Lawn Sprinkler System Cost

[Bird]

Bird, you may be going about this all wrong. Maybe it's time for the Oak Hill drive North Texas TBN get together. Put some meat on the smoker, bake some of your home made bread and put out the notice. Then, when everyone shows up, put them to work. Shouldn't take long.

Probably a good idea, especially if I could get Skipholiday to come supervise the operation.

 

[Skipholiday]

Probably a good idea, especially if I could get Skipholiday to come supervise the operation.

I will work for pecan pie...

 

[Bird]

I will work for pecan pie...

That could certainly be arranged.

 

[Skipholiday]

That could certainly be arranged.

If I was closer we would get this done.
When it cools off I'm sure you can get it worked out.
I can give you my number in case of any problems.

 

[VABlue]

Pecan pie is all it takes?

I'll be looking up recipes this morning...

 

[Skipholiday]

Pecan pie is all it takes?

I'll be looking up recipes this morning...

I don't discriminate against any pie.

Pecan is the Angelina Jolie of pies to me tho..

 

[J_J]

I think he may have it backwards. Most ppl use the gear drive head now.
Impact heads popped up out of a bowl and they are/were terrible about collecting trash in the bowl that eventually made them malfunction.

I must say that I really liked the way impacts performed and sounded while operating better than any other.

Gear drive heads aren't real impressive to watch but they do irrigate well and they are self cleaning.

Bird I'm clueless what that other shutoff is for. It kind of looks like it went to another meter at one time. Is it capped off?

That other valve could be a shut off valve for what we call here in Florida, a recreational meter which is only used for irrigation. They don't charge a sewage fee on the recreational meter.

 

[Bird]

I don't know just how good they are, but I picked up Rain Bird's pamphlet at Home Depot this past weekend and filled out their form, did the sketch, etc. and put it in the mail today for Rain Bird to design me a sprinkler system. Their design is supposed to even include the shopping list of everything I'd need to buy, so it ought to be interesting anyway.

As for the other shut off valve in my meter box . . . well, I had a city employee out this morning to look at it; not the sort of fellow who inspires confidence in his knowledge and ability, but maybe he's right. He says a new water main went in on this street sometime in the past (don't know when) and when they put in the new main, they put a new tap for our meter and didn't remove the old stuff as they should have so it's just a dead line. They did put a gauge on an outside faucet and said I have 110 psi of water pressure. When I asked him what size meter I have, he said "three quarter five eighths". So I asked, "Which is it? Three quarter or five eighths?" All he knew was three quarter five eighths. Of course, it says 5/8 on the meter inlet, so I guess he was also talking about the 3/4" outlet side. I guess I should have told him the meter is labelled, but I didn't.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Bird,

I was on vacation last week and didn't see this thread. I did this a couple of years ago on a lot about 5 times the size of yours. I learned a lot, enjoyed the project, and got an irrigation system that I would never have been able to afford if I had hired it done.

I started out with the Rainbird sheet from Lowe's, too. After doing some research on the internet, I discovered a few things. One very key piece of information is that the stuff sold at Lowe's and Home Depot is not the same as the stuff sold at contractors supply houses. Take the time to find a contractor's supply that will work with you -- most of them will. Also check for a "John Deere Landscapes" store near you. They carry the pro brands, but sell for more than you will pay a contractors house (if the contractors supply gives you a normal discount).

Right near where the heads and stuff are at your big box store, you ought to find a RainBird pressure gauge that should cost around ten bucks. If you truly have 110 psi, you have some design considerations, and will either want a pressure regulator before your valves or pressure regulating valves. That sounds like an awful lot of pressure, though. 50 to 60 is sort of normal for municipal systems and is what most of the irrigation stuff is designed for.

Brands of gear are kind of like Ford/Chevy or Kubota/John Deere. RainBird and Hunter are well respected brands among professionals. I ended up using all Hunter equipment. Hunter has a superb web site and the best planning guide out there. You can get the planner in PDF format from their site. You can learn a lot by checking out the irrigation section of http://www.lawnsite.com/index.php

The Hunter Pro-C controller is simple to set up, very versatile, expandable if you ever want to grow your system, and very reliable. Contrary to someone else's advice, I would not bother looking for a mechanical clock. I don't think you'll have much luck finding one, and if you do it will be an antique.

 

[Bird]

Jeff, if I install a system, I can't imagine any reason to have something that I can grow or expand later, since I'm just on a city lot. "Officially" it's only 70' x 135', although another 20' of length, while supposedly part of the street right of way, is my front yard. There are always so many brands of anything we buy that it's hard to decide which is best. As you can see, Skipholiday says he uses Nelson, but that Rain Bird and Toro are also good. I use things now like Nelson sprinklers and quick couplers but don't know where to buy the sprinkler system parts. Home Depot has both Rain Bird and Toro, as well as Orbitz. My brother and his son are happy with their Rain Bird stuff and at least it's available. I just came back from Home Depot and the only pressure gauge they had only goes to 100 psi. Tractor Supply Co. has ones that go 200 and 400 psi. We do have a contractor's supply house where I've bought other plumbing and electrical items much cheaper than Home Depot, but I haven't yet checked to see what, if anything, they carry in the irrigation line. And Hunter? Good ceiling fans; never heard of them for sprinklers. As I've said before, I have much to learn. So thanks for the additional information.

 

[Skipholiday]

Hunter makes a good head. We use the hunter sub surface heads on ballfields.

I use Nelson for the 5 year warranty and ease of use. Rainbird makes an excellent product at a good price. The spray nozzles on nelson and rainbird are interchangeable.

I agree with Jeff, stay far away from the mechanical controllers.
Toro makes a good product but they are more complicated to adjust.

Orbit is not a very good product.

You can ask your meter reader and I bet he will know your pressure.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Jeff, if I install a system, I can't imagine any reason to have something that I can grow or expand later, since I'm just on a city lot. "Officially" it's only 70' x 135', although another 20' of length, while supposedly part of the street right of way, is my front yard.

The potential for expansion is not so much in the area of turf, but in planting beds. Mrs. Bird (there is one, isn't there?) might decide she would like to add a bed of flowers you hadn't planned on. With an expandable controller you can just plug in a chip and you're good to go (at least that part of it ).

There are always so many brands of anything we buy that it's hard to decide which is best. As you can see, Skipholiday says he uses Nelson, but that Rain Bird and Toro are also good. I use things now like Nelson sprinklers and quick couplers but don't know where to buy the sprinkler system parts. Home Depot has both Rain Bird and Toro, as well as Orbitz. My brother and his son are happy with their Rain Bird stuff and at least it's available.

The pros I consulted when I built my system steered me toward either Rainbird or Hunter. I haven't looked closely at Nelson at all, but Orbitz is pretty cheesy stuff. Toro has a great reputation, but some of their stuff has a reputation for being a little finicky to maintain. Toro's rotors have the most attractive spray pattern of anything I have looked at. If I hadn't heard the maintenance stories and they had been easier to come by in my area, I probably would have gone that way.

We do have a contractor's supply house where I've bought other plumbing and electrical items much cheaper than Home Depot, but I haven't yet checked to see what, if anything, they carry in the irrigation line.

Take a look in the Yellow Pages. You want an irrigation supply house, not a building trades supply house. Ewing is a chain or irrigation supply houses that has a lot of locations in Texas -- check them out. I used them for all my stuff.

And Hunter? Good ceiling fans; never heard of them for sprinklers. As I've said before, I have much to learn. So thanks for the additional information.

Different Hunter. But then you knew that.

http://www.hunterindustries.com/

Good luck with your research, and I'll be glad to share what I learned.

 

[Bird]

Yeah, Jeff, I had looked at Hunter's website earlier today; just wasn't familiar with that one.

And Skip, it was water department employees who put the gauge on my faucet and said I had 110 psi. I was standing behind the guy so I couldn't actually see the face of the meter myself; just assumed he was telling the truth. I knew we've always had strong water pressure here; just didn't know it was quite that strong.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Yeah, Jeff, I had looked at Hunter's website earlier today; just wasn't familiar with that one.

And Skip, it was water department employees who put the gauge on my faucet and said I had 110 psi. I was standing behind the guy so I couldn't actually see the face of the meter myself; just assumed he was telling the truth. I knew we've always had strong water pressure here; just didn't know it was quite that strong.

At this point, if you have a Ewing, I would check with them about how to deal with the high pressure. I don't think they'll suggest you just pipe it through. I think they'll suggest flow control valves or a master pressure regulator.

So, I might suggest a different approach to the bucket test for GPM. Take a five gallon pickle bucket to the faucet closest to your water meter. With as little hose as possible and a watch with a second hand, time how long it takes to fill the five gallons. 15 seconds = 20GPM. 20 seconds = 15GPM, etc. If you're on a standard outdoor faucet that goes through a significant amount of 1/2 inch household plumbing pipe, this will be a very, very conservative estimate of how much flow you have to work with. I just helped a friend build his system, and our bucket test suggested about 10GPM, but when we tapped into the line by the meter we had over 20. When I did mine, I had a freeze-proof hydrant in the yard, and it measured 20GPM. I designed my zones based on 16GPM available throughout the system, and don't have any problems at all.

 

[Skipholiday]

With 110 lbs of pressure I would say you're safe on the volume unless your pushing your water through a straw.

A 1 inch regualtor cost around $70 to $80 bucks here in Bama.
What happens when the pressure is to high is that the valves will not turn off or they are slow to turn off. No harm is done.
A quality valve should handle well in excess of 110lbs.

You can install a master valve at the meter and connect it to the pump circuit of the control box.
I like doing this on systems that do not have any added hydrants on the trunk line.
The master valve shuts off all water at the meter when the watering cycle is complete. Very good idea if your out of town allot.

Goodluck if and when you install your system Bird.

If you need any assistance don't hesitiate to call.

Terry~!

 

[Bird]

Jeff, I don't have a 5 gallon bucket right now, but I do have a 3.5 gallon bucket, so I made sure the measurement was right and filled it in 15 seconds, so that would be a flow of 13.5 GPM, and that was at the outside faucet at the rear of the house. The one at the front is closest to the meter. And before I do anything, I'll wait to see what kind of plan and design Rain Bird sends me, but I have no doubt that I'll have to use a pressure regulator.