pasgard,

The sprinklers are the type that go in the ground. I did change one thing on my previously mentioned configuation. Instead of the Toro sprinkler heads (which I've not read good things about), I used Orbit heads.

You can find them fairly cheap at http://sprinkler.com

Pasgard,

I don't know what I was thinking when I typed that. I should have written that I used Hunter PGP heads. They give me great coverage and I've been able to get two or three heads running at a time per zone.

Hi,

I am a first time homeowner and don't know the first thing about yard work. Unfortunately I don't have an underground sprinkler system. I purchased a couple of hoses and some pulsating spike sprinklers. First question, are the spike sprinklers meant to be able to stay in your yard. I also purchased the the impact sprinker - but that is on a big base - so if I put those out - I'd have to collect them and move them inside after every sprinkling to keep the yard looking nice. however, these spike sprinklers may not look that bed if I push it as far into the ground as possible. However, I will still have hoses everywhere. Ugh!!!

Also if i decide to buy a few of these spike sprinklers - how far apart to I put them for full coverage? What is the shortest hose you can buy or do you have to cut a hose to make it short enough for your use?

Thanks. Oh here is the picture of the spike sprinkler I am referring to:

{{gwi:119631}}

The pic is not coming through, atlcharm. Must be the age of the thread, because QQ is named HoneyGum and that was a while ago. :)

And no, I never did get my watering system working because of water pressure, but if I could get some of those pop-up heads it might work.

thanks Jimtnc,

Here is a link to the sprinklers, it is the 9th photo on the page:http://melnor.com/sprinklers-pulsating.php

Here is my question again:

Hi,

I am a first time homeowner and don't know the first thing about yard work. Unfortunately I don't have an underground sprinkler system. I purchased a couple of hoses and some pulsating spike sprinklers. First question, are the spike sprinklers meant to be able to stay in your yard. I also purchased the the impact sprinker - but that is on a big base - so if I put those out - I'd have to collect them and move them inside after every sprinkling to keep the yard looking nice. however, these spike sprinklers may not look that bed if I push it as far into the ground as possible. However, I will still have hoses everywhere. Ugh!!!

Also if i decide to buy a few of these spike sprinklers - how far apart to I put them for full coverage? What is the shortest hose you can buy or do you have to cut a hose to make it short enough for your use?

This is a great thread.

I had an estimate for $2300 to install a automatic sprinkler system. 5-6 zones, 20-23 rotor heads, 7-8 spray heads. He says it $500 off the regular price.
Anyway, it got me looking at some alternatives.

Just wondering if anyone had any opinions on this Lawn Belt DIY sprinkler system,
or would it be better to piece something together from the big box stores?

thanks,

jasper

Y'know, I think I love you people. In the non-creepy, wouldn't dream of stalking way, of course.

I'm completely non-mechanical. Put a microchip in it and I can make it dance. Give me gears and ratchets and you better include a service contract because I'm clueless.

I wasn't sure of the mating between the Rainbird sprinkler to the hose mount/stake idea that Blip showed, so I didn't do that. I got inexpensive rotor sprinklers (Melnor, I believe), put two on a zone, cut and buried the hose, and did the side of the house. Two, tapping from the back, covers it along the entire house edge.

The southern face is the one where I have the most trouble. Hopefully, not so much any longer.

blip01,

I want to go out now and head to Home Depot or Lowes and buy the stuff for watering. LOL.

Honestly, I'm so impressed with your DIY project. I also would like to make one but I'm so confused with this thread because it's so long. I have some few questions and maybe the answers are buried somewhere on this thread.

1. What type of hose did you use? I read somewhere that pvc isn't a nice route to do
2. What did you use to dig the soil? How wide should the soil be separated? How deep?
3. Do you have a plain top view diagram of how a DIY home sprinkler looks like which includes backflow preventer, controller, wire, sprinkler head, water from city, etc.

I wish your video was working. I tried the 2 links you posted but failed to load.

Amazing! Phenomenal! ;)

atlcharm - sorry for the delay. Lost this thread among the others. The impact sprinklers I have are the 6th pic down in your link, and do okay...they don't put as much water out as the oscillating type which put out 1" of water in half the time, but gets it done eventually.

You could leave those sprinklers in the ground if they were around the perimeter of your lawn, and just hook to them as needed (providing you had decent water pressure), or bury them just under the soil if they work okay. Just one more idea.

The never ending sprinkler thread!

v1rtu0s1ty, you should check out www.irrigationtutorials.com, that guy Jess has put everything you'd need to know in one spot. Very helpful site.

As you can see from following this thread I started out hooking up a simple system using the outside hose bibs and normal garden hose to connect underground sprinkler heads together. Surprisingly this worked relatively well and certainly helped out a lot when I seeded last fall, no dragging hose and sprinklers around to keep everything moist.

This year I decided to revamp things a bit and make my system better and closer to what a professional would install.

First I switched from using the hose bib as my water source to a direct connection to the water line in my basement. I glued a tee into the CPVC line in my basement and ran a new PVC line with a shutoff valve to the outside of the house. This skips the pressure and flow loss the hose bib causes allowing your spriklers to spray farther and put down more water faster.

I also added a professional backflow device on the new water connection. I was using some simple hose bib backflow preventers, but I'm sure this new unit provides much better protection.

After putting the new water connection in I went about replacing all the garden hose I initially used with 3/4" flexible poly pipe. This allows much higher flow(gpm) than the garden hose, and also a lot less pressure loss.

I layed out some of the heads differently than my original plan because I now was getting more distance from the heads and could space them farther apart and still get good head to head coverage.

As afr as burying the pipe I still have it fairly shallow. I did not rent a trencher and go 12". I basically cut a slit on an angle with a shovel, then fold a flap of grass back, dig out a little dirt, lay the pipe, cover with any dirt that I dug out and fold the flap of grass back over the pipe. Keep it watered for a week after and the scars are pretty minimal. The pipe is about 4" deep maybe. Just need to be careful if I ever aerate.

It would be hard for me to cover all the components and hook-ups here, so please refernce that site above for more detailed info, but basically here is the layout:

-connect to water line in basement
-water line exits house to backflow preventer
-from backflow preventer short pipe feeds valve box in front of house (3 zones for me)
-separate pipe tees off runs around back of house and feeds a second valve box(4 zones there)
-from each valve you run your 3/4"(or 1") pipe to heads in each zone.
-controller is mounted in my garage and wires for each valve run to both valve boxes.

If you plan on trying this check out that site and do lots of planning first. There are things you need to calculate like your available flow(GPM=gallons per minute), your water pressure, etc.

My system has 7 zones and I probaly have about $600 and change in parts in it. A friend with a similar sized yard just got a quote of $2400 for an install, so you can save quite bit of money if you're willing to do some digging!

Good luck.

Hey blip!

My system, based on yours is still running nicely. Though I have yet to add the valves (I'm still running the polypipe underground to a hose bib and manually switching the hoses.

I plan on doing the valves this summer. My question though is how do you blow out the lines at the end of the summer? With my current setup, I just rented a compressor from Home Depot for $20 and hooked it up to the polypipe.

But it isn't clear to me what I'll need to do once I add the valves.

Seems the Orbit timer is no longer available at the box stores. Best price online I found is $62. Anyone know where else to get it? Thanks.

Hey, Blip!

Great info, and yes, the thread doesn't want to die.

One question--you'd mentioned you used a 1/2" threaded adapter to go from the sprinkler stake to the Rainbird can. Could you tell me what adapter that is?

Now that the southern face works with rotaries, I'd like to do the north face. I just don't want to see the sprinklers there--it's in the middle of the gardens.

Thanks!

turf, same basic procedure you're doing now but you'll just be blowing through the valves. I installed a blowout port just before my valves so I can hook up a compressor then just activate each valve with the controller to blow out each zone.

morpheus, I don't use the sprinkler stakes anymore. They do work, but with the poly pipe I use these from Home Depot.

{{gwi:119634}}

I have a tool that cores a small hole in the pipe and then the saddle clamps over it. I then use a short piece of 1/2" threaded "riser" to connect the head.

If you're using regualr garden hose you can use a "tee". Something like this.

{{gwi:119636}}

For garden hose the "barb" sides should be 1/2" and the male threaded part should also be 1/2" inch. Most sprinkler heads will screw right into that.

I switched to those saddles because they are so easy to install. You don't have to cut the pipe and force the barbs into each piece of pipe, a real pain.

For the last head on your hose run you can just use an elbow instead of a tee. Like this.

{{gwi:119637}}

The sprinkler stakes also require you to dig a lot deeper than using these types of fittings.

Thanks blip01. I will look at the link you gave to me.

I have a question again especially for people who have done it. How did you put a sprinkler head and the pipe under the sidewalk?

Virtuosity: He already answered about digging under the sidewalk earlier in the thread, though I don't blame you for missing it among the other posts. Here it is:

"It's not real hard, but it does require a good deal of digging on each side of the sidewalk. Dig a large hole on each side of the sidewalk where you wish to run under. The hole must be large enough to accomodate a length of PVC pipe about as long as the sidewalk is wide. I used 1 1/4" PVC I think. Dig down far enough so you are past the bottom of the sidewalk by a few inches, it should be a gravel base underneath the sidewalk. Line up your PVC and start pounding with a rubber mallet. Stop every few inches, pull out the PVC, and empty any gravel stuck in it. It should actually go through fairly easy. Just make sure you're definitely below the level of the sidewalk, there may be some longer "spikes" of concrete in the middle of the slab that can get in your way. I ran into one and had to dig down a couple more inches to clear it.

Once the PVC is through you can pass your hose through it! "

BAM! Thanks brian_c!!!

timely question, I just went under a sidewalk for the third time 2 days ago. This time I actually discovered that you can pretty much reach the middle of the sidewalk just by scooping out the gravel with your hand from both sides then pound the PVC through the little bit you can't quite reach. If your arms are longer than mine you might be able to make it all the way through. Took about an hour of digging, scooping gravel out and then replacing the grass etc..

blip01,

What kind of backflow device did you use? Sounds like a pvb since you attached it once it exits the house. How difficult was the install for the new supply line and the backflow? I am designing a diy system and thinking about doing the supply line and pvb myself, but am a little hesitant.

mrl05, yes it is a PVB(pressure vacuum breaker).

Install was pretty easy for me. I have a short length of copper pipe entering the basement to the meter and then it changes to CPVC which runs throughout the rest of the house. While I'm comfortable sweating copper there really wasn't a big enough stretch of copper after the water meter for me to cut into and tee off so I cut a small section out of the CPVC pipe and glued in a tee with a threaded female adapter on it. To that I connected a male threaded PVC adapter (CPVC cannot be glued to regular PVC so you have to use threaded connections)and then ran my new PVC piping up and out the side of the house at the appropriate level.

I added a shutoff valve and a drain port in the basement so the irrigation system can be shutoff for the winter and water drained out of the pipe right before the backflow so it won't freeze.

It is a bit disconcerting to be cutting your main water supply pipe in half if you haven't done that type of work before.

Here are a couple of pics.

You can see the color difference between the CPVC and the PVC.

{{gwi:119638}}

{{gwi:119639}}

I drilled a hole through my siding to run my new pipe to the outside, and then it was basically adding threaded PVC connections to the PVB which had a "slip" end I could glue my PVC pipe into.

Looks sort of like this, but of course PVC pipe instead of copper. Copper may be what your code requires so you may want to check that out. I see all PVBs around here on PVC so I went with that.

{{gwi:119640}}

Here's a vid of my sprinklers being put to good use!

Blip01,

That's a great video!

Also, thanks for the picts on how you did the main line into the house. I think that part is the scariest for the average diyer.

Actually I think the scariest part is explaing to your wife that you're about to sever the main water line into the house and there will be no water for a few hours. LOL! I did my work about 10pm and let it sit overnight so the water being off wouldn't be too big an inconvenience.

I think that part is the scariest for the average diyer.

That part is not scary, it's bloody terrifying.

After having the discussion with the Dear Spousal Unit, we're going to live with the buried hose DIY system for a year or two (particularly through lawn re-establishment and replanting in late summer).

Post that, I won't need it much. I only water once a week anyway. I'll probably move the system into the gardens to water those automatically every other day in summer.

Terrifying? LOL, it wasn't that bad.

There is always the option of having a plumber run the line to the outside for you and then you take care of everything else after that. But what I did cost about $65 in parts. You'd probably be looking at a couple hundred bucks for a plumber to do it. But, peace of mind is worth something.

I'd say check what type of pipe you'd be teeing into and then buy some short lengths of that type of pipe and practice gluing (or if copper sweating) it together til you are confident you can do the work yourself.

til you are confident you can do the work yourself.

That would be around 2029 at my average learning curve for Things Mechanical. :-) I have ten fingers. All of them are thumbs.

Were I to do the permanent install, I'd pay the plumber to do the link-in and whatnot. I figure I can't mess up the outside too badly if I'm careful about PSI and GPM and all that.

Blip01,

Thanks for the replies. After doing some research this morning, local codes here in MD require a master plumber to do PVBs. After seeing your posts and pics, it doesn't seem that bad of a job, but I think I'll opt to stay in code and hire the plumber.

Another question for you - Did you use PVC for the runs outside of your house as well. PVC exposed to sunlight degrades some due to the UV rays. Around here, I believe most switch to copper for external water runs and then back to PVC once underground again. Just curious.

blip01,

Since you "slotted" the pipe in the ground for your lateral lines, did you dig small holes at your sprinkler head locations, snap on the saddle tees, screw in your sprinkler head, and then fill the hole (replace sod if possible).

Could you have slotted deeper than 4"? I'm thinking about running my lines at 8"+ to be on the safe side, but not sure if I can "easily" slot 8" for my entire yard. Trencher is $175 a day, but the scars.

As for the blowout port, is that simply a 3/4" reducing tee to 1/2"? I don't own a compressor so I don't know how the hose would attach to PVC for blowing out the lines.

Thanks.

mrl05, copper vs. PVC seems to be a regional thing. Like I mentioned before almost all the installs I see around here you can plainly see that they are PVC out from the house to the PVB then into the ground. I see so many, and obviously done by "pro" installers, that the code here must allow PVC. None of these PVC installs are covered either so UV must not be that big of a concern to the companies installing them.

As for the "slotting" and trenching you can go as deep as you want or as the soil will allow I guess. The "slot" is basically just to get a flap of grass that I can fold back, then once that is out of the way I dig some additional soil out to form a shallow trench. I dig the trench deeper as I near a head then dig a small hole as deep as I need to set the head flush with the ground. You can certainly go 8" but I'd advise you to water the crap out of your lawn before trying to dig down that far. Dry soil will be a bear to go that deep in by hand.

The blowout is just a 3/4" tee that reduces to a 1/2" threaded port that has a plug in it. When I go to blow out the system I will use that port with some sort of fitting to attach my compressor.

Here are a couple pics of my PVB install. And yes that is a $3 Rubbermaid valve box!

{{gwi:119642}}

{{gwi:119644}}

{{gwi:119646}}

Strategic planting hides it fairly well!

blip01,

Thanks for all your advice and knowledge in this thread. I installed (most of) my system during the last week. I have 7 of 8 zones in and all are working great. The last zone requires going under a sidewalk in two spots and my experience going under my porch walkway for the mainline was enough of a deterrent to postpone until later. How you did it in an hour is amazing. Plus, the developer is still doing stuff to the sidewalk strips in my community and I want to make sure they are done before installing any heads there. I did a combination of trenching and slotting (front yard). This was a two-phase project as I built the valve manifold and valve boxes the previous weekend (6/22 - 6/24). Like your original setup, I am running off of hose bibs right now which is providing sufficient flow. Next spring, I will get the proper plumbing done with the pvb.

You have definitely inspired many here to do their own systems. Thanks.

mrl

You have definitely inspired many here to do their own systems. Thanks.

Seconded! Non-mechanical me can't believe he did it himself. :-)

Wow!

This thread has reached 100 posts!

This thread is still getting some love. I have reviewed it a few times and will use some of it for my lawn seeding thia Aug. I cannot afford much of a system - our development's 50 year old community well is being shut down. Each house just wrote a check for around $5,500 for all new main lines, curb boxes, home meters, and city water hook-up. The good news is that our annual 100% watering ban is history.

My plan is to get something in place and hope I get a couple good years out of it. About 2/3 of my lawn can be covered with the garden hose hidden in the mulch. I am thinking about making a 40' run underground toward the street. I may be able to snake a hose/PVC inside of a previously buried 3" drain pipe (attached to gutters). This drain pipe was previously clogged. With it now cleaned out and repaired my gutters should still drain fine. With the front yard excavation I realized it goes all the way to the st. I may use it to protect my hose for that run and then connect it to maybe 3 buried pop-up heads in line(I think (pop-up, rotary gear type) I need to recheck on the head type. Unfortunately I do not yet know what my PSI and GPM will be because my water switch in not complete. It is safe to assume that it will be stronger than my current community well.

Wish me luck! I will try to update on my progress next month. If anyone has suggestions let 'em rip.

grass_man

grass_man,

Since they're doing this from scratch anyway, do youself a favor and ask about the cost of a 2nd water meter for irrigation.

Most water companies will do this and if you go through the right process, you won't be charged a sewer bill for the water using this meter.

The cost in my area is fairly high to begin with. ($800). But might be less if done at the time of the intial installation

But in the long term, it will save you money. My summer water bill is a little high. But it is the sewer bill that really cost me money.

(I wish the sewer company had it's own meter. But the way it is set up is that the sewer company assumes all the water usage goes into the sewer system. I'm getting the 2nd meter put in this fall for that reason)

turf_toes,

I may be incorrect, but I think an extra meter will not be necessary. Our subdivision +/- 200 houses will collectively buy the water in bulk. Someone from our homeowner association will read our meters and handle individual billing. My sewer bill is a fixed amt quarterly and I believe this will not change.

If I have my facts straight I'm paying a base water fee and an additional $3.25/ 1000 gallon. Literature from the association clam that our charges will not change much. With about 2500 to 3000 sq ft new lawn to water I hope not to be in too bad shape. Maybe mothernature will do most of the work this fall.

Thanks for the suggestion.

This thread is single-handedly causing water tables all over the country to drop! LOL!

blip,

AMAZING thread! I'd like to setup something similar to your original setup (ie. outside faucets with orbit timers) but we are in NH with a well!

We currently have a 500ft well with a submersible 1/2hp pump set at 300ft. We have a 20gallon tank and the settings are 40/60 PSI with a 6 gal drawdown. The
folks who dug the well tell me its a 4g/min well (which seems kinda low).

Are there other precautions that I should take prior to proceeding? I've read through Jess Stryker's site which is also amazing but I'm not sure how to obtain some of the data - most importantly it seems is the dynamic water depth (which my well company also did not know)...

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, I would GREATLY appreciate it!

hou30, sorry I know zip about wells, but you're right 4 gpm is very low. As a reference for you I was getting 7gpm from my hose bib, and I can get 13 gpm from my direct hook-up to the waterline in my basement. City water obviously.

60 psi would be fine, but that low gpm number will mean your zones will have to run an extremely long time to put down enough water for your lawn.

Maybe you should check on whether the well is the limiting factor in your gpm # or the pump. Maybe a larger pump would give you more flow.

good luck!

hey blip01, sorry for bringing this thread back to life again! :D

2 months ago, I found out from our village that we can add a second meter. However, it should only be done by professional companies listed in their book. I'm ok with that. I remember, the cost for it is like $280-$350. I'm hoping that's about right.

Anyways, since I have about 9500-9700 sqft that I need to cover for the DIY sprinkler, how many hose bib do I need to have? Is one enough for everything then just put many valves so that they're separated to different zones? Does hose bib placement matter? My house faces east and I got more sqft(80x80) to cover at the back, then sides and fronts about 3000+ sqft.

I saw a rolled colored black pipe in Home Depot the other day, is that the polypipe you and turftoes used? It looks similar to the picture I attached below. If so, are they hard to bend since they're thick? I didn't touch it so I don't know.

{{gwi:119648}}

How did you decide where you placed each heads? Should I plan after the second meter is installed? This way, I'll get an accurate reading of the GPM.

Thanks again!

Ron

v1rtu0s1ty, I don't have a second meter so I can't compare that cost for you, but that sounds reasonable as far as plumbing work goes.

I would suggest that if you are having someone install a new meter for you that you go the extra step and have them plumb a direct connection you can use for your irrigation instead of(or in addition to) a hose bib. If you look a few posts back you'll see me discuss the benefits of increased flow from a direct connection as opposed to running off a restrictive hose bib. Look inside one of the faucets on your house and you'll see how tiny that opening is. You may be cutting your GPM potential in half, limiting your entire system's design.

While you're at it have them install a backflow preveter for you. These can be bought at Lowe's for as little as $40. That will keep fertilizer/pesticides, etc. from being siphoned back into your home's water supply. Yuck!

I have some valves installed at the spot where my water connection is made, then a long length of pipe runs around the back of the house to another set of valves. So all valves should run off the same water connection/backflow preventer.

That looks like the right pipe. I'd recommend not going below 3/4", and 1" if you can afford the cost of the pipe, connectors, etc. It also comes in different pressure ratings. I think 100psi and 160psi. The 100 psi is easier to bend and insert fitting into, but isn' appropriate for use where the pipe is going to be under constant pressure. Use the 160 psi stuff for those situations. Example, the pipe that runs around to the back of my house is constantly under pressure so I used the higher PSi stuff.

Design the system after the second meter is installed. You need to test for GPM and also find the static pressure.

Once you know those things you can start to figure plcaement of your heads. Different heads will throw water different distances depending on what your pressure is. The heads should have a little chart right on them that tells you how many feet of throw you'll get at various pressures. You'll need to take into account pressure losses from your pipe runs and connectors, backflow preventer to figure what the actual pressure a the head will be.

Go forth and make rain!

check out www.irrigationtutorials.com by Jess Stryker for lots of info.

Thanks blip01 for the link. I started reading them this morning.

Anyways, which digging should I follow? diagonal or vertical? Please see picture below

Hmm....interesting drawings. LOL!

Do you mean how should you dig for the pipe?

I'm laughing very hard(with tears) right now on the left drawing. Looks like an alien's private with green p hair. LOL.

Yes, how should I dig the ground for the pipe, just vertical or should I do it a little diagonal? The picture above is actually a side view.

Thanks!

I don't think it matters. I think going diagonal makes it a little easier to place.

I put a shovel on the ground, jump on it, and then lean back - this lifts the sod normally in an angle.

That was for low-voltage wiring, though, not sprinkler pipe!

Just found this forum, I use aan Orbit 4 valve timer and use 2 valves to run 2 hoses with impact spike sprinklers to opposing corners of my front lawn, about 1100 sq.ft. I use 1 valve for a soaker to a separate planting area. I hook a separate hose to the 4th without a valve attached which I can manually turn on and off by swithcjng the lever, this allows me to wash the car and manually water hanging baskets. Nice to see other people's ideas for my future watering projects.

Hey guys, I built a diy sprinkler system last year and this year I wrote a web application that controls it. :D

The construction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj3dNjdHgOQ

The web application - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf2xG8N6iuA

On my last post above, I said that I will build a sprinkler back in 2007. However, it happened after 7 years, LOL