Controlling Water, why go custom?

By: John Kidson MD @ JK Irrigation Ltd

Tristan from G&G Controls has asked me to produce blog content, due to our ever-expanding online platform IrrigationStockist.co.uk we’ve grown our control panel catalogue working alongside G&G Controls and future plans for a wider range in the works.

Within the irrigation industry the minute we say “controller” we first think of irrigating via a wall mounted or PC controller which controls sprinklers, i.e. Bailoy, Hunter, Rain Bird, Toro, Tonick.

The control of water covering a wider range is when custom control panels come into play, and the topic of this blog.

You may decide to chose a custom panel due to a number of factors such as;

· Space, simply require a panel to replace an existing setup, lack of room, waterproof

· Consider the alarms/alerts required, do you wish to know a lake pump has tripped, the water height within a sump is either too low or too high.

· Motors and pumps all have set permitters which need to be met within the control panel, amps, KW, power supply voltage.

· You wish for your name and contact details to be on the front door, contractors, suppliers or simply naming the panel to suit. If you have x10 control panels on site, busy plant room.

Upsides... you can create the panel to suit your needs

Downsides... anything custom requires time to build

We’ve created and stock control panels we use for our own installation and sales within our industry and growing this range.

From waterproof enclosed lake fountain control panels, mains water infill panels to control WRAS solenoids via a ball float and isolation panels with power out alerts.

Items to consider which may catch you out…

· Incoming voltage required

Sounds simple but always check the incoming voltage you currently have/plan to have installed. 230/240v (single phase), 400/415v (three phase).

· Outgoing voltage required

I mentioned this as some pumps/motors require different step ups, changing voltage, existing BMS (alarms and alerts) may require/not require voltage.

· Whatever the items are that you wish to control, does this need a timer?

*Example; You plan to top up an irrigation tank at a sports ground, the incoming water pressure is low, you quote a larger storage tank to combat the slow rate. You install a brass ball setup to allow water to infill once the tank lowers. The issue shows up when the teams wish to shower and the water pressure for the entire site is low due to the tank filling. If you installed a simple water top up panel with a timer, this could be controlled via a wired ball float and set to fill the tank out of the predicted busy hours.

If in doubt please contact ask either us JK Irrigation aka IrrigationStockist.co.uk or G&G Controls, combined we can meet your requirements.