Questions about Irrigation? Here to help!

[return to the red]

Hello CP,

Spring is just around the corner and thought I would offer help to anyone regarding underground irrigation.

I'm not here to plug my company, but if you want to buy from us you are more than welcome too just fire me off a PM.

What I am here to do is offer free advice to anyone seeking it regarding installation, product knowledge, design questions etc. I am a Certified Irrigation Designer with over 10 years in the industry and would like to give something back to the CP community because it has given so much to me.

Cheers RTTR

[MacDaddy77]

Pm sent

[3thirty]

Are there any special steps for turning the sytem on in the spring? We used a company to winterize it, but this will be the first time we turn it on, and I have seen issues with people blowing lines etc.

[prarieboy]

PM Sent

[return to the red]

PM'S sent. I should mention that We DO NOT do any repairs or installations but am happy to recommend companies.

In regards to startup's simply turn your water on and go to your valves. Turn the valve on manually by giving the solenoid a quarter turn, This will manually turn on the valve or "zone". Check to make sure line fills and heads pop up and with no leaks and are adjusted accordingly and hand tighten solenoid on valve. This should turn the valve off, if it stays open you may have a problem with the diaphragm in the valve and could be as simple as just dirt or debris caught in it. Simply remove the top and inspect the diaphragm for tears and put the valve back together. Proceed to go through all zones repeating these steps.

cheers

rttr

Edit: I should mention that if any members are landscapers or installers themselves and do Irrigation feel free to give your company a shout out in this thread.

[Rathji]

Just out of curiosity, which company do you work for? (or alternately, which products do you sell)

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Just out of curiosity, which company do you work for? (or alternately, which products do you sell)

PM sent

Hunter and Rainbird are our main products but also sell Irritrol griswold and buckner

[return to the red]

Hey guys, just to give you a quick tip with this hot weather:

Instead of going through on your timer and adjusting individual run-times, using the seasonal adjust on the timer can increase or decrease your station run-times quicker and easier!

[GP_Matt]

Do you know how difficult the design portion is on a DIY install?
There are some companies that will design it for you but is it simple enough to do yourself?

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

Do you know how difficult the design portion is on a DIY install?
There are some companies that will design it for you but is it simple enough to do yourself?

Sorry for late response pm sent

designing is simple but I've also been doing it for over 10 years. You just need to remember some basic design principles about hydraulics and head spacing, head to head spacing being what you should do

[InglewoodFan]

I've recently bought a house, and to my surprise there are irrigation heads all over. The previous owner knows nothing about it, he never used it. In your opinion, would it be cost effective to have someone come out to see if the system can be salvaged and made operable or is it better to just start from scratch?

[return to the red]

^^

It really does depend, If the system is designed properly and does a good job then just fire it up and see if everything is operational. If everything is busted to crap and you have to put new lines in you won't find anyone that will want to make use of your old stuff so a new system is probably what you would be looking at.

First step I would do is to turn on the water to the outside source, you should hear an initial rush of water to charge the mainline but if it continues to run turn it off and try to locate the valve box with valves and manifold. Make sure the solinoids are hand tight on the top of the valve and any bleed screws are tight, levers closed etc. (you can turn a valve on manually by loosening the solinoid on top). If they are hand tight and the water is running look for any leaks around the manifold or anywhere that the mainline runs to the manifold if you cant see anything you may just need a new diaphragm in the valve (easiest way to tell this is if any of the sprinkler zones are running).

If the water stops running after charging the mainline again go to the valves and manually test them one at a time. This will make it easy to see if you have any leaks in any of the zones and also to locate the heads and what kind of coverage you have.

Like I said, if you are happy with the coverage and everything looks like its operational and working ok I wouldn't spend any money at all. Its relatively easy to check this stuff without paying someone but if you feel uncomfortable doing it then contact an installer.

Sorry if this seems a little scattered, I'm trying to play out what I would do in my head as I respond.

[InglewoodFan]

Not scattered at all, thanks so much for all the great information. Gives me a good place to start digging into getting this going without spending any $. Always a good thing.

[Redline]

Thanks for this thread, Moved into a new place back in November that has an irrigation system. This summer was the nicest lawn I've ever had. Now though, it must be coming up on winterizing time and I have no idea. What needs to be done? I'm guessing some sort of air blowout of the lines? When should it be done? What companies has anyone used for this service?

Thanks for info

[return to the red]

have your own compressor? You can actually do it yourself if you do. Look for some plug or a faucet on the irrigation supply line, close the valve inside the house and if you do have your own compressor get a female hose X fpt adapter, a 3/4 - 1/4 threaded bushing and a type M adapter.

If not just call any of the irrigation companies in the yellow pages for blow outs, usually october is a good time to do it but if you get stuck with an early frost and you are worried about freezing simply shut your water off, open the blowout connection and manually turn a valve on by giving the solinoid a quarter turn. This will drop any of the water in the pipe above ground into the ground, where it is warmer, until you can get it properly blown out. Call for a few quotes as well, pricing varies from company to company and I always say be careful of the guys that aren't in the business but just do it to make a quick buck, some are capable but some should be avoided.

Blowing out tips: Blow your system out at the pressure which it operates, 50 psi is more then adequate.

Blow until your system has little to no mist coming out of the sprinklers, if you have a smaller compressor you may need to cycle through the zones a few times to get it all out. If you have Black poly pipe you don't have to be as diligant as with pvc as it is a little more forgiving.

[Eagle Eye]

Would like to thank Return to the Red for all the help with my system. Great guy to deal with.

[return to the red]

Bump! spring time!

[BigNumbers]

Can you see my thread here? http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=128849

Interested in your thoughts.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Can you see my thread here? http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=128849

Interested in your thoughts.

pm'd

[return to the red]

Bump! Yay for warmer weather and...spring?