Automatic 1-Outlet Hose Timer

It was a replacement for the exact same timer I had purchased approx. 4 years ago. The inlet water port had accidentally been bumped causing it to crack and start leaking.

Easy to program and works just fine, however, I needed it for seeding grass and I would have liked a "water every 2 hours" function available to keep everything damp. It only allows "water every 4 hours" as your most frequent choice. In the fall that's probably enough, but in early summer it isn't. I had to use the manual water setting every day that it was hot and breezy in between watering cycles to keep it damp enough. It was a bit like babysitting for 10 days until I saw good growth and backed off the watering a bit. I'd recommend it but it was not ideal for my purposes.

Works perfectly! no leaks! Clear instructions and very easy to set calibrations. Also; simple to change and modify " off " & " on " time durations. Connected to my " soaker hose " to operate nightly on "#1 zone" for newly planted shrubs around my lanai --- for 180 minutes --- and the plants are blooming!! I will be connecting "#2 zone" to another " soaker hose " for additional shrubs; yet to be planted. I will set the "#2 zone" to go on for 120 minutes --- fewer shrubs than "#1 zone. The Melnor timer is considerably less expensive than other brands I looked at; and has all the features you need for full control of time; and amount of water used. I've operated the timer every day, over a month and it works perfectly! I would absolutely recommend this timer !!

The hose timer is easy to program and works reliably. I connected it to two different hoses and it reliably waters new shrubs I have planted in different areas around my house. It is much cheaper than putting in an automatic sprinkling system.

This item is very easy to hook up, once you gather all the pieces. I bought the timer from Home Depot, but bought about 80% of the remaining parts from my nurseryman. Even thought this seems like a over kill for a home Gardner, it saves me a ton of time! I was spending about 2 hours watering my plants ( about 75 hanging baskets and numerous pot plants. Another item, we, in San Antonio, are in a water conversation mode. With the Aqua Timer, it waters for a preset time and length of watering. I now have it set for 5 minutes once per day! This saves a lot of water!

I've had three of these timers over the past three years. Each has worked well during the summer purchased to water my small garden. Each unit work fine when disconnected in the fall but failed to function after winter storage (batteries removed and stored inside). The on/off valve won't work and water comes out from every hole and seam. The company did replace my unit last year. I'm asking for yet another replacement. I will use them as long as they will send them to me but I'll never buy another.

This product came highly recommended by a friend and co-worker who has quite a bit of experience in this area. This Melnor AquaTimer model offers two independently controlled outputs for only $10 more than the single outlet version. For me, the two-outlet version offers useful redundancy and expandability. The chassis is plastic, as are the two male hose outlets. The female hose inlet is brass with a molded plastic twist ring. The inlets and outlets sealed well at light torque. The display cover is also plastic - we will see how clear and readable it stays over the long term. This unit is extremely easy to program. Push the bog yellow arrow pad to activate the menu and make adjustments (see photo). After five seconds or so of inactivity, the menu goes back to standby. In the standby mode, it only shows on the current time and the timer program "off/on" status. After choosing the outlet (1 or 2), you scroll to change settings for that outlet. The yellow arrow pad is used to scroll up and down the menu, with the left and right arrows changing the setting/time. The changes are real-time...the setting that you leave on the display becomes the new setting for the program. Rain delay is easy to set - activate the menu, scroll to rain delay, and use the right arrow to select 1, 2, or 3 days. This delay is added to your programmed watering interval for the next event. The only minor negatives with the Melnor AquaTimer that are apparent to me are the lack of an attachment feature to secure it to your home, the slow timer setting speed, and the limited rain delay options. This unit is designed to fasten directly to your hose bib, but most hose bibs angle outwards rather than going straight down. Instead, I chose to mount the AquaTimer to a PVC riser connected to my drip irrigation system. Unfortunately, the 1/2" PVC riser is not very stiff, so the timer sways easily. I would really like Melnor to add a couple of tabs on the housing (or offer a mounting bracket) that could be used to secure it to the side of my home. The timer setting is at a fixed, and rather slow, scroll speed. Ideally, the scroll rate would ramp up after five seconds or so to make major adjustments faster, as is the case with most other timing products that do not offer separate hour and minute buttons. Of course, you are not likely to make timer adjustments very often, so this is not a big deal. The other minor negative is that the rain delay only offers only one, two, and three-day options. A longer delay option, say one-week, would be nice when the weather is rainy. If you plan to use this for a drip irrigation system, be certain to get a vacuum break (back flow preventer), a filter (200 mesh), and a pressure reducer (~12psi). Mount those accessories in that order on the outlet of the timer (as shown in the photo). That way, there is no pressure on those components when the AquaTimer switches off. Based on my research, even the high-quality brass vacuum breaks are not rated for continuous pressure applications.

I have had timers in the past that fit on the hose outlet. They operate by water turning some impeller that moves the timer. This timer is battery run and it is so so programmable its almost like having one of those fancy home systems in the ground with all the headaches. You attache this one to the outlet and program it, turn on the water and forget it. I was not use to having that convenience and was caught when the sprinkler came on, me and eight daycare kids running every which direction to get out of the water. It would have made an amazing video if someone had recorded it. The auto system has so many options to work for you. You can set the length of time the sprinkler is on or how often you want the sprinkler to turn on, and even set it for rain delay. This is a very nice piece of equipment. When I seed the ground I always forget to water the seed every day or every other day. With this auto sprinkler you set it to what you want and it does not forget to water for you. This device is so user friendly that my 7 year old grandson could program it for me (of course I was coaching). It doesn't matter how many sprinkler units you hook to it, as long as the water pressure is good this baby waters for you. I really like this attachment and it has started growing grass for me because it doesn't for get. One word of caution, do not forget to turn on the water to the device or you will be wondering why the seed is not growing and the ground is not wet. Ask Me!

This hose timer is very easy to use, even if the response to input is a bit sluggish. Typically once set up one does not have to interact with it much anyway. It has two independent timers one for each hose connection. Each timer can be set to turn the water on for a period of up to 240 minutes and this can be repeated in increments of 4, 6, 8, 12 hours or 1 through 7 days. You can thus set up a cycle such as: start at 10:00 and water for 1 hour and repeat every 12 hours. The start time can be any time you like but you cannot prevent it from turning on during the night and water every 4 hours during the day. There is also no weekday capability that would allow one to program it to water on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only. The override to turn the water on manually is easy to use, you simply dial in how many minutes you wish to have it on. The rain delay feature is also similarly easy to use. If there is rain forecast for a couple of days, it is very easy to tell it to skip for 1, 2 or 3 days. The unit seems solidly built but the threads where the hoses connect are, however, plastic.

This timer is vary useful for regulating watering to prevent neglect its custom program and vary easy programming great for wide applications with garden hose mounts watering from rain berols great idea but I recommend RV type pressure reducer to prolong life of the inner parts happy gardening water 2plots with this device. I also recommend after programming wrap the unit with lite colored fabric to keep sun off