Dear all,

I have put an automatic watering system in my garden from B&Q. After
dithering over Hozelock and Gardena systems I found B&Q did their own
which was cheaper, and seems to work very well. I've got drippers in
pots and boxes and sprayers and sprinklers for the beds. So far so
good.

Obviously the pièce de résistance for the lazy/absentee gardener is
the electronic timer to give complete automation. The problem I am
having is that the pressure of my water supply has always been a bit
marginal. Without the timer attached to the tap the system works fine.
With the timer screwed on the pressure suffers, and in particular the
sprayers and sprinklers turn feeble and don't cover the area they
should. The timer is B&Q's own £25 cheapie:
http://shortlinks.co.uk/kfv
When the water is running the timer makes a high pitched whining
noise, I guess the water is made to drive some sort of wheel for some
reason which must take some of the oomph out of it. (Incidentally I
don't use the separate pressure reducing fitting supplied with the
system for obvious reasons.)

So the question is, is it worth splashing out for a different make of
timer, or will I find the same thing happening?

Cheers!

Martin