Edit 7/29/2022: When all was said and done, I bought another copy of the one that just broke. I then modified it by drilling two small weep holes, like so:
I then mounted this horizontally (with the dial facing the sky). In theory, when this leaks — and it will — the weep holes will allow the water to drain without drowning the motor. Which — see below — is what killed the first one.
Edit 7/11/2024: That same cheap-o hose timer above is still working. Granted, it’s only been two years, so I can’t exactly claim victory. But it’s worth nothing that this one — mounted to drain through the weep holes I drilled — at least didn’t crap out after a year, the way so many of its ancestors did. I take it in during the winter, I give it new batteries annually. It has to open and close twice a day during the summer. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that $30 should buy me more than just one or two years of service.
The original post follows.
A hose timer is a gizmo for turning water on and off on some pre-set schedule. You (typically) stick a couple of batteries in it, program it, place it between faucet and garden hose, and turn the faucet on. It will then operate a little valve to turn that water on and off according to your chosen schedule.
Until it breaks. Which it will. Which you probably won’t notice until your plants start withering. Unless you’re away on vacation, that is. In which case you’ll return to dead plants. Continue reading Post G22-028: Low-pressure hose timer autopsy.