Sprinkler to Soaker Hose/Drip System

11 years ago

My project to convert an existing sprinkler zone to a drip or soaker hose system is taking me 3 months of research, with what is starting to seem like "no hope" results. The main reason is to properly water my herb garden. The majority of the sprinkler heads are in the back yard and area of the garden. For the most part, I am comfortable with converting the sprinkler heads to a drip system. My dilemma is that there are 2 sprinkler heads on that zone that are on the other side of the fence separating the backyard from the front/side yard. For the most part, I would be content capping them both off. But this is Texas and I'm concerned that the lack of water along that 10 foot span of the house, would have an effect the foundation, (I could care less about the grass). My thought now is to cap the one farthest from the house and to the one closer to the house, connect a soaker hose that would be buried along that portion of the house. But I can not find any information on that type of connection or if it is even possible while having a drip system on that zone as well. Anyone have any experience or knowledge of this?

Featured Answer

mixdplate
Original Author

11 years ago

Mahalo lehua13 for your quick response, but I am absolutely clueless on how I would go about connecting to another zone or creating a new one. And I sure don't want to spend another few months researching the "how to" on that. The soil is clay, so I would also like to keep any digging to a bare minimum. Your last question is valid. I figure I would need a pressure regulator and possibly an elbow fitting to connect to the soaker hose and bury it about 6" away from the foundation. But I'm not even sure if that kind of setup is possible or exactly what fittings are needed.

Comments (6)

lehua49
11 years ago
mp,

This type of mix use for a zone is always a trade off. Check your zone flow rate and pressure to connect the two heads to another zone or create a new zone for it and balance the other lawn zones. Is your soil under and along the house edge clayey or sandy? With that info you will know what to do with that strip close to the house. Are you not sure what fitting to use when replacing a head to drip? Aloha
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lehua49
11 years ago
mp,

1. need flow and pressure of your mainline. Fill a 5-gal bucket with water from your water source and time the fill. Buy an inexpensive pressure gauge from the hardware or garden store that fits to your hose faucet($10-$15).
2. Has your irrigation been shooting away from your house or toward from the lawn. Do you have other vegetation along the house that has been irrigated(planter areas)?
3. Do you have or can you obtain a layout of your irrigation systems valve locations and zones with head counts? What model and brand of heads are you using to irrigate with?
4. Do you have money to have some work done by a professional licensed contractor? Your research can be used to discuss detail with the Contractor?
5. Are you willing to answer more questions and receive answers as the forum is more knowledgeable about your situation?
6. Or all you need is the details on how to hookup your sprinkler with a drip line?

Testing your patience quotient. Aloha
mixdplate
Original Author
11 years ago
Really not interested in doing any re-zoning or anything that intricate. This is a one woman project and want to keep it simple as possible. Just need a possible resolution for: "My dilemma is that there are 2 sprinkler heads on that zone that are on the other side of the fence separating the backyard from the front/side yard. For the most part, I would be content capping them both off. But this is Texas and I'm concerned that the lack of water along that 10 foot span of the house, would have an effect the foundation, (I could care less about the grass). My thought now is to cap the one farthest from the house and to the one closer to the house, connect a soaker hose that would be buried along that portion of the house." Mahalo!
lehua49
11 years ago
mp,

Sounds like a good plan to me. Go for it and see what transpires. Aloha
PRO
Laurie Brasnett
9 years ago
BTW I was looking for gardening advice and it appears my personal garden web has switched over to my pro page. I am responding as an amateur urban gardener only.
Hope our personal experience can encourage you. I lived on the clay of the Canadian prairies and has a SSW facing side yard that could not grow grass (too hot in summer with reflection off stucco home) so I planted thyme and let it go. The bees came and set up lots of hives underground, so you know it was dry. Best friends a girl gardener could ever have. No gophers, no snakes, no pests. The Burr oak trees thrived. The foundation was just fine. The entire house was on a manual operation system but I had valves installed inside the house. Likely if you have clay without any ancient rock coming up you will be just fine. Go for it. Shut off the water between houses and see what happens. Just mark where you close off lines in case you need to restore the original system.

When our house was newer we had some soil settling from the infill for excavation, but that was easily remedied by adding more and resloping. If you have heavy clay you could slope your side to create a simple gutter to drain front and back at the edge of your property line. Ensure your soil slopes away from the houses. You may want to add gravel for a walk way, which ants and trespassers do not like as much as paving blocks. If you are in a suburb with close neighbors you could work on a mutual beneficial no water zone with drainage to front and back. Hope this encourages you.

In our new location we have arid steppe again but the soil is sandy and rocky as we sit on an ancient river system. I have done all the line and layout (the fun dirty digging work) but hired a professional to work at the irrigation diverter. I do a lot of math as a K&B designer and felt hiring a pro irrigation brain to calibrate and assemble the additional pressure controls was money well spent.