Had one of these a long time ago. Pretty efficient and effortless way to water a big yard, especially if you have a flat yard. That baby could really toss a wide pattern.
Irrigation systems
- Thread starter mramseyISU
- Start date
I feel your pain. We had a full drip system and lawn irrigation at our last house in Phoenix. It was the bane of my existence. It was constantly springing a leak, heads failing, control unit failing, valves failing, you name it. My neighbors probably thought I had bags of gold littered throughout the yard given the number of holes I had to dig. The supply line leaking under the driveway was the most fun repair. I bought lines and unions in bulk.
I think I would be fine with an irrigation system if the supply lines were PVC. The black irrigation lines are total junk. I miss the back yard but I do not miss any of the maintenance.
Our meters are set up to where they will show an alarm during the monthly meter readings if there is a leak. The water district notifies customers if they have a leak. I'd contact your utility and find out if the can tell you whether or not you have continuous flow. Our drinking water and irrigation water are the same, and are metered at a single meter.
Last year i changed to a watering schedule that was fewer days, but longer minutes per station. Rather than watering every other day at 2am for 30 minutes per station, I watered twice per week at 2am, for 40 minutes per station. Grass stayed green. Occasionally i'd add one day if the lawn was looking stressed.
Last year i changed to a watering schedule that was fewer days, but longer minutes per station. Rather than watering every other day at 2am for 30 minutes per station, I watered twice per week at 2am, for 40 minutes per station. Grass stayed green. Occasionally i'd add one day if the lawn was looking stressed.
I'm a 2 times a week guy and go 10 minutes per zone, 6 zones. 10 minutes is a little rough, but averages a little over an hour
I don't need my green to be bright green in July, but I think it helps some.
I don't need my green to be bright green in July, but I think it helps some.
I was resisting starting my system up until I couldn't wait any longer this last weekend or it would have been all brown and crunchy. So of course after running twice since I started it we got a decent rain last night.
Not every yard is the same. My neighborhood is all sand so I can't get away with going too far between waterings if it is going to be effective but I don't set it for more than every other day and skip days if we get any rain at all or if it is cool/overcast and the grass is doing okay.
I second the notion of a rain sensor on the system. The last thing I want is to be throwing liquid money into the yard during a torrential downpour. My system had one on it when I bought the house and it has definitely paid for the less than $30 you could buy the same one for today.
Not every yard is the same. My neighborhood is all sand so I can't get away with going too far between waterings if it is going to be effective but I don't set it for more than every other day and skip days if we get any rain at all or if it is cool/overcast and the grass is doing okay.
I second the notion of a rain sensor on the system. The last thing I want is to be throwing liquid money into the yard during a torrential downpour. My system had one on it when I bought the house and it has definitely paid for the less than $30 you could buy the same one for today.
Mind sharing which one/where to find those? Do they just plug into the unit, or how do you connect them to the system?
Amazon.com : HUNTER Sprinkler MINICLIK Rain Sensor : Rain Gauges : Garden & Outdoor
Amazon.com : HUNTER Sprinkler MINICLIK Rain Sensor : Rain Gauges : Garden & Outdoor
www.amazon.com
I believe there are two lead wires on the sensor. Inside your contoller you connect the wires to the two terminals (screws most likely) for the sensor. Then, there is a switch or setting on your controller where you turn the setting to bypass sensor on. I think that is all there is to it.
Also, if for some reason you have to run the system after a rain you can simply turn the sensor back off again and it will run as it did before you installed the sensor.
I've done most of the repairs myself. Doesn't change the fact that it's costing me time and money.
This year the copper pipe from the house out to the sprinkler system had a fracture even though it was drained and shut down for the winter. Had to replace entire assembly.
I don't have a ton of experience as this is my first season with a system since I moved in October and it came with the house. But, I would recommend at least checking out Iowa Irrigation. They did my start-up and inspection. The tech found an issue from when my data line was buried in the fall and got it up and running in no time. If it had just been the water line they would have repaired it for free, but part of the control wiring was cut so they charged a little to splice that. Also, I've had some questions about the system and they were really responsive to my questions and made some settings recommendations as well. So, not a full install, but they've been great with everything else so far.
Just had an irrigation system installed yesterday. It's 8 zones and currently scheduled to run 2 hours and 40 minutes which seems high to me. 4 zones at 15 minutes and 4 zones at 25 minutes due to the size of the zones and heads used.
The guy told me to run it every day for a week to help the grass recover from the installation and then drop it back to 3 days per week. Which still seems like a lot. I don't have to have a lush green lawn, I just want to develop the roots.
Any thoughts from anyone on the schedule they set?
The guy told me to run it every day for a week to help the grass recover from the installation and then drop it back to 3 days per week. Which still seems like a lot. I don't have to have a lush green lawn, I just want to develop the roots.
Any thoughts from anyone on the schedule they set?
There are a lot of variables. What is your soil like? Clay or peat will retain water much better than sand. I have 7 zones and the zones with the large heads go for about 20 minutes and the zones with the small heads go for about 7 minutes. I am entirely on sand so I have to water pretty regularly - I am on an even days schedule. When it is very hot, dry and windy it will need more water. If it is humid you will lose less to evaporation so the water will go further.
Also most systems have a percentage feature. With the push of a button you can increase or decrease the watering time in every zone by about 10% with each push. I had it at 80% early in the season but with this drought I am now at 120%. I generally have it lower at the beginning of the watering season when we are getting more rain and again at the end of the season tapering off watering all together in the fall.
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Perhaps landscape with trees or prairie-style / native plants or shrubs instead of watering? Or, just don't water. You may be surprised, even if you live in suburbia, that there are more people like you who think it's unnecessary to water, but just moved into a house with the standard lawn, etc. and feel like it's easier to just "go along." I look at those people watering their lawns all the time and I think what a waste, and it shows how ill-informed they are and simply striving just for the appearance. The same with spraying chemicals on your lawn to control pests.
We live in a world with less and less resources, including water, and more and more consumption and people. Perhaps consider giving up watering to save some money and help conserve? It takes energy to clean that water and pump that water. That energy is produced mostly with polluting natural gas or coal. That stuff goes into the atmosphere when burned. I do know that using water in central Iowa is a lot different than the Valley of the Sun in Phoenix, but it all still matters.
Global warming and climate change is on a dangerous path at this point, but there are so many little things we could all do to have a tiny effect, but if we all did them collectively we could change the world. Driving less, recycling, consuming less, not watering lawns, etc. Would love to see more people give up watering their lawns.
We live in a world with less and less resources, including water, and more and more consumption and people. Perhaps consider giving up watering to save some money and help conserve? It takes energy to clean that water and pump that water. That energy is produced mostly with polluting natural gas or coal. That stuff goes into the atmosphere when burned. I do know that using water in central Iowa is a lot different than the Valley of the Sun in Phoenix, but it all still matters.
Global warming and climate change is on a dangerous path at this point, but there are so many little things we could all do to have a tiny effect, but if we all did them collectively we could change the world. Driving less, recycling, consuming less, not watering lawns, etc. Would love to see more people give up watering their lawns.
He just had the system installed. I don't think your post is going to sway him.
You are just going to have to test and see what works. Last year I stopped the schedule and turn it on for the next morning when I think it needs it. I've had better control doing it that way and probably use less water. As far as times for each zone, again you will have to test and see what is getting too much water and what is still dry. Then if you are using a system that has seasonal adjustments, that will come into play as well. It may take you a couple of seasons to dial it in.
This guy! For those of you that have had sod laid down in the past few weeks, the best of luck keeping it alive.
Also, your times will vary dependent of the heads used versus differnt zones or what someone else has. What I did at first is bought few cheap water guages and also used old tuna cans(Place one in each zone) to determine about 1/4" each time I ran it. This is a good way to dial it in faster too. You are better off to water fewer days, but a little heavy then more days and too light.
