Saturday, May 4, 2024

How to Plan and Install a Home Lawn Sprinkler System

how to design a sprinkler system

Your water source can have an impact on the sprinkler system in terms of water availability and flow rate. Considering these factors when laying out a sprinkler system is essential to ensure a sufficient water supply. Make a rough sketch of your property and write down the measurements.

How to Design a Sprinkler System for a Big Lawn

Knowing these two things, you can begin to group your heads into zones. When mapping out the zones, it’s important to provide sufficient water pressure to each zone. All the heads in the zone combined must be using at or below the total available water flow (GPM).

Find your water meter size

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Using your sprinkler system layout diagram, place a landscape flag or stake in every location where you plan to install a sprinkler head. Most in-ground sprinkler systems utilize pop-up sprinkler heads for watering the green areas. When you turn the system on, the head pops up from the ground level, evenly distributing water at a low angle. Now that you have mapped out your area for your home sprinkler system, you must select the best sprinkler head types for designated zones based on the plants growing there.

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That doesn’t mean it’s easy, and it certainly doesn’t mean you have a good chance of getting it right the first time. After you have flushed the debris from the system, you can attach the sprinkler heads to your yard irrigation system. Starting at one sprinkler location, assemble all the parts except the sprinkler heads and then move on to the next location and repeat the process. Before you install the heads, you need to flush dirt and debris that made its way into the pipes, or they can clog up. Hydrozones can be large or small; they must include all areas you’ll water with your sprinkler system. Make sure to include those small strips between the sidewalk and the street and even ground cover plants you want to be watered.

When you reach an area where you want to install a sprinkle head, use the pipe tee in between pipes. Once you successfully gather everything listed above, you can move on to build your sprinkler line. You can adjust the length of the pipe by cutting it using the cutter tool. Proper installation ensures peak performance and maximum longevity off your product.

Different plant types

Hunter also recommends contracting the services of a professional for system maintenance needs as well. The pipe that runs from the water meter to your home is called the service line. The service line is usually made of either plastic, copper, or galvanized steel. To determine the diameter of the service line, wrap a piece of string around the pipe, mark it with a pen, then measure the string.

Deciding whether to do it yourself or have a professional install your lawn irrigation system is a process of weighing many essential factors. Before deciding on the type and layout of your watering and irrigation system, evaluate your yard thoroughly. Place an empty 5-gallon plastic pail beneath the hose spigot, turn on the water at full pressure, and determine how long it takes to fill the bucket. Turn off all water outlets (hoses, faucets, shoes) inside and out. Attach the pressure gauge to an outside hose bib and turn on the spigot. You want to design the sprinkler system to deliver 100% overlap of the watered areas to eliminate dry spots.

how to design a sprinkler system

Once you have your sprinkler system, some tips can improve your experience. Use compressed air to blow any water out of the lines at the end of each growing season. Those plastic lines may survive a freeze or two, but any connectors will almost certainly leak afterward.

It would help if you also considered installing a pressure regulator, which reduces fluctuations in the amount of water supplied from one zone to another, depending upon demand over time. The irrigation lines should be buried about eight inches deep, but there’s no hard and fast rule. If you use pop-up sprinkler heads, the pop-up housing will dictate how deep the line needs to be.

Once you figure these out, you can decide what components to use and purchase the correct parts. Just because you decide to install your own irrigation doesn’t necessarily mean you need to build an extensive sprinkler setup. Some irrigation companies offer sprinkler system kits that are a plug-and-play option. For some homeowners, the kits fit their watering needs; for others, they need to build a system to get what they want. Make sure it includes all of the heads, piping, fittings, controller, valves, etc. It’s wise to buy about 10-15% more piping than you think you’ll need to account for mistakes.

Now that you have located underground wires and pipes, mapped your system, and purchased supplies, it’s time to learn how to install the system. Place the heads at least 30 cm away from trees, walls, and fences. In addition, measure the distance from one irrigation head to another and make sure it is equal to the sprinkler's radius to accomplish head-to-head overlap. There are a plethora of head types used in irrigation systems. Let’s talk about each, their pro’s and con’s and where you might use them.

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