical water use and average it out to give them an estimate of how much water the smart controller will use. Jundt says smart controllers


20 The Landscape Professional //July/August 2021


can reduce water usage up to 25 per- cent and even more when paired with an onsite rain sensor. “The rain sensor verifies that the property actually received rainfall and shuts the system down during and after the event for a period of time depending upon the amount of rain,” Jundt says.


Most water savings with a smart controller come in the fall. In the spring it’s easy to see when it’s time to turn up the water when you start to see stress in the landscape. However, in the fall when days get shorter, there’s less solar radiation and the amount of evapotranspiration starts to decrease. “Even though it may feel warm be- cause the temperatures are still warm, the days are getting shorter, which means we need to start cutting back on our watering,” Santos says. “That’s when it really is tough to tell that you


such as putting in drip irrigation require more labor and can take longer to recoup the costs. Smart controllers have the lowest cost and the greatest impact. “The smart controller is typically going to have the quickest payback period because it’s the one thing that you hang on the wall that’s going to impact the majority of your landscape,” Santos says. For BrightView’s customers, they like the flow sensing capabilities the most. “Just having a master valve and a flow sensor in place and having that smart controller being able to shut the system down,” Santos says. “It just seems like that drives much more ex- citement than the fact that it’s going to change its schedule on a daily basis.” “Conserva Irrigation clients love being connected to their sprinkler system through an app on their device of choice, allowing them to control and monitor the system with ease,” Jundt says. “Additionally, the water usage reports highlighting their water savings ratifies their decision to install a smart controller.” TLP


“The smart controller is typically going to have the quickest payback period because it’s the one thing that you hang on the wall that’s going to impact the majority of your landscape.”


- Eric Santos, vice president of irrigation services for BrightView Landscape Maintenance


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