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For those of you that don't have in-ground irrigation and have no choice but to water your yard from an outside Faucet/Bib and hook up a Timer (like for example the Melnor 4-Zone Timer) and run several hoses all over the yard... do you all use any of those cheap $5.00 Backflow Preventer's or Vacuum Breakers that screws onto the Faucet or Timer that you can buy from Home Depot/Lowes to keep any dirty and contaminated water from coming back into the house?

For all my years of watering, I've never really thought much about it... I hope I haven't killed a bunch of people.

And I don't really know anybody else who uses them either.

And if you have the 4-Zone Timers that are set to come on way before you get up in the mornings... I was just thinking about in the case of if the water pressure dropped a little in the middle of the night and sucked some dirty water back into the house... you wouldn't know it ever happened because your were sleeping???

And if they're not necessary for a hose bib, then why are they so important for a professional in-ground irrigation system?


Is a Backflow Preventer and Vacuum Breaker the same thing in this case?

There's a couple types of plastic Backflow Preventer's that the Big Box Stores sell for like $5.00 each (Home Depot has the Rain Bird brand and Lowes has the Mister Landscaper one):
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rain-Bird-3- ... /202262485
http://www.lowes.com/pd/Mister-Landscap ... er/1101653

And then there's the Vacuum Breaker for like $5.00 that Home Depot and Lowes also sell:
http://www.lowes.com/pd/AMERICAN-VALVE- ... er/3353894


Confused...



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Many of the frost free hose bibbs these days have backflow prevention built in. If your bibb has a round knobby thing above the handle then you're all set.

As far as the plastic vs brass types, I've used both. The plastic one will break at the worst possible time and send you running for another. That happened exactly once, and then I got the brass one. I've had the brass one in use for 3 years now. I may have had to change a washer on it once, but that's about it.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

+1, my anti-frost bibb has it too, but I wonder if it's limiting the flow rate.

My Spigot doesn't have that knob on it. When I tried one of those black plastic ones, I noticed that it killed the flow a good bit... it really cut down on the GPM alot... is that normal? What do you do in this situation?

Because WITHOUT the adapter screwed to the spigot, I have enough flow (GPM) to where I can use less Sprinklers and have them spaced farther apart to get good coverage.......
But WITH the adapter screwed to the spigot, I have less flow (GPM) to where I have to use more Sprinklers and have them spaced alot closer together to get good coverage.

Is there a remedy in this situation?



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Make sure you have a backflow preventer and not a pressure reducer (for use in drip irrigation and the like). They look similar in my experience, especially the plastic varieties.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Ric Clint wrote:My Spigot doesn't have that knob on it. When I tried one of those black plastic ones, I noticed that it killed the flow a good bit... it really cut down on the GPM alot... is that normal? What do you do in this situation?

Because WITHOUT the adapter screwed to the spigot, I have enough flow (GPM) to where I can use less Sprinklers and have them spaced farther apart to get good coverage.......
But WITH the adapter screwed to the spigot, I have less flow (GPM) to where I have to use more Sprinklers and have them spaced alot closer together to get good coverage.

Is there a remedy in this situation?
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Plumbing codes, like other life safety codes, are Inforced due to life safety issues. They are not recommended just to provide a cost item for plumbing installers, or municipal water system providers, no matter how inconvenient they might be. If you decide to break any of the life safety codes, do so at your own risk. I don't believe you would do such a thing, or would you? Just saying...
Edit: here's a reference: http://media.wattswater.com/F-DCV.pdf

Hi...I pieced together a small one zone set up. It was cheap and easy with a generic hose bib and flex pipe. I should’ve added a few more zones so I could cover the entire front lawn. The cheap control broke after the first season, I didnt used it much last season. I think you’re on the right track to ensure the system is upgradable as money allows.

I have a "3 sprinkler" system on one problem area of my lawn that typically gets torched every summer. Installed it about two years ago and I buried the flex pipe below the ground for aesthetics. It covers the whole area and typically, doesn't need to be run on a program. I go out, turn it on, and turn to the other zones as needed. For me, it was the convenience of not dragging hoses everywhere to get it watered. Flick a turn on on the bib and the zone is running.

I totally agree that it’s not a decision between a professionally installed system and dragging house. I used to have rubber hose run along my mulch bed and then I would connect a few Gardena sprinklers. The whole system worked OK and was run from a battery powered hose end timer.

This year I got sick of rolling up and storing all the hose every winter. I visited the local Site-One store and they helped me design an irrigation system run off the same battery timer. I ran 1” polypipe around the edge and then used funny pipe to the the underground mp rotator heads. Other than directly feeding the system from the water supply, its very professional, and didn’t require a plumber or an electrician.

I do loose pressure and some capacity by runnin off the hose bibs, but I am a lot more efficient than using my old sprinklers. It was a lot of work, but something I only have to do once.. at the end of the year I just blow it out, and disconnect the rubber hose that connects the poly pipe to the faucet.

I wish I had did this much sooner for the area I have.