Any Sprinkler Installation Suggestions...

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northeastlawn
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Any Sprinkler Installation Suggestions...

Post by northeastlawn » March 16th, 2020, 12:55 pm

This spring I am replacing the old "Hose in the Mulch bead" sprinkler system with some pop-up heads and 1" Poly Pipe. I will still use a hose end battery timer, but figure this way I can leave the pipe in the mulch bed year round and only have to blow it out come fall.

My lawn is basically a rectangle and is about 1,500sf. I have 50psi of pressure and about 5gpm. I did a quick design trying get the heads touching each other, and the sprinklers would have to be 15' to 20' head to head. I stay under the 5GPM I have using two zones.

The local site-one store suggested Hunter MP Rotators along a 1" poly pipe, the sprinklers would branch out using barbed tees, and have a 1/2" line feeding the sprinkler heads.

Any suggestions on these sprinkler heads or on things to look out for in the installation process?

I am new to sprinkler systems and have watched some videos, but could use some tips.

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: Any Sprinkler Installation Suggestions...

Post by ken-n-nancy » April 8th, 2020, 10:02 pm

What are the dimensions of your rectangle? About 30'x50'?

I don't have any experience with the Hunter MP rotators. Rather, I have traditional Hunter rotors, either PGP-ADJ or I-20SS, but have about 10x the size of lawn that you do, with a standard Hunter controller and 8 zones of irrigation.

Poly pipe is easy to install, durable, and inexpensive. I've had no troubles with it.

An issue you'll need to figure out is how to blow out the system -- do you have a way to do that?

Head-to-head coverage is a must. If you have a rectangular lawn, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to get good head-to-head coverage. If using traditional rotors, nozzles can be changed to get appropriate relative coverage for corner heads vs. side heads.

northeastlawn
Posts: 1259
Joined: June 1st, 2015, 3:10 pm
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Re: Any Sprinkler Installation Suggestions...

Post by northeastlawn » April 8th, 2020, 10:34 pm

I managed to get it all in the last few days, here are some things I wished I would have considered.....

1. Get more fittings and pinch clamps than you think you need, buying the exact amount of fittings was a mistake and I had to keep getting more as the conditions on the ground forced me to tweak the design

2. Poly pipe doesn’t bend as much as you think, it can be easily pinched, make sure you get some straight connectors to make repairs

3. Concrete mushrooms are actually easy to chip away, the first day I went nuts getting the poly pipe around a fence post, when all I needed to do was use a hammer and chisel to remove the excessive concrete, would have saved so much time if I would have just Done that from the start

4. When designing the system, always assume the worse water pressure and pick the head based on the smallest radius stated in the specs

5. Hunter MP2000 are great, MP1000 not so much, the heads that used more pressure worked better and were easier to adjust than the lower pressure / radius heads that should have worked better on paper

I have an air compressor, so blowing out the system should be ok

Right now I’m rigging a bracket to attach the poly pipe to the fence near the water source. I’ll attach the hose once a week when I water and use a hose end timer. Overall it’s a huge upgrade over just using sprinklers and hoses buried in the mulch beds, for almost the same money I should have done this years ago.

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: Any Sprinkler Installation Suggestions...

Post by ken-n-nancy » April 13th, 2020, 11:13 am

Does your post imply that you now have everything installed? Congrats!

northeastlawn
Posts: 1259
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Re: Any Sprinkler Installation Suggestions...

Post by northeastlawn » April 13th, 2020, 11:53 am

Yes, put the finishing touches on it yesterday. We have had enough rain the last few weeks and I am not sure when I will need to do the tuna can test to figure out how long to run it, but I am getting very good coverage.

I don't know who first suggested I just run 1" poly pipe instead of using regular garden hose, but this is a huge upgrade and won't have to be removed every winter like the garden hose. I'd say if you have a small yard and can get away with battery operated hose end timer with 3-4 zones, its worth the effort.

You do loose some capacity by running it off a hose bib, but then again, not everyone can swing a plumber creating a new water line and an electrician running new wiring. The poly pipe and sprinkler heads get you half way there in a more DIY friendly project.

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