Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Irrigation Rain Cut-off Switch and Gutter Guards

 A couple of minor things that needed to be re-done after having the roof replaced.

We have an automatic irrigation system to water the yard.  Controller is in the garage.  Eleven zones.  It is set to water on Wednesday during the summer; we turn it off during the winter.  But even in the summer, it is possible it will rain and there is no reason to run the system if if has just rained.  So we had a sensor that would detect rain and turn the system off until it was "dry enough".  The sensor is a cup that sits up high, and the rain fills the cup in, depressing a switch.  As the water evaporates, the cup raises back up, changing the switch back to on.  Our particular model is an Orbit Model 57059-20 r6, bought at Home Depot, $24.97



We installed it at the peak of the roof over the garage.


and then ran the wire from it to the controller down the front of the garage roof line to the corner, around to the side under the eaves and into a hole that goes into the garage wall  and down to the controller.


The controller has a spot to connect a sensor, but also I was told by an irrigation person that the sensor is just a switch -- normally closed, but open when it has rain water in it -- so you can also wire it in to the common wire which would cut power to all circuits (since they all use the same common wire).


Also, I put gutter guards back in the two short gutters on both sides of the garage.  The two long runs -- along the front and back of the house -- are sort of tree-less, so they may not need them (as much), but the garage has crepe myrtle trees on both sides, so they tend to fill up with leaf debris.  


These particular gutter guards are the cheapest available.  One is a simple plastic (vinyl) guard that snaps into the front of the gutters and under the bottom row of shingles.  Each one is 3 feet long, and costs $1.54.  Home Depot.   The other side is a bit more upscale.  It's the same basic guard, but at $2.27 has a small mesh screen underneath. 



No comments:

Post a Comment