Hello everyone,
After building the terrace last year, we are now about to start with the lawn and some shrubs.
We are now considering whether to plan for garden irrigation.
Our old garden was much larger and we rarely watered it at all.
But now we have a southwest-facing garden, so it probably makes sense to water it to prevent damage.
We have an outdoor tap, and next to it there is a cistern water tap.
From there, a conduit runs to the lawn.
But what next?
Should we install pop-up lawn sprinklers, or just a water outlet where the existing sprinkler can be connected as needed?
Do you use drip irrigation for the shrubs?
What systems do you have? And are you satisfied with them?
I made a rough sketch, unfortunately not very good since I’m on the go. But it should give you an idea of the situation.
Black is house and garage, blue is terrace, green will be the lawn, and the dark shading is the rough plan for the shrubs.
Our lawn is about 20 meters (65.6 feet) wide and 5–7 meters (16.4–23 feet) deep.
Best regards,
Birgit
After building the terrace last year, we are now about to start with the lawn and some shrubs.
We are now considering whether to plan for garden irrigation.
Our old garden was much larger and we rarely watered it at all.
But now we have a southwest-facing garden, so it probably makes sense to water it to prevent damage.
We have an outdoor tap, and next to it there is a cistern water tap.
From there, a conduit runs to the lawn.
But what next?
Should we install pop-up lawn sprinklers, or just a water outlet where the existing sprinkler can be connected as needed?
Do you use drip irrigation for the shrubs?
What systems do you have? And are you satisfied with them?
I made a rough sketch, unfortunately not very good since I’m on the go. But it should give you an idea of the situation.
Black is house and garage, blue is terrace, green will be the lawn, and the dark shading is the rough plan for the shrubs.
Our lawn is about 20 meters (65.6 feet) wide and 5–7 meters (16.4–23 feet) deep.
Best regards,
Birgit
Hi Rick2018,
Thank you for your detailed response.
Once the kids are in bed, I’ll take precise measurements and make some drawings.
What exactly do you mean by this:
In addition to the main/distribution line, you need a control cable. The number of cores is the number of valves plus one.
These boxes contain solenoid valves. Each solenoid valve controls one zone.
A power cable, right?
That wouldn’t be a problem at first since we have electricity at the corner where the water supply is.
The entire garden is exposed to sunlight evenly.
Should I still create a separate zone for each sprinkler?
I will leave out drip irrigation for now since we didn’t water the shrubs at the old house either. Instead, there will be outdoor water outlets.
So that would be about 3 sprinklers and 2 outdoor water outlets, meaning 5 zones?
Best regards
Birgit
Thank you for your detailed response.
Once the kids are in bed, I’ll take precise measurements and make some drawings.
What exactly do you mean by this:
In addition to the main/distribution line, you need a control cable. The number of cores is the number of valves plus one.
These boxes contain solenoid valves. Each solenoid valve controls one zone.
A power cable, right?
That wouldn’t be a problem at first since we have electricity at the corner where the water supply is.
The entire garden is exposed to sunlight evenly.
Should I still create a separate zone for each sprinkler?
I will leave out drip irrigation for now since we didn’t water the shrubs at the old house either. Instead, there will be outdoor water outlets.
So that would be about 3 sprinklers and 2 outdoor water outlets, meaning 5 zones?
Best regards
Birgit
Hello Bibi,
the control cable is not a "power cable." You need the control cable from the distribution box to the location of the irrigation controller. It’s best to run the control cable inside a protective conduit.
The easiest option is an irrigation timer (ranging from simple models to ones controlled via app). This requires a power outlet. The control cable connects to the timer. Through its transformer, the valves are then opened via the control cable.
You do not need one zone per sprinkler. Instead, group as many sprinklers as possible into one zone until you reach about 90% of the maximum flow capacity of your water line.
As I described above, first position the sprinklers and then add up the flow rates.
You will need significantly more than three sprinklers. They need to overlap each other to ensure proper coverage. However, 2–3 zones for the sprinklers should probably be sufficient.
The sprinkler valves could be controlled individually per zone or all together on one zone. Usually, you only operate one at a time. Even if occasionally two run simultaneously, it won’t cause problems since the water flow from the hose will simply be lower.
With sprinklers, having too high pressure and flow can cause serious issues (sprinklers won’t pop up properly, shorter reach...).
If you don’t have one valve in front of the house and one at the back, I would recommend controlling them with a single zone. This will save you valves.
the control cable is not a "power cable." You need the control cable from the distribution box to the location of the irrigation controller. It’s best to run the control cable inside a protective conduit.
The easiest option is an irrigation timer (ranging from simple models to ones controlled via app). This requires a power outlet. The control cable connects to the timer. Through its transformer, the valves are then opened via the control cable.
You do not need one zone per sprinkler. Instead, group as many sprinklers as possible into one zone until you reach about 90% of the maximum flow capacity of your water line.
As I described above, first position the sprinklers and then add up the flow rates.
You will need significantly more than three sprinklers. They need to overlap each other to ensure proper coverage. However, 2–3 zones for the sprinklers should probably be sufficient.
The sprinkler valves could be controlled individually per zone or all together on one zone. Usually, you only operate one at a time. Even if occasionally two run simultaneously, it won’t cause problems since the water flow from the hose will simply be lower.
With sprinklers, having too high pressure and flow can cause serious issues (sprinklers won’t pop up properly, shorter reach...).
If you don’t have one valve in front of the house and one at the back, I would recommend controlling them with a single zone. This will save you valves.
This is probably from a supplier, for example, DVS irrigation.
Put it together yourself to fit your needs. The controller and distribution box are also missing in your example.
So, the housing PRS40.
Sprinkler heads Rotator 2000 (presumably). This can only be defined once you have drawn the whole system into your plan.
Try searching on Google for Hunter Rotator datasheet. There you can see the different heads and flow rates. The PRS40 housings always reduce the pressure to 2.8 bar (40.6 psi) to keep it constant.
Put it together yourself to fit your needs. The controller and distribution box are also missing in your example.
So, the housing PRS40.
Sprinkler heads Rotator 2000 (presumably). This can only be defined once you have drawn the whole system into your plan.
Try searching on Google for Hunter Rotator datasheet. There you can see the different heads and flow rates. The PRS40 housings always reduce the pressure to 2.8 bar (40.6 psi) to keep it constant.
In your example, it says that the system needs to be divided into two zones.
You could manually switch everything every time, but that doesn’t really make sense.
With a sprinkler, you don’t get proper coverage, and the distribution is not uniform.
Theoretically, you could use a watering can, or move a sprinkler every half hour.
The rotators I mentioned from Hunter (similar products are also available from Rainbird) are water-efficient, provide even coverage, and are wind-resistant. With the mentioned PRS40 case, you can combine any heads and always get the same precipitation rate per square meter regardless of the head used.
An automatic irrigation system, as the name suggests, should be "automatic." So it’s better to do it properly from the start. Whether you bury 3 or 6 sprinklers doesn’t make a big difference.
You could manually switch everything every time, but that doesn’t really make sense.
With a sprinkler, you don’t get proper coverage, and the distribution is not uniform.
Theoretically, you could use a watering can, or move a sprinkler every half hour.
The rotators I mentioned from Hunter (similar products are also available from Rainbird) are water-efficient, provide even coverage, and are wind-resistant. With the mentioned PRS40 case, you can combine any heads and always get the same precipitation rate per square meter regardless of the head used.
An automatic irrigation system, as the name suggests, should be "automatic." So it’s better to do it properly from the start. Whether you bury 3 or 6 sprinklers doesn’t make a big difference.
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