Any irrigation guys?

[AA7483]

I bought the lot next door to me and Im working on laying out an irrigation plan. Im trying to avoid the mistakes I make when I installed the system on my property 10 years ago. When laying out a large rectangular grass area, I realize you should be using different nozzles For different patterns. For example, a 4 gpm nozzle for the center full circle rotors, 2 for a half circle rotor, and 1 for a quarter circle rotor at the corner. How should I be selecting the nozzle for the center sprinklers so I can choose the halfs and quarters accordingly?

 

[Git]

The major sprinkler companies will design a layout for your for free

I am partial to rainbird
https://www.rainbird.com/homeowners/free-sprinkler-design-services

Personally, I am thinking about redoing my front lawn and go with a 'sub surface' drip system:

https://www.rainbird.com/products/xfs-subsurface-dripline-copper-shieldtm-technology

Here is pic for an example

 

[CraigStu]

I would look at the Rainbird help also. My house came w/ their system and, in my area, parts are at Lowes. I could easily figure out what type nozzles to use for coverage but I wouldn't know how to be sure the whole area got the proper total amount of water.

 

[yeldogt]

Don't copy the Sprinkler companies. They design for speed and profit ... want to "get it all covered". Using the wide arc internal motor driven heads is the easiest way. Precision is not a goal -- Overwatering situations are minimized with various nozzle restrictions. They use static pop up heads only when nothing else will work -- typically tight spaces.

I'm not saying the motor driven heads are a bad idea -- they are great and may be what you want to use. Towns around me (with sidewalks) are now requiring inspections and some of the worst practices are being addressed .. long throw heads spraying water all over the property -- into the street.

All the big players (Rainbird/ Hunter etc..) have layouts to help you design a system. You will see that all of them design a particular overlap regardless of the head ... this proper overlap is what many companies omit.

How big is the area? How uniform ? I have a sidewalk strip -- so in that application I use static pop up heads made for that application. Each head is designed so it throw of water just hits the other head ... ofttimes you see people uses 1/2 the number of heads w/o the overlap and it's not going to work. I use the motor driven heads on the big parts of my lot and the pop ups where the spaces are not uniform or too small for the longer throw heads.

It all starts with a layout and knowing your water pressure/ gallons per minute flow. Each type of head will have a floor that matched to the area.

What problems are you having with the old system?

 

[yeldogt]

Git: I have thought of doing that at my new place with clay soil .. but I worry about how well it would work in sandy/ well draining soil unless you had it very close to the surface. Even placing sod on top may not wet the soil if it drains away ??

I used it in a vegetable garden -- but, each row had a raised mound and plastic .... worked well.

 

[rlitman]

...All the big players (Rainbird/ Hunter etc..) have layouts to help you design a system. You will see that all of them design a particular overlap regardless of the head ... this proper overlap is what many companies omit.

How big is the area? How uniform ? I have a sidewalk strip -- so in that application I use static pop up heads made for that application. Each head is designed so it throw of water just hits the other head ... ofttimes you see people uses 1/2 the number of heads w/o the overlap and it's not going to work. I use the motor driven heads on the big parts of my lot and the pop ups where the spaces are not uniform or too small for the longer throw heads...

Head to head spacing is critical to getting even watering.

As for fixed popups, first off, sprays are now passe. MP rotators are a drop in replacement that is far less impacted by wind drift.

But aside from the head to head spacing being rule #1, rule #2 is that you do not mix fixed heads and rotors (MP rotators are NOT rotors) on a single zone.

There's nothing wrong with having fixed pop ups along a parkway and large rotors to cover a lawn, but they each irrigate at different rates, so they require different timing to water evenly.

 

[rlitman]

Git: I have thought of doing that at my new place with clay soil .. but I worry about how well it would work in sandy/ well draining soil unless you had it very close to the surface. Even placing sod on top may not wet the soil if it drains away ??

I used it in a vegetable garden -- but, each row had a raised mound and plastic .... worked well.

Netafim has it worked out (focus on page 7 and 26):
https://www.netafimusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/LSUBGD-Subsurface-Dripline-Guide-2014.pdf

They recommend low flow and wide spacing with long application times in clay, vs higher flow and closer spacing with short application times in sand.

 

[AA7483]

I have a good understanding of the basic dos and donts. I understand how to size to size my zones and select heads based on my available pressure and flow. My weakness comes in selecting the proper nozzles for my rotors. Once i do that i can select my nozzles and divide zones. I know it has to do with precipitation rates. I know i should install nozzles in my half circles that have half the gpm as the full and quarters a quarter the gpm. This is where i went wrong with the rest of the system.

I have a large lawn area 52 x 109 that i plan on putting 12 rainbird 5000 series rotors. There are some smaller areas but once i understand this i can size accordingly.

 

[Git]

Have you 'done the math'?

What is your water pressure, what is your flow rate. You need those numbers to figure out how sprinkers (once you figure out which ones) you get use per zone

https://www.rainbird.com/homeowners/how-many-sprinklers-can-be-used-zone-or-valve

And like rlitman mentioned, you should really use a nozzle like the mp rotators if your not going to go drip

https://www.hunterindustries.com/irrigation-product/mp-rotator/mp-rotator

Design it right the first time - let the pro's at rainbird (or other company) work somthing up for you and then go from there

 

[rlitman]

...And like rlitman mentioned, you should really use a nozzle like the mp rotators if your not going to go drip

https://www.hunterindustries.com/irrigation-product/mp-rotator/mp-rotator...

I mentioned the MP Rotator, because it's a no-brainer drop in replacement to take a spray zone and make it better, without changing timing.

If you have the right soil conditions (NOT on a slope, or where you might get runoff), Rain Bird's R-VAN is a comparable new kid on the block, but works at a higher rate. This difference though means you can't mix and match R-VAN with MP on a singe zone.

 

[yeldogt]

Head to head spacing is critical to getting even watering.

As for fixed popups, first off, sprays are now passe. MP rotators are a drop in replacement that is far less impacted by wind drift.

But aside from the head to head spacing being rule #1, rule #2 is that you do not mix fixed heads and rotors (MP rotators are NOT rotors) on a single zone.

There's nothing wrong with having fixed pop ups along a parkway and large rotors to cover a lawn, but they each irrigate at different rates, so they require different timing to water evenly.

The MP rotors are nice .. still like the pop up in many small situations. I don't mix the types on a zone

 

[tthornto]

I went with Rainbird R-Van Heads because they can be spaced up to 24' apart, and have a lower GPM allowing me to use fewer total heads, I was even able to keep all of the heads on the perimeter of the lawn. That meant no 360 pattern heads were needed and I only needed 1 type of head for the whole yard because they are adjustable from 45 to 270 degrees. Now I only need to keep 1 spare head and can swap out any of them if they get damaged. The adjustment on the RVAN heads can all be done by hand with no tools, so if I see something that needs adjusted I can quickly just do it and not have to go get a screwdriver.

I also highly recommend the Orbit B-Hyve smart controller. It was easy to setup connects to WIFI and allows me to make programing changes or manually run a zone from my phone, from anywhere. So in the summer I can be at work and turn on the sprinklers for a few minutes just to let the kids run through them. It is also capable of automatically going into rain delay mode based on the forecast for your area (saving water) so my water district gave me a rebate that nearly covered the cost of the controller.

 

[AA7483]

Thanks for the info guys. I did use the free design software from orbit. It pretty much echoed the same math that I did. I plan to use rainbird products but dont want to wait to get their plans back. Orbit has an instant design service. I want to get the seed down asap before spring gets too far under way.

 

[AA7483]

Ive had a bhyve for a few years now. I may need to upgrade. Not sure If it will have adequate space for my extra zones. my favorite part is when im working on the system replacing sprinklers or winterizing and not having to run back and forth to the timer..

 

[lazyriverrat]

https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com

Hunter or Rainbird, I’m switching my Toro heads for Rainbirds. Don’t get Toro. I have about 120 heads in my lawn. I’ve had great luck with the Sprinkler Warehouse.


Sent from my iPad using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[ard]

Im converting my lawns into subsurface.

Years ago I put them in around the pool, didnt want water splashing on decks, gazebo, furniture. Fantastic. Lawns were superior to other lawns. Now as I refurb lawns, I install it.

I have been using Netafim for close to 30 years. I think they invented drip irrigation, beginning in Israel as I recall.

Anyway, deep deep expertise and engineering.

For the subsurface stuff I use tubing with integrated emitters, CU loading to help block root infiltration.

For on top, just standard emitters on 1/4 or 1/2 hose. Standard drip stuff.

If it freezes where you live, Im not sure...but here in Cali its a no brainer. IMO

 

[Chrisdrz]

Check out Atlantic irrigation in Egg Harbor Township on the Black Horse Pike used them a few years back very knowledgeable & helpful. Not affiliated in anyway but all they do is irrigation supplies.

 

[buckwheat_la]

I am a landscaper by trade, if you have questions feel free to pm me

 

[AA7483]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Ill check them out thanks Chris!