Rain sensors are now mandatory in most new installations in our area, turning off sprinklers during or after a rain.

Of course today, the sprinklers went off in the morning, while the forecasted heavy rain storm arrived at night.

Seems like using a weather forecast feed you can actually drive the computers running the sprinkler to optimal use.
-- theircompetitor, Jul 19 2006

there's a drought here - SE England & a hosepipe ban for domestic use. I noticed the sprinklers in use the other day at a local cricket ground and it was pouring with rain.

btw the drought is not caused by a shortage of summer rain but because of a very dry winter.
-- po, Jul 19 2006


Aw - I thought this was going to be one of those wide-angle sprinklers that you could modulate to send messages.
-- moomintroll, Jul 19 2006


Why are sprinklers on automatic at all? It's a very simple matter for someone to press a button to activate them, and to not press it if it is raining or if rain is expected.
-- DrCurry, Jul 19 2006


Well one valid reason is so the sprinkler can be run at dawn when it is most effective.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jul 19 2006


And another reason is that one would have to walk down to the basement. I have two controllers and 30 some zones.
-- theircompetitor, Jul 19 2006


Why not just use the computers to control the weather, eliminating the need for sprinklers all-together? It would simplify things quite a bit.
-- ed, Jul 19 2006


Shucks! I thought this would be a mould that allowed you to make replacement sprinkler parts out of epoxy or something at home. I hate having to get replacements that don't match just because they stopped making the old kind.

I'm not sure the weatherman is the best person to go to for this though. He's only right about 50% of the time you know. Why not ask a psychic. They're right all the time as long as they answer both yes and no.
-- ye_river_xiv, Jul 20 2006


story published on the 19th? They were that quick to turn it around, huh?
-- theircompetitor, Jul 22 2006


I thought this was going to be a communications protocol using modulated aerial bursts of water. (edit) Oops, [moomintroll] beat me to it.

I try to avoid watering _except_ when it rains. That way, most of the extra water goes into the soil, rather than evaporating. Obviously, watering during or before rain that's heavy enough to cause runoff is wasteful, so there's some merit in this.
-- spidermother, Jul 22 2006


You must live in a different climate zone. Whenever it rains here, it causes runoff, and I don't think my plants would last without watering at least on some of the other 300 days of the year when it doesn't rain.
-- ye_river_xiv, Jul 22 2006



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