Hi bran,

Yup, that is about it. You have to separate lawn from drip by using separate zones because of the different watering durations needed for each. Even separating different types of drip if necessary (flowers versus trees). Aloha

i just got my design back from rainbird. i am really confused. they specified 1 1/4" polyt tubing, and 4 half circle and 4 quarter circle heads in one zone. what i have heard/read so far it seems to me that tubing is too big of a diameter and too many heads per zone.

lehua

i tested pressure on hose bib with water pressure gauge from home depot. when fully open bib had reading of 140 psi. 5 gallon bucket test gave me 15 gpm.
2 not sure, they specified type but didnt include this info.
3 there is no pressure regulator or filter specified in the design. not even for drip irrigation portion. they have included different type of control valve for drip, maybe it is part of this valve. not sure. i will have to check all the items they list on their site.
4 i am thinking t with riser to the head inserted berween two ends of poly tubing.
5. will do

thanks

god, i just called my plumber to come and check pressure reducer.

Bran,

Very good thought. You have very high pressure in your house. At risk are all your o-rings and gaskets on appliances fixtures.
You should be able to go to the Rainbird internet site look up your sprinkler and see what it's flow rate is at a certain pressure. Drip should be around 25-30 max. or you will split your pipe unless you have higher pressure rated pipe. Even with normal house pressure (45-55 psi), you will need a regulator to get psi down to the 25 psi range only in the drip section not the sprinkler head zones. There is a valve that reduces pressure, a type of Cla-valve but this restricts flow and produces significant head loss. Did are designer know how high your system pressure was? If they did and didn't tell you, they would be suspect in my book. Are you sure your pressure is that high? Let us know what your plumber says. You can adjust the house pressure regulator yourself while monitoring the pressure gauge. Just turn the screw on the top clockwise to reduce pressure until the pressure gauge reads 55 psi. If that doesn't won't work call the plumber to replace your regulator. It should only cost you about $250. While you are at it place a ball-valve shut off next to the regulator in an easily reachable spot if you don't have one. Aloha.

it is busted, will have it replaced. what is the highest safe psi i should have it adjusted to?

as for the design, i gave them pressure 80+, this is what i was told at our local company, so that is the number they based their design.

Bran,

That is normal street pressure(80 psi) and should not be that high in your house. You amazingly have 140 psi. You are lucky to have too much pressure. 80 psi is the operating pressure you use when designing a system that is bypassing the house line (Teeing off the mainline to the house before the house pressure regulator). If you are doing that, just reduce the pressure to 80 psi for the lawn and 30 psi for drip(or what ever the drip line is rated for). The designer should know this. He/she should know what the head's flow rate for 80 psi would be.

Check with your plumber about proper psi level for the house. It usually depends on what your water using appliance manuals dictate(washer, water heater). I wouldn't go past 55 psi. Aloha

the guy from water district marked 80+ on the questionaire from rainbird as it was the highest option. the real pressure in my house is 136 as measured by my plumber yesterday.

my sprinkler stub out is from mechanical room in the house. first device when waterline rises above concrete when it enters the house is pressure regulator, thus stub out will receive regulated water pressure. that is whay i was wandering what is the highest safe amount i can get. plumber told me 60psi. it is pretty close to your suggestion so i will stay in this range. thanks again.
need to redesign the whole system though. oh well. i found good website with step by step instructions.

Bran,

Your on the right track. 60 psi is okay. Nice strong pressure in your shower and faucets. The higher pressure will reduce the life of your washer and hot water heater but not by much. Good trade off when also using water for irrigation, drip still needs pressure to be reduced. Good luck. Just go over the thread the same comments apply for the newly designed system. Aloha

just an update, my plumber did some rerouting job and now my sprinkler stub out comes out before water reducer, so it will keep me nice pressure there and reduced pressure in house.

bran,

Good work. The more pressure you have the longer your irrigation head throw will be which means less heads needed. Drip zones need to stay at a lower pressure with a separate pressure regulators. There are some inline types that a pretty inexpensive. Check with your designer about the flow rate at design pressure the heads are designed for. Add the flow rates up for each zone and match against 80% of your systems total flow rate. Same with the pressure but I believe with your pressure you don't have a limit problem there. Give us the particulars of the system and costs. Here at the forum we can help you evaluate your project. Aloha

Stay in the 50 psi range. Eventually your district may include more houses resulting in lower pressure. I would also suggest that you speak to a pro supplier. Might be a good idea to see what they recommend for supply lines, heads, valves and controller.
I bought from ewing in henderson after the suggestion from the guy at home depot and I am happy that I did.

Good luck

I have a really big yard with 4 valves on drip, plus a lawn area on 2 sprinkler valves. I just purchased a 6-valve Toro Lawn Mater II system (model 53806), but I am having trouble with programming. What I want, and used to have in our old system before it died, is for each valve to run at different times, i.e. drip valve 1 for 45 mins on Mon & Thurs at 8:00 & 9:30, drip valve 2 for 45 mins on Tues & Fri at 8:00 & 9:30, drip valve 3 for 45 mins on Mon & Thurs at 8:45 & 10:15, drip valve 4 for 45 mins on Tues & Fri at 8:45 & 10:15, sprinkler valve 5 for 10 mins on Mon, Wed & Fri at 7:00 & 7:30 and sprinkler valve 6 for 10 mins at 7:15 & 7:45. I don't seem to be able to do this as there are only 3 programs and while they allow you to set up 3 separate start times each, they don't allow you to run them on different days for different zones. I have to dedicate program A and B for the two sprinkler valves to run at different times, leaving only program C to handle all 4 of the drip zones at once. That's a lot of water to run at one time - I don't know if we have enough pressure for all that! I talked to their support person, but got even more confused. Should I have purchased a different system? Thanks for taking the time to read through all this, if you have any advice I'd love to hear it!

AM,

Yes most controllers are not as flexible as you would like. The more money the more flexibility. I am not even aware of a 6 program controller. Someone may know. What was the old one that you used? I just need to gather more information from you to make an informed suggestion. I need to know your flow rate of your water source. Is your system off a outdoor house faucet or the mainline from your house before your house pressure regulator? If a hose faucet, then fill a five-gallon bucket and time how long to fill. Give us the time to fill 5-gallons. Next is the drip ones, how long or how many and what spacing and the type of drip lines or emitters? How many sprinklers and what Brand/type for each zone? What I am looking for is flow rates of drip tape or emitters to calculate the water demand for each zone. This is like a design in reverse which is a water audit. If you don't have all the info give me as much as you can. Finally, what is your water pressure? Buy an inexpensive pressure gauge that fits on your faucet from hardware store. When I can tell what zone uses what amount of what, then you can tell what zones can run simultaneously and the ones that need extra time can be at a later time and duration. You might try buying another Controller and hook three zone to one and 3 zone to another for the 6 programs you need. JMHO Aloha