Special to WaterWrights.net
TechnoFlo Systems was founded by Steve and Eric, 
the Huth brothers in 2000 after the Water Specialties flow meter Company was sold. TechnoFlo is located in Porterville, California. Being centrally located in California’s fertile, agricultural San Joaquin Valley, let’s us easily focus on our customer’s needs throughout California and the West.
We originally began as a manufactures representative firm but have grown into much more. We have 17 employees, and an 18,000 square foot facility. In addition to offering flow measurement solutions, sensors, and telemetry, we have an NIST traceable flow test lab and service is a big part of our business. The entire TechnoFlo Team shares a desire to serve our customers by providing the right product(s) to meet their specific need along with the best local service and support. We work closely with irrigation dealers, system integrators, and irrigation districts. It’s also not unusual to see us in the field helping a grower with a unique application.
With over 80 years of combined experience in the Irrigation market, our extensive work with engineered flow products has given TechnoFlo the knowledge and willingness to meet any of our customers’ requirements. We are a second generation family flow measurement company that lives and breathes irrigation meters with long term industry relationships, some for over 40 years. We offer flow measurement solutions for both irrigation and municipal applications, though a great deal of our focus is on the agricultural irrigation market.
How Can Flow Meters Help?
You can’t manage what you don’t measure…. most of us have all heard that phrase before. More on that in a bit…
Statewide, the average water use in agricultural is roughly 40-percent, although the percentage of water use in this sector varies dramatically across regions. According to the
California Department of Food and Agriculture, over a third of the country’s vegetables and nearly three-quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts are grown in California. In 2022, California accounted for almost 13-percent of total U.S. agricultural exports. Additionally, California is the nation’s sole exporter of many agricultural commodities; supplying almost 100-percent of the nation’s exports of pistachios, almonds, artichokes, garlic, olives, and several other premium crops. California is the nation’s farming powerhouse. We grow a lot of food here, and food grows where water flows…another phrase you’ve likely heard before.
In 2014, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) became California state law and set forth a statewide framework to help protect groundwater resources over the long-term. Under SGMA, local agencies are required to form groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) for high and medium priority basins. The GSAs are tasked with developing and implementing groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) to avoid undesirable results and mitigate overdraft. The timing to do this is 20 years. This is a huge undertaking, and though a lot of progress has been made there’s still a lot of work to be done.
According to the 2018 USDA’s Irrigation Water Management Survey results, there are over 67,000 irrigation wells used on farms in California, less than 40-percent of them include a flow meter.
Flow meters not only tell irrigators how much water they are using, they are also a valuable tool that can be used to determine the health of an irrigation system and alert an irrigator if there is an issue, leak, or power outage. Metering and monitoring an irrigation system can ensure efficiency and prevent costly system damage and failures.
Reading a flow meter is much like reading the speedometer and odometer on a car.
A flow meter provides two valuable pieces of information:
1) The flow rate – Much like the speedometer on a car…This is the pumping rate and typically appears in gallons per minute (GPM), though other units of measure are available. This valuable piece of information is the actual pumping capacity (GPM) and helps growers determine how many acres of irrigation their flow rate will support. This information is valuable to keep records at regular intervals. The flow rate information can also be used to evaluate yearly or seasonal changes due to water table drawdown, aquifer decline, pump wear and overall system health.
2) The flow totalizer – Much like the odometer on a car…This is the total amount of water pumped and typically appears in acre feet (AF) or gallons (GAL), though other units of measure are available. The flow totalizer shows the total amount of water pumped through the meter. Most flow meter totalizers are non-resettable for regulatory purposes and continue to accumulate the total amount of water flowed through the lifetime of the meter.
Sales
We primarily sell magnetic meter technology and have a great partnership with Seametrics.
Seametrics has been a pioneer in the design and manufacturing of battery-powered electromagnetic flow meters for the irrigation and fertigation industry. Both the AG3000 and the AG90 flow meters are very popular and widely accepted with most districts and
large scale farms. These no moving part meters are gradually becoming the standard approach. We also offer a line of Smart Sensors that Seametrics manufactures including level, pressure, and temperature sensors.
We are excited to now offer the RANGER telemetry transmitter by SignalFire, a sister company to Seametrics. The RANGER is the premier wireless data monitoring solution that enables customers to monitor their remote assets from the convenience of a mobile device from anywhere, anytime. This Sensor-to-Cloud system can be easily installed onto existing flow meters or sensors with no system interruptions. The plug-and-play device connectivity makes fast and easy work to connect a customer’s new or existing sensors into a complete remote monitoring tool. RANGER nodes can be configured remotely, and firmware updates are deployed over the air to keep the system optimized at all times. Device status and GPS location can be viewed on a map. This accessory enables growers to monitor, be alerted to various flow anomalies, and in some cases control the irrigation system via cell phone, iPad, laptop or desktop computer in real-time. The RANGER is being well received by districts throughout the state.
We also offer Pulsar measurement solutions. Pulsar Flow and Level Management is a worldwide leader in ultrasonic instrumentation for industrial and environmental markets. They develop, manufacture and market industrial flow and level monitoring instruments including ultrasonic level transmitters, flow meters, open channel flow meters and the AVFM area velocity meter that can measure partially full pipes. Customers include water & irrigation districts.
Additionally, we manufacture our own propeller flow meters. The TechnoFlo flow meter sets the standard for performance, ease -of-use and Value. These meters use long life, water lubricated, ceramic bearings, a stabilized pick up sensor and a graphical display based on Chip-On-Glass and FSTN technology. This gives a sharp, readable display that won’t lose segments throughout its life. The TechnoFlo Propeller flow meter is excellent in harsh environments requiring minimal maintenance.
Our sales team spends a lot of time in the field meeting with irrigation system designers, irrigation technology suppliers/installers and irrigation districts. Our experience with measurement instrumentation coupled with our desire to provide the best customer service possible, is what really sets us apart.
Service
We offer accuracy testing of all types and brands of meters. We are able to flow test to AWWA specifications in our NIST traceable flow test lab. We offer meter repair service, technical support, troubleshooting, and technology and application training. We have our own trucks and offer free product delivery in certain regions. TechnoFlo always supports the products we sell.
What sets us apart:
We are a second generation family flow measurement company that lives and breathes irrigation meters with long term industry relationships, some for over 40 years. We carry a large amount of inventory and have two trucks that deliver to dealers at no extra cost. With the cost of fuel and labor, this is a nice cost savings for our customers. Our inventory ensures customers receive the product quickly and don’t have to wait weeks or months.
We pride ourselves on offering the best local service and support. We have a loyal dealer network ensuring easy access for growers throughout the state for our products. We always support the products we sell. When you call us, we answer the phone. We pride ourselves on offering the best customer service and support.
Testimony
What our customers have to say:
“Technoflo offers some of the best customer service and product support of any company out there,” – Central Coast Irrigation Dealer.
“When it comes to flow meters, we go to Technoflo,” – South Valley Irrigation District.
“The wide range of products Technoflo offers fills all of our flow measurement needs,” – Central Valley Engineering firm.
The future of TechnoFlo Systems:
Our future looks as bright as the California sunshine on a clear day. We plan to continue working closely with dealers, districts, and growers and to do our best to support their needs as so many work to comply with SGMA. We plan to continue improving the product design, quality and longevity of the flow meters we manufacture, represent and sell. We will be offering additional features the industry needs to become fully integrated with the remote data collection and system control that is becoming increasingly necessary.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and the need to measure water use is greater than ever before. The TechnoFlo Team will be here now and in the future to assist California irrigators with their measurement needs.
If SGMA has impacted you, please reach out to learn more about how TechnoFlo can assist with your flow measurement needs. Call or write: 559/783-1207 or sales@technoflo.com Visit us at: www.technoflo.com
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