A new irrigation system should be efficient. If your water bill jumped after installation, one of these four things is happening — and all of them are fixable.
An Irrigation System Should Cut Water Use, Not Increase It
A properly designed and programmed system typically reduces water use compared to manual hose watering — running at dawn (lower evaporation), delivering water only to planted areas, and scheduling based on actual conditions. If your bill went up significantly, the system isn't running efficiently.
The Four Most Common Causes
1. Incorrect controller programming. The most common culprit. Many installers set a default schedule at installation — "run every day, 10 minutes per zone" — and leave it. In Lake Norman's climate, that's far more water than most lawns need in spring and fall. A summer schedule running year-round is watering in the rain and overwatering in mild weather.
2. No rain sensor or smart controller. A basic timer runs on schedule regardless of weather. A half-inch of rain followed by a scheduled watering cycle the next morning is money down the drain. A smart controller upgrade costs $350–$800 installed and typically pays for itself in one to two seasons.
3. A system leak. Underground leaks are common and often invisible until the bill arrives. Signs: zones that are always wet when off, unexplained soft spots or green patches in the lawn, water sound when the system shouldn't be running.
4. Incorrect head coverage or zone overlap. A system designed with too many heads, or zones that significantly overlap, waters each area multiple times per cycle. This is a design problem — it requires adjusting head placement or zone assignments.
Run each zone manually for 3–5 minutes and walk it. Any head not rotating, spraying the driveway, or putting water in the street is wasting water. Note which ones and share with your irrigation contractor.
Call 704-460-2019 for an irrigation efficiency inspection — we diagnose and fix the same day in most cases.
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