Horizon Distributors announced its partnership with ET Water Systems Inc. to become the exclusive distributor of ET Water Systems' HermitCrab in Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Texas and Las Vegas — with additional shared rights in Northern California. HermitCrab is an irrigation accessory that plugs into conventional irrigation controllers and converts them into ET Water Smart Water Controllers.

Horizon Distributors becomes exclusive distributors of HermitCrab in select markets

Horizon Distributors announced its partnership with ET Water Systems Inc. to become the exclusive distributor of ET Water Systems’ HermitCrab in Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Texas and Las Vegas — with additional shared rights in Northern California. HermitCrab is an irrigation accessory that plugs into conventional irrigation controllers and converts them into ET Water Smart Water Controllers.


The HermitCrab is compatible with most major irrigation controller brands, including Hunter®, Irritrol®, Rain Bird® and Rain Master®. It easily plugs into conventional controllers via the remote control access port and allows irrigation professionals to configure stations online with the web-based ET Water Manager. The ET Water Manager server combines site-specific information with current local weather data to generate a customized irrigation schedule for each jobsite. This schedule is downloaded daily to the HermitCrab and signals the conventional controller to open and close valves as necessary.


“The HermitCrab is a cost-effective, labor saving device that turns any irrigation controller into a smart water controller,” said Dan Puthuff, construction channel manager, Horizon Distributors. “HermitCrab installs in less than 10 minutes and with a 20 to 50 percent water savings, the HermitCrab literally pays for itself in a matter of months.”


With single-platform simplicity and ET Water’s web-based system, HermitCrab allows for management of multiple controllers of various brands at multiple sites. It also gives irrigation professionals the ability to control up to 48 stations, or whatever the maximum number of stations the conventional host controller allows. On top of the savings and features, HermitCrab received a 100 percent score in irrigation adequacy and irrigation efficiency on the Irrigation Association’s Smart Water Application Technology (SWAT) Performance Protocol test.


“A perfect score of 100 percent on the SWAT test shows us how well irrigation activities with HermitCrab meet the needs of plant materials and how well irrigation cycles avoid direct runoff, soak runoff and exceeding root zone storage capacity,” said Puthuff. “HermitCrab is extremely water efficient and offers remote monitoring and management of irrigation activities via the web, which helps make irrigation professionals’ jobs easier.”

HermitCrab comes standard with a three-year limited warranty. To learn more about ET Water Systems’ HermitCrab, visit www.horizononline.com.