2018 Lawn thread
Discussion
I ran a test a few weeks ago with my cheapo Tesco sprinkler. Read the water meter, ran it for an hour without using any other water, then read the meter again. 440 litres used.
I then measured the area covered by the sprinkler and calculated the approximate depth of water the 440 litres would give when running for an hour, and it came to about half an inch.
I then measured the area covered by the sprinkler and calculated the approximate depth of water the 440 litres would give when running for an hour, and it came to about half an inch.
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
I ran a test a few weeks ago with my cheapo Tesco sprinkler. Read the water meter, ran it for an hour without using any other water, then read the meter again. 440 litres used.
I then measured the area covered by the sprinkler and calculated the approximate depth of water the 440 litres would give when running for an hour, and it came to about half an inch.
Are you sure your meter reading is litres? Mine reads cubic feet.I then measured the area covered by the sprinkler and calculated the approximate depth of water the 440 litres would give when running for an hour, and it came to about half an inch.
Well Mrs FB has just earned 10 min in the sin bin !!
We bought this house last year and the back garden was barren , brown and had large dead patches. It’s taken me 11 months to get it nice and green with great coverage with hard work and a strict morning regime. During the early days of the heat wave when the lawn was still green and lush, Mrs FB mentioned we had just had a £400 water bill. I duly thought sod that and stop watering the lawn.
3 days ago she heads out to buy the nippers a ‘splash pool’ and comes back with a f
king whale enclosure holding 2000L’s , today she phoned me to say she’s emptied the pool as it was grim and was busy filling it again for nippers. Jesus woman, think of the bloody water bill coming our way.... “oh don’t worry, we are on a capped tariff so it don’t matter how much we use” , and she couldn’t fking tell me this before watching me cry over my now garden desert, full well knowing the sole reason I abandoned using the sprinkler was due to expecting a huge bill !!!!
fking woman
We bought this house last year and the back garden was barren , brown and had large dead patches. It’s taken me 11 months to get it nice and green with great coverage with hard work and a strict morning regime. During the early days of the heat wave when the lawn was still green and lush, Mrs FB mentioned we had just had a £400 water bill. I duly thought sod that and stop watering the lawn.
3 days ago she heads out to buy the nippers a ‘splash pool’ and comes back with a f
king whale enclosure holding 2000L’s , today she phoned me to say she’s emptied the pool as it was grim and was busy filling it again for nippers. Jesus woman, think of the bloody water bill coming our way.... “oh don’t worry, we are on a capped tariff so it don’t matter how much we use” , and she couldn’t fking tell me this before watching me cry over my now garden desert, full well knowing the sole reason I abandoned using the sprinkler was due to expecting a huge bill !!!!f
king woman 57 Chevy said:
Reading all these water meter woes makes me glad to be in the peoples republic of Scotland where water is part of your council tax.
Given that it rains every thirty seconds, no one washes more than once a month and the council tax is subsidised by another country it probably makes financial sense. 
fastbikes76 said:
Well Mrs FB has just earned 10 min in the sin bin !!
We bought this house last year and the back garden was barren , brown and had large dead patches. It’s taken me 11 months to get it nice and green with great coverage with hard work and a strict morning regime. During the early days of the heat wave when the lawn was still green and lush, Mrs FB mentioned we had just had a £400 water bill. I duly thought sod that and stop watering the lawn.
3 days ago she heads out to buy the nippers a ‘splash pool’ and comes back with a fking whale enclosure holding 2000L’s , today she phoned me to say she’s emptied the pool as it was grim and was busy filling it again for nippers. Jesus woman, think of the bloody water bill coming our way.... “oh don’t worry, we are on a capped tariff so it don’t matter how much we use” , and she couldn’t fking tell me this before watching me cry over my now garden desert, full well knowing the sole reason I abandoned using the sprinkler was due to expecting a huge bill !!!!
fking woman
did she at least empty the pool onto the lawn?We bought this house last year and the back garden was barren , brown and had large dead patches. It’s taken me 11 months to get it nice and green with great coverage with hard work and a strict morning regime. During the early days of the heat wave when the lawn was still green and lush, Mrs FB mentioned we had just had a £400 water bill. I duly thought sod that and stop watering the lawn.
3 days ago she heads out to buy the nippers a ‘splash pool’ and comes back with a f
king whale enclosure holding 2000L’s , today she phoned me to say she’s emptied the pool as it was grim and was busy filling it again for nippers. Jesus woman, think of the bloody water bill coming our way.... “oh don’t worry, we are on a capped tariff so it don’t matter how much we use” , and she couldn’t fking tell me this before watching me cry over my now garden desert, full well knowing the sole reason I abandoned using the sprinkler was due to expecting a huge bill !!!!f
king woman Muncher said:
Craikeybaby said:
I thought a good soak once a week was what was recommended?
A good soak is better than a light soak, but for me watering every day or every other day has given excellent results. I've put about 50 cubic meters on the garden since April, which is only about £60 worth of water, to me it is well worth it.langtounlad said:
Are you sure your meter reading is litres? Mine reads cubic feet.
Yes, mine says m³ on it, so I read the movement of the two red decimal numbers to give litres to the nearest 10 litres.DonkeyApple said:
57 Chevy said:
Reading all these water meter woes makes me glad to be in the peoples republic of Scotland where water is part of your council tax.
Given that it rains every thirty seconds, no one washes more than once a month and the council tax is subsidised by another country it probably makes financial sense. Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Thursday 26th July 15:22
Muncher said:
bazza white said:
Its about £3/m3 in wales inc waste charge how are you getting it so cheap.
If you submeter water for the garden separately using a £10 plumb in meter, you don't pay any sewerage charge for it, as you can show it's not going into the sewer.We're with South West Water, and our waste charge is about £3/m^3 on its own never mind the fresh water, which is another £1.90/m^3 on top of that. I can't see anything on their website about this, and it would be well worth following up on.
https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/globalassets/docu...
Water used externally which may not be returned to a sewer
6.22 If domestic metered customers intend to use large amounts of water externally for garden
watering; swimming pool and garden pond replenishment; or any other external use where
water is not returned to a sewer and do not wish to pay sewerage charges on this water,
they must pay to have a sub-meter installed on the pipework immediately before the tap
which will be used for external use.
6.23 Their charges will then be calculated as follows:
Water and sewerage charges will be raised on the volume of water derived by deducting the
reading on the sub-meter from the reading on the main meter. A further charge for water will
be raised on the volume of water measured by the sub-meter. The relevant fixed charges for
the main meter will be payable in addition to the volume charges as well as an additional
fixed charge of £6.50 for each sub-meter installed to cover additional meter reading and
billing costs.
So yes, applies to your authority but they make a one off £6.50 charge to cover reading the additional meter. My supplier doesn't do that.
My supplier also charges for surface water which drains back onto the highway as a matter of course (about £35 a year) again if you can prove you are downhill of the road and no run off is possible they will waive that too.
Water used externally which may not be returned to a sewer
6.22 If domestic metered customers intend to use large amounts of water externally for garden
watering; swimming pool and garden pond replenishment; or any other external use where
water is not returned to a sewer and do not wish to pay sewerage charges on this water,
they must pay to have a sub-meter installed on the pipework immediately before the tap
which will be used for external use.
6.23 Their charges will then be calculated as follows:
Water and sewerage charges will be raised on the volume of water derived by deducting the
reading on the sub-meter from the reading on the main meter. A further charge for water will
be raised on the volume of water measured by the sub-meter. The relevant fixed charges for
the main meter will be payable in addition to the volume charges as well as an additional
fixed charge of £6.50 for each sub-meter installed to cover additional meter reading and
billing costs.
So yes, applies to your authority but they make a one off £6.50 charge to cover reading the additional meter. My supplier doesn't do that.
My supplier also charges for surface water which drains back onto the highway as a matter of course (about £35 a year) again if you can prove you are downhill of the road and no run off is possible they will waive that too.
Muncher said:
Stuff +
My supplier also charges for surface water which drains back onto the highway as a matter of course (about £35 a year) again if you can prove you are downhill of the road and no run off is possible they will waive that too.
Thanks very much for the link. I did look at that document, but missed the bit you highlighted.My supplier also charges for surface water which drains back onto the highway as a matter of course (about £35 a year) again if you can prove you are downhill of the road and no run off is possible they will waive that too.
As for the runoff..... No chance. We live on a 1 in 5 hill, and the water will drain off our land onto the road. But it would have paid for the meter and reading had it been otherwise.
Speaking of patterns in lawns revealing long buried treasures, I have been letting the front lawn just go dry which has interestingly revealed what I believe to be a dolphin buried underneath. I am now worried that Baldrick may appear and dig up my lawn thinking it’s a porpoise grave!
The back garden was returfed in May so I have been having to water it which means it needs a cut every couple of weeks. But it’s full of baby frogs currently so the children spent much of the morning crawling around collecting frogs before I was able to cut!!
The back garden was returfed in May so I have been having to water it which means it needs a cut every couple of weeks. But it’s full of baby frogs currently so the children spent much of the morning crawling around collecting frogs before I was able to cut!!
The storms and downpour we’ve had in Yorkshire for the last two days have topped up all the butts and we’ll and truly soaked everything, audible sigh of relief from the garden.
Grass still looks green but isb being tended as it’s due to come up when the building works start again proper.
Grass still looks green but isb being tended as it’s due to come up when the building works start again proper.
Guys,
not into gardening at all but looking through this thread it has made me realise how bad my grass is! I had it relayed about 4 years ago when garden was redone.
It's not very thick at all and quite patchy, when cut short some parts are thick some very thin. In the pictures below its quite yellow as well due to the weather, bought myself a sprinkler since so its not quite as yellow. The thicker greener parts are where the house casts a shadow all day.
About a year after having it done, I gave it a few raking sessions and re-seeding etc but that doesn't seem to have made it any thicker at all.
Best plan of action apart from ripping it all up? Yes I'm aware it needs cutting in places!
not into gardening at all but looking through this thread it has made me realise how bad my grass is! I had it relayed about 4 years ago when garden was redone.
It's not very thick at all and quite patchy, when cut short some parts are thick some very thin. In the pictures below its quite yellow as well due to the weather, bought myself a sprinkler since so its not quite as yellow. The thicker greener parts are where the house casts a shadow all day.
About a year after having it done, I gave it a few raking sessions and re-seeding etc but that doesn't seem to have made it any thicker at all.
Best plan of action apart from ripping it all up? Yes I'm aware it needs cutting in places!
Edited by AJB88 on Sunday 29th July 10:16
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