SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

I don't have a great "this is how the book says it should be done" reason. More along the line of problems and complaints I have seen. I notice on the other thread they brought up hydrozoning. At a basic level hydrozoning means that different plants take different amounts of water, depending on plant type, direct sun, soil, etc. So the rotors you run for the sod won't work for the roses in the garden.

The greatest possibility for landscaping change tends to be at the house.
When you put full rotors along the house you limit what you can do without major irrigation changes. The rotary nozzles go on standard popups. There are a myriad of spray patterns/distances available with popup heads, along with adapters to convert to drip. If you make real changes in the landscaping at the house the chances of modifying your existing system to fit is much greater.

I guess the short answer is the closer I get to the house/planters the more control I want over my system. Rotors throw a lot of water a long way. Very hard to control and adapt as things change.
Again, all personal opinion.

Quoted from "GatorGuy"

Stillbreathn,
First, I want to compliment you on the thought you have put into this. Far more than most people would.

I took your photo, expanded it and coded some of your coverage areas.
Just from the picture and your write up it looks ok.
It does appear you might have more coverage than you need in some areas close to the house.
Those areas are small and might not be an issue. And it beats not having enough coverage.

For along the house, take a look at some of the rotator nozzles. Since I believe in staying within a brand when possible, look at THESE. Their coverage and precip rates are good and might serve you better.

You didn't mention how many zones you were going to use. Remember to allow for degradation over time. I usually under design each zone by one head where feasible. Then I have fewer future pressure worries.

Good luck and I sure hope you have a trencher handy.

Thanks for the complement and your advice!

My new design is a lot crazier, I reduced my radius to about 22-23ft so I could easily use the rotary nozzles. Those RB Rotary Nozzles look very cool! Why do you recommend them by the house?

I need to stick with no more than 12 zones.

Quoted from "Central Irrigation"

Something you may be aware of, but thought I would offer an additional piece of advice. You typically only need to change nozzles when different arcs exist on the same zone. I see alot of full circle zones with 4 gpm nozzles which could be 3gpm zoned together and watering times increased to allow for higher precip rates. Generally, what I strive for is to zone around the perimeter of the home, nozzeling accordingly, and then use the 3pgm nozzels for the full circles. So long as full circle heads are zoned together you have complete control of precip rates. This will allow for more heads/zone.
95% of the time, we use only two nozzles, 3gpm for a 180* and 360*, and a 2gpm for 90*. We just watch which heads get zoned together.

Makes total sense, thanks!

The guys over at lawnsite didnt care much for my design so Ive redesigned it several more times. Here is what I have so far. I took an arial photo off google maps and traced it for better accuracy. Here is the thread http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?p=4348660&posted=1#post4348660

Something you may be aware of, but thought I would offer an additional piece of advice. You typically only need to change nozzles when different arcs exist on the same zone. I see alot of full circle zones with 4 gpm nozzles which could be 3gpm zoned together and watering times increased to allow for higher precip rates. Generally, what I strive for is to zone around the perimeter of the home, nozzeling accordingly, and then use the 3pgm nozzels for the full circles. So long as full circle heads are zoned together you have complete control of precip rates. This will allow for more heads/zone.
95% of the time, we use only two nozzles, 3gpm for a 180* and 360*, and a 2gpm for 90*. We just watch which heads get zoned together.

Stillbreathn,
First, I want to compliment you on the thought you have put into this. Far more than most people would.

I took your photo, expanded it and coded some of your coverage areas.
Just from the picture and your write up it looks ok.
It does appear you might have more coverage than you need in some areas close to the house.
Those areas are small and might not be an issue. And it beats not having enough coverage.

For along the house, take a look at some of the rotator nozzles. Since I believe in staying within a brand when possible, look at THESE. Their coverage and precip rates are good and might serve you better.

You didn't mention how many zones you were going to use. Remember to allow for degradation over time. I usually under design each zone by one head where feasible. Then I have fewer future pressure worries.

Good luck and I sure hope you have a trencher handy.

Pros would never use a design that mixes single coverage with triple and quadruple coverage. Start with the necessities, like heads in corners, and maybe the string of heads near the ditch areas. Then look for different ways to fill in the rest.

Quoted from "Wet_Boots"

Before you proceed, go beyond a bucket test. Run the well continuously for at least two hours before you evaluate its performance.

I have ran this well for 48hrs straight with same results.

Before you proceed, go beyond a bucket test. Run the well continuously for at least two hours before you evaluate its performance.

Hello, I'm finishing my design besides my laterals and was wanting everyone to check my design and make sure I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm on a well first off, 13gpm @ 55psi bucket test. I'll be dealing with Oklahoma wind, but early mornings are quite still and when I'll be watering. This is a country acreage so I'm only concerned about up close to the house. I'll have a sediment filter and a double check back flow preventer...with all my psi losses from my system I should be around 40psi at the heads. I'll tee off at the well head 1"pvc off the house main, it has static 70psi with pressure tank. So I'll tee off at the 1" main then to 1"filter, then 1"double check, then I"ll expand to 1 1/4 PVC for my main irrigation line that will be looped around the house as the photo shows. My laterals will reduce back down to 1". The design is for aprox 30' triangular spacing... some are at 20' spacing, I'll be using rainbird 5000 adjustables. I wanted to get even percipitation rates so I started with 4gpm full circle, 3gpm 3/4 circle, 2gpm 1/2 circle, and 1gpm, 1/4 circle....This changes however with the shorter radius areas..see photo!

Let me know if this will work properly. Thanks for your time!