Craig Ranch Experiences

[GoPadge]

Originally Posted by jcl_cls01

I just moved to McKinney by Craig Ranch, and got my first water bill. It was $165 for 30,000 gallons! I can't see how a family of 3 (2 adults, 1 toddler) can use 30,000 gallons of water. Gas and Electric are average, but the water rediculous.

Are you sure that wasn't 3,000 gallons? Or did you fill your swimming pool? Because $165 is too low for 30,000 gallons.

[jcl_cls01]

Originally Posted by GoPadge

Are you sure that wasn't 3,000 gallons? Or did you fill your swimming pool? Because $165 is too low for 30,000 gallons.

GoPadge, yes I'm sure its 30,000 gallons. Here's the breakdown from the invoice: its $110 for 30,000 gallons, then $40 for sewer fees, then the rest were garbage fees. No, I don't have a pool. Its just me, my wife, and my 4 yr old daughter in the house. How much water does a sprinkler system use? Since I have new sod, I had the system on for almost one hour, twice a day for 30 days. My lot is 7500 sq ft, and half of it the house resides on. Since then, I stopped watering the lawn since the roots have been established into the soil. I guess water around here is too expensive. Since my water meter is in the front of the house locked up, is there a way for a homeowner to view the usage? I don't know why the meter is concealed, and I would like to monitor my usage.

[GoPadge]

I appologize, you are correct. Though for an area that claims to be drout prone, those rates seem awefully low.

Based on some quick math, 30,000 total gallons - 3,000 gallons for normal consumption = 27,000 gallons on the yard.

27,000 gallons / 30 days = 900 gallons a day.

900 gallons / 2 hours per day = 450 gallons per hour.

450 gph / 60 minutes = 7.5 gpm

Home Depot's most frugal sprinkler head has a 6 gpm flow, based on a 360 degree pattern. ( I'm assuming a 15' radius)

7.5gpm / 6 gpm flow from 1 head = 1.25 sprinkler heads.

7500 sq ft / 2 = 3750 sq ft of non house.

20' wide driveway X 30' long driveway (generous I know) = 600 sq ft driveway

3' wide sidewalk X 50' long sidewalk (again on the high side) = 150 sq ft sidewalk

600 + 150 = 750

3750 sq ft - 750 sq ft = 3000 sq ft of grass

15' radius

Pi * r(squared) = area of circle

15 * 15 * 3.1459 = ~708 sq ft

3000 sq ft / 708 = 4.25 sprinkler heads needed assuming perfect yard and no overlap.

1.25 is not equal to 4.25 so somewhere the numbers are off, either in the amount of time you watered or my assumptions. But we are in the right ballpark at least.

[momof2dfw]

Water rates in some cities is awfully high. No, sprinkler systems do not use too much water, the users do . On that watering schedule, were you watering EVERYDAY? And for an hour for each zone? If so that is the problem and that is way too much water even for a newly sodded yard.

I just recieved my latest water bill for the City of Garland and it is $75.48 with 11,423 gallons. The month before we used a little over 25K gallons. We have 4 in the house, a pool, heavily landscaped yard, 4 bathrooms, and I wash clothes and dishes daily.

Since you have lowered your water usage on the yard I would be interested in seeing what it falls to after that. If you were watering that much then the 30K gallons is not that hard to do. You should only need to water each zone for 5-10 minutes. Actually watering less helps the roots dig deeper to look for water. Don't water in the heat of the day either as a lot of it will evaporate.

As for the key to look at your water meter, you can buy one at Home Depot or Lowe's.

[GoPadge]

jcl_cls01
Just be glad you're not in Rowlett. Your 30,000 gallons would have cost you $379.20. Rowlett's rate is $12.64 / 1000 gallons above 15,000.

[joshmccormack]

We're considering two places - a smaller one in Stonebridge, and a larger one in the Franklin Heights HOA just north of McKinney Ranch Pkwy and just west of Hardin Blvd. We don't know anything about the neighborhood of the larger. Could anyone advise me? Thanks!

[jcl_cls01]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Water rates in some cities is awfully high. No, sprinkler systems do not use too much water, the users do . On that watering schedule, were you watering EVERYDAY? And for an hour for each zone? If so that is the problem and that is way too much water even for a newly sodded yard.

I just recieved my latest water bill for the City of Garland and it is $75.48 with 11,423 gallons. The month before we used a little over 25K gallons. We have 4 in the house, a pool, heavily landscaped yard, 4 bathrooms, and I wash clothes and dishes daily.

Since you have lowered your water usage on the yard I would be interested in seeing what it falls to after that. If you were watering that much then the 30K gallons is not that hard to do. You should only need to water each zone for 5-10 minutes. Actually watering less helps the roots dig deeper to look for water. Don't water in the heat of the day either as a lot of it will evaporate.

As for the key to look at your water meter, you can buy one at Home Depot or Lowe's.

mom,

I have 7 zones and each zone runs 15min at 5am and 8pm on Tuesday's. The builder programmed the sprinkler system for 15 min run times. I also noticed that the sprinkler tech's did not do a great job in tightening the sprinkler heads. I noticed it when there's a puddle of water near a head, but not that much is coming out. I suggest to everyone that they go out and check their sprinkler heads for any leaks. I will follow your advice and start watering at 5 mins per zone. Thanks again.

[eusjoji]

I won a bid on a forclosed property at Craig Ranch North but decided to walk away and lose my $1000 eanest money. The last minute before I close the transaction, I found out there is a monthly cable charge $76 from Craig Ranch HOA. No matter if the residents don't want to use the cable / internet or they want to use service provider at their own choice, they are obligated to pay this mandatory fee. Even more unfair, this charge only occurs to homeowners who bought home in the property after 2009. After we found out this, myself and my friends decided not to buy any homes at Craig Ranch until this policy is terminated.

Further there are so many investment and forclosed homes in this community, therefore, not recommended.