Irrigation plays a crucial role in bringing water where it's needed most, and irrigation flow meters have a critical supporting part in the process.
If you're a landscaper, ballpark owner or country club maintenance manager, you're well acquainted with the need to regulate water flow to grassy areas to keep them lush and healthy. To ensure your irrigation system functions efficiently, you need an irrigation water meter to monitor your water consumption and general flow rates.
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What Is an Irrigation Water Flow Meter?
With an irrigation water meter (also called a flow sensor), irrigation is measured to determine how slowly or quickly the water is moving through the system. The meter then sends that information to an irrigation controller, which helps detect issues and conserve water. For instance, if water is at an unusually high flow rate, the flow meter signals the irrigation controller to take corrective measures to stop the water flow, sound an alarm or send an alert message.
What Are the Benefits of Water Flow Meters for Irrigation?
Irrigation metering is a vital tool in landscaping applications. Irrigation flow meters were devised to monitor water flow. The benefits of an irrigation water flow meter include:
- Reduced Energy Usage
- Better Water Conservation
- Protection of Plant Materials
- System Failure Damage Prevention
- Smart Home Irrigation Systems with Automation
What Does an Irrigation Water Flow Meter Do?
With flow sensor irrigation technology, your water flow meter can help you monitor irrigation and identify adjustments you need to make to your irrigation plan — or problems to be resolved. You'll be able to answer questions such as:
- How much water have I used since the last irrigation?
- Is the system applying the right amount of water?
- Are there any changes in flow rate during the season that I need to adjust to?
- Is the system flagging issues like clogs, leaks or other problems?
What Are the Types of Water Flow Meters?
These days, the water flow meter of choice is electronic. Electronic water meters are the way to go, with little maintenance required and consistent performance, but there are several types of water flow meters to choose from, based on the size, output and specifications of the property you're irrigating:
- Economy Water Meters: Offering more versatility for a variety of applications, economy water meters are an affordable solution to irrigation monitoring.
- PVC Water Meter: From small irrigation systems to large complex operations, PVC water meters offer a wide range of sizes, from 1/2" for residential irrigation up to 4" for irrigation farms, stadiums and country clubs.
- Magmeter/Turbine: Turbine flow meters are likely your best value for irrigation. A magmeter is a dependable highly accurate electromagnetic flowmeter which is non-intrusive, has no moving parts to wear out, is low maintenance and tolerates high flows without damage.
- Mechanical Display: This type of flow meter requires no power and features a mechanical-based display like an odometer on a classic car.
- Insertion Meters: With this type of meter, you insert a rotor and shaft into a pipe from the top. Insertion flow meters are designed for larger flow applications.
What Is a Sprinkler Flow Meter?
Water flow meters are used in several applications, including lawn sprinkler systems, which are a kind of irrigation system that landscapers use. A sprinkler flow meter controls water flow to residential lawns, golf course greens, ball fields and other grassy areas where specific environmental conditions need to be sustained.
Sprinkler flow meters are also great for smart home applications to automate routines based on the flow rate requirements of your system. You can monitor water usage through sprinkler flow meters to help reduce runoff.
Shop GPImeters for the Best Irrigation Flow Meters
When you need water flow meters for irrigation, GPImeters is your best choice. We're an authorized stocking distributor for industrial digital and mechanical flow meters manufactured by Great Plains Industries and FLOMEC. All of the meters we supply are genuine GPI/FLOMEC meters, new from the factory and shipped to your doorstep. Find your digital water meter and other irrigation flow meters for sale at GPImeters today!
