Advice to a college guy thinking about putting in a sprinkler sys

17 years ago

At my house we have a large front lawn that is beat with sun all summer. This year it failed to survive and we are re-doing the grass, this time I got the idea to put in some sort of sprinkler system while the grass hasn't been planted yet. I'm trying to see how hard this would be. I was thinking we would only do the zones for this front patch now and just connect to the next valve box for future continuation.

The yard is a semi-circle shape with a circle drive around it. The street side is about 80 feet long and the middle of the circle is about 45 feet from the street. I was thinking maybe the perimiter could be lined with the larger area heads that shoot up to 30 feet and just the perimeter facing in would water the whole yard. My idea was to put a valve box near the meter and run pvc from it under the drive way to a future valve box on the other side and trench the control line with it. Then I was thinking maybe have a plumber come out to connet the 1st valve box to the water meter in the middle of the yard.

Know if those large area heads would be good for this area? With a minimum size meter, how many of them can usually be on one zone without a major loss of pressure?

What size feed pipe is best to run? Is it ok to go accross a front yard, around the side and all the way across the back yard our would the last zones be really weak?

I've also heard about having a main valve to shut off the entire system when not in use. Is that a difficult thing to do control wise? I was thiking if the entire system is on a main valve that is controlled, all the pipe could be 10" below as to 24" for a feeder that is always pressurized.

I've been studying the online guides some too. Just hoping there is something I could do before we work on the grass this fall.

Thanks for any advice!

Comments (5)

jduke7
17 years ago
The best advice I could give you is to check out this web site. www.irrigationtutorials.com It is by far the best web site on irrigation . Though it will not design it for you, it will most definately help. Best of luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Jess Strykers's Irrigation Tutorials
spencer_electrician
Original Author
17 years ago
Well a neighboor of mine who is building his house talked to me today about his system and some things seemed different than the tutorial. He says that 1" poly pipe can be used for the main line even if it goes around the whole house (200ft)I was thinking 1 and 1/4" pvc would be a good choice. He says he gets 70 psi at his meter a few houses down so I'm hoping if I tap into our main line I'll have decent pressure. But the orginal line to our house is 3/4" galvanized and from what I have seen that would support 11 gallons per minute. So in out front yard I was thinking I could get a 35' spray out of rotors (3 per zone) But it seems now that I could do this whole system with 1" poly pipe. Thanks for any advice.
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irritation
17 years ago
I would never use poly pipe for main. The fittings have to be clamped and prone to leaks. Even a drip would be a problem because it is constantly under pressure.
jduke7
17 years ago
I would recommend a looped main line around the house, but I would use a master valve and pvc pipe (even pvc pipe can leak). You can never go wrong by using larger pipe (such as the 1-1/4" over the 1"). The larger the pipe the less friction loss = better performance. You may be limited to poly pipe as to pvc (due to the supply and demand in your area). Check with some local distributors in your area.
spencer_electrician
Original Author
17 years ago
Ok so it sounds like poly-pipe is still an option. My plan has coming out of the meter a master shut off valve then to a back flow device followed by a valve that will de-presurize the main line when not in use. It just seemed like on the website for that length of distance 1" and a 1/4" is required. I can't do a loop since the left of our property is a giant concrete driveway with a side entrance garage, the drive goes all the way to the property line. I live in a large city though so it should't be a problem to get either pipe. But if poly will do the job the way I'm planning, it seems like it would be a lot easier to work with.

As to the heads, if I want the Hunter rotors to spray near 40 feet (overlaping with other rotors) does 3 sound like a good number for an average zone. I have a 3/4" copper connection to the street and 4 houses down 70psi is present. Or maybe I am under using the zones. They all would be 180 degrees in this set up.

I suppose if pvc is smarter way to go I could deal with the extra gluing and fittings. Just my neighboor friend might not be as helpful going against his advice :( He said he'll come over with the trencher he is renting saturday and trench around the meter and help me get the master installed :)