Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

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llO0DQLE
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Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 18th, 2017, 7:58 pm

So I just moved in to a new house earlier this year with an underground sprinkler system that was designed and installed by the previous homeowner himself. The problem is that he didn't know much about proper design. In a number of zones there is no head to head coverage, one zone has mixed heads (spray and rotors) so precipitation rates are not matched, one zone (front lawn) has one head from the backyard connected to it (so weird) and one zone (3 sprinkler heads) is not connected to the controller. You can turn on the sprinkler heads with the valves but can't do it with the controller. Also, in two zones, I have spray heads which put out water way too fast and runs off in about after 5 minutes or so. To get one inch down, I'd probably have to turn it on for 5 mins, let it soak for 30 min., rinse and repeat.

Zone 1 - 3 sprinkler heads, 2 rotors and 1 spray head. Not connected to controller. 1 rotor head by the corner of the house and the deck, one spray head by the valve box, one rotor head by the fence in front and to the left of the shed.

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Zone 2 - 5 rotor heads. Left to right - One on the extended post on the left corner by the garden bed, one that's pretty much obstructed by a bush, one by the middle that's also partially obstructed by the trees and plants, one by the play set that goes 360 degrees and the last one on the right corner that's obstructed by the play set. Pics were taken early spring so the plants are so much bigger/full now and the obstruction is worse.

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Pics continued below...

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 18th, 2017, 8:02 pm

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 18th, 2017, 8:12 pm

Zone 3 - Front Lawn. All spray heads. Worst coverage for the whole system. Certain parts of the lawn don't even get touched by water. No head to head coverage. Spray heads put out water too fast and runs off after a few minutes. The two heads that are in the left side of the lawn (between my lawn and neighbor's) are too far into my lawn and not right at the property line so it doesn't cover the whole lawn properly. Certain areas don't have heads such as the front left side as seen in the first pic, as well as the back left side area of the lawn, behind the tree in the second pic, between the head that's seen spraying right near the tree to it's left, and the middle fence post. There is another head not seen clearly in the pics that's right by the concrete walkway in the back, by the property line, near the fence post.

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 18th, 2017, 8:15 pm

Pic of the last spray head by the concrete walkway:

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And the weird backyard sprinkler that's connected to Zone 3/Front Lawn:

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It's also too far in front of the deck.

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 18th, 2017, 8:18 pm

Zone 4 is dead, nothing connected to it.

Zone 5 - Side Yard. Spray heads along side of fence with one rotor by the garden bed.

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Last edited by llO0DQLE on August 18th, 2017, 8:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 18th, 2017, 8:20 pm

Zone 6 - Side Yard. Row of spray heads across Zone 5, plus one rotor by the corner of the deck. Zone 5 and 6 don't have head to head coverage. There is some overlap in some areas but coverage is uneven and really poor in certain sections.

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Zone 7 - garden beds by the side yard and front lawn.

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 18th, 2017, 8:30 pm

My controller

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I had two companies come today to have a look and work on getting a quote for me to redo or improve my system. One installer said that even MP Rotators with PRBs won't tackle the side yard because he said the minimum range was (I forgot the exact number) but I think he said 14 feet. I said that I thought PRBs enabled you to shorten the distance to even 2 feet. He said that technically yes, but the spray pattern wouldn't be the same and coverage wouldn't be good. He said that my only option for the side yard and front lawn were similar spray heads that I have now but different actual heads that, coupled with proper spacing, would give me better coverage. I brought up the issue of the high precipitation rate and told me that my only option was to run for a few minutes, let it soak and run again, rinse and repeat, due to the narrow layout of the area and limited options to types of spray heads.

He also told me that this end section is especially problematic.

Image

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 18th, 2017, 8:34 pm

More pics of Zone 3 - Front Lawn, from different angles.

ImageImage

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 18th, 2017, 8:40 pm

I'd appreciate some feedback as to what my best course of action is. One company said redo the whole thing. The 2nd company said we could either redo, or improve what I have by moving some heads around, changing some of the spray heads in the side yard and front lawn and moving them around to get better coverage. He did say that it wouldn't be 100% head to head coverage for most areas, there will be about 90% overlap, meaning the sprinklers wont reach each other but will be about 1-2 feet short.

Also, when you guys do catch can audits, how anal do you get? Do you expect 100% even coverage or is it normal to get some discrepancies, and if so, how much? Say some cans get 1 inch, others are 0.8", is that acceptable?

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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by Green » August 22nd, 2017, 1:25 pm

Some general advice:

I'd suggest trying to even out zones 1 and 2 yourself using nozzle swaps and the catch can approach. It's going to take a lot of trial and error, but I find that if you only change one nozzle at a time, you can get closer and closer to where you want it to be.

Zone 3 obviously needs professional attention. Same with 4.

5, we've already talked about in the other thread.

Keep using hand-watering and hoses as needed in the meantime to supplement...assuming you've had to do that.

As for catch cans...you'll never get everything to match perfectly, even on a good design. Just get as close as you can.

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 22nd, 2017, 2:09 pm

How hard is it to connect the heads to the controller? Zone one turns on by manually turning on the valves but not connected to the controller. Also, would like to disconnect that one head in the backyard that's connected to Zone 3 (Front lawn) and maybe connect it to Zone 1 or 2.

Zone 4 is nothing. No heads connected to it.

Zone 5 and 6 are the side yard across each other which is the section talked about in my other thread.

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 22nd, 2017, 2:13 pm

Also for Zone 2, I'm thinking of putting all the heads on a pole to extend them over the shrubs like the one head on the corner. Not sure if I can DIY that.

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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by Green » August 22nd, 2017, 8:17 pm

^So, you can try shrub heads (that are fixed and don't retract into the body).

Another option, if doing spray heads, might be Rainbird Polyflex risers. They're narrow tubes to extend above shrubs and flower beds.

My current experience pretty much ends with routine adjustments and nozzle swaps. There are others here who have retrofitted, repaired, or installed complete systems on their own, though.

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 22nd, 2017, 11:46 pm

Yeah it'd be good of those people could chime in...

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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » August 23rd, 2017, 9:01 am

The good news is you don't have a HUGE area to cover.

Where there isn't head to head coverage, you can splice in some hunter MP rotators in the middle. They use less water, so you can fit more per zone. I've seen advertisements for some splices that are pretty easy to push on.

I would definitely standardize heads, and I might even consider a redesign using the existing tubing rather than try to fix a really messed up design.

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llO0DQLE
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Re: Please evaluate and advice me on my irrigation system

Post by llO0DQLE » August 23rd, 2017, 1:03 pm

How do I splice in? And without a blueprint of the piping, how do I figure out where they are? All I know is that they're buried about a foot deep...

When you say you'd rather redesign with existing tubing than fix a messed up design..what do you mean?

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