Or have a friend that does?

I think I have a leak. Used 20k gallons last month.

Called around and wait times are anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. I just spent $1000 on new sod, so I can't wait that long.

Tomball/Woodlands (77389)

Well, edited to ask…how much is "normal" usage for a zone that runs 10-15 minutes? When the sprinklers are on, they are using anywhere from 500-700 gallons. Five zones, 10-15 min each.

Assume you've done some basic checks like:
Walk around the yard after it's run the full cycle and look for soggy spots
Put on your rain jacket and watch each zone running (look for weak heads and/ or geysers)
Dig out your water meter and watch how fast it spins as each zone is running.

If you can get it narrowed down to a zone you can do more specific checks like digging out heads and capping them to force a leak to show itself.

Edit: at 3500gal per, 20k is only running 6 cycles

I ran into the same issue as you (crazy wait times). This company was the quickest, and it still took a week. Their shop is in the Old Town Spring area.

https://planetgreentx.com/

So, unfortunately I didn't know there was a problem until I got my bill on Saturday. And it rained a good bit here this weekend, so the yard was wet from that. And then yesterday, the sprinklers wouldn't come on at all because another valve went out (that was replaced today by my yard guy…who insists everything is fine).

As far as the rest of the last month, I honestly couldn't tell you anything…other than my new sod looks freaking great.

At some point, I don't even know when, the system stopped working completely because some valves went bad. Who knows how long I thought I was watering when I actually wasn't. The grass has looked like crap since I moved in, and at some point, I gave up trying to improve it (knowing I would just have it replaced). I didn't notice there was an issue until the new sod was installed last month.

But if 700 gallons for an hour-ish of watering isn't unreasonable, I wouldn't have noticed any excess water.

Edit: Just evaluated my system now that it's working again. It seems like everything is fine. I guess it just puts out 700 gallons a cycle. I also have 6 working zones and not 5 like I thought (I could have sworn my yard wasn't big enough for that 6th zone and it was inactive). That seems like a lot, but numbers don't lie. I'm going to back off to 2 cycles per week, 10 min in the front and 5 in the back.

Looks like sprinkler heads have a crazy range of gpm from less than a gallon to 6 or more, so let's call yours 3. 3gpm for an hour is 180 gallons, times however many heads you have per zone...4 heads gets you over 700gal/hr, guessing you have more heads per zone so maybe lower gpm heads...regardless 700gal/cycle seems reasonable
Pretty grass is expensive!

Yeah, I've accepted this is pretty much on me. Thankfully, my water bill was only $140, so it didn't break the bank. But I feel like a jerk for using 20k gallons of water. I should have just put in astroturf.

TXTransplant said:

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Yeah, I've accepted this is pretty much on me. Thankfully, my water bill was only $140, so it didn't break the bank. But I feel like a jerk for using 20k gallons of water. I should have just put in astroturf.

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How was a 20k gallon water bill only $140?

IDaggie06 said:

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TXTransplant said:

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Yeah, I've accepted this is pretty much on me. Thankfully, my water bill was only $140, so it didn't break the bank. But I feel like a jerk for using 20k gallons of water. I should have just put in astroturf.

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How was a 20k gallon water bill only $140?

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Our MUD is known for cheap water. My bill is usually only $30-$40 a month when I use 2k-3k gallons.

But they recently tacked on an increased "NHCRWA fee". It went into effect April 1, and now charges $4.83 per 1000 gallons.

That fee is the majority of my bill (about $100). Evidently, everyone in my 'hood is up in arms about it because they all noticed it on this bill.

I'm more embarrassed that I used 20k gallons of water.

Slightly off subject but give consideration to a smart sprinkler system if you don't already have one. I went with a Rachio several years ago and have had zero regrets. It's built in cycle and soak modes together with seasonal adjustments will save water. Plus when troubleshooting repairs its nice to trigger zones by app on phone instead of having to run back to controller in garage or wherever it is installed.

Cypress/NW Houston
I just called this past Tuesday and had system serviced Thursday- chasing heads, broken lines, and replace back flow valve- Michael Soto. 281-896-3289.