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Anyone diy a sprinkler system?

4Eyedturd

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2020
Member Number
1725
Messages
352
Loc
Waco, TX
Back in ‘19 I got rainbird to design a system for the whole yard but never did anything because I got hung up on how and where to tie into the main water line. Fast forward to now, I’m thinking of just doing a hose spigot controller setup for the front yard with 2-4 zones and be done….or do a proper setup and add other zones later. Any input on your setup?
 
I did my own. I went with Poly pipe instead of PVC, more freeze resistant and you aren't pasting lengths of PVC together. Overlap your spray head coverage, don't go for the largest size sprinker heads, the 42 is way too much, you end up missing areas and the water doesn't go down as evenly. If you're planning on adding on later make sure you have a layout written down somewhere because you will forget layout and where the line is run.
 
My house came with a non-operational irrigation system, it works now after digging holes all over the yard to fix piping and finding all the heads. I don't run it on a program and only use it a couple times a year.

I'd rather build a diy long range sprinkler or two and drag a hose around.
 
I've got a hose spigot setup right now, it's fine. If we weren't building a house next spring I would have plowed in lines and went for a permanent setup though.

Not much to a sprinkler system overall but if a tee off your water line is beyond you I wouldn't recommend you diying it. :flipoff2:
 
Do you T off the main right after your meter or up by the house? If up by the house I guess you trench from the main to figure out where it runs to the house? I can hack fuck it together but trying not to.

IMG-2754.jpg

Meter is to the right of the driveway by the street. Where would you tee into it?
 
I don't have lawn. So much less work using round up and bush hogging once a year.
 
Gpm of a garden hose is @5gpm.
= INSTANT restriction.

Overlapping coverage, sizing with ability to reach farther is a good idea.
Figuring in hot spots and shady requirements will go a long ways.

Or just go full I.B.B.
 
4Eyedturd said:
Do you T off the main right after your meter or up by the house? If up by the house I guess you trench from the main to figure out where it runs to the house? I can hack fuck it together but trying not to.
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Mine is right by the house. You'll have to mount the sprinkler valves somewhere as well as getting power to them, might as well be right by the house.
 
I did mine, 2 zones in the back yard. 3/4 or 1" HDPE feeder pipe. Rotor type rainbird heads, 18" deep. Think I stopped at 7 heads per zone to keep the pressure up. haven't done the front yard yet but need to.

Using a wyze controller for the last 2 years and it's been great.

Planning and sourcing all the parts, fittings, etc took longer then the install.

2nd time around I'd go with longer throw heads in most areas, I did the half overlap and that seemed to work well enough but a few areas were short and it show in 100 degree days but otherwise no issues.
 
As for the feed I installed a T with a shutoff right off the main feed to the hot water heater with sharkbite fittings. Same as above as the power is there as well.

Oh the back feed preventor was the biggest PIA of the whole thing. Just not easy to mount and keep from freezing.
 
Just curious, how come not sitting on it’s own meter? Are you not on sewer? We split all our outside water off so we don’t pay sewer in it.
 
Have all your friends that have white pickups come over on a Saturday.. everyone puts on safety vests and hard hats.. get a bunch of traffic cones and block half the street..

Dig up the line before the meter and tee in at that point. Prepare to get wet unless you can figure out how to turn it off at the main.. can be easy or almost impossible.

All your buddies can stand around and watch you work, but probably best if they aren’t holding beer bottles.. might give it away that something is amiss..probably best if you can find at least 10 people (can also utilize females) more is good too and probably 6 trucks.. know anybody with a backhoe or mini ex?? Just have them bring that by to park in the street.. put like 10 cones around it..

Sell water to you neighbors.. profit.

:flipoff2:
 
Things I've learned over time...

  • Build a valve manifold with a stub out to add more valves in the future if need be.
  • Shut off valve before the manifold to isolate valves if you live in a freeze area, or you need to work on your system.
  • If you live in a freeze prone area, insulate the valve box to help protect valves. My valve box is sub-surface, with foam batts to insulate valves.
  • Install valve control wire, with more future stations in mind. I initially used 10 conductor for 6 stations. Years later added 2 more stations.
 
Going by that picture, you could water the entire yard in less than 10 mins holding the garden hose in your hand.:flipoff2:Just do it at night so the water doesn't evaporate.

Where I live isn't a good example of lawn care. I have never watered a single time in the 20+ years I've lived here. And I have to mow every 3-4 days to avoid a jungle.
 
maxresdefault.jpg
 
hose spigots have like a 1/4" hole in them...don't try and run more than one or 2 heads at a time. Or put ball a ball valve.
 
Hose bibs are under rated IMHO. Fuck all that burying shit. Keep it above ground where you can see it.
 
Yep. I have 12 zones in the back yard and 3 in the front. Rachio controller with 1 inch hunter inline valves and I use k-rain rotors with pasture nozzles in the 360 degree rotors and smaller ones for all the others to match delivery rates. I have 1/2 acre of grass in dry ass California so it's hard to keep it alive without flooding it a few times a week.
Do it right the first time and don't fuck around with anything half ass.
 
Used to work in landscaping installs. I have installed a lot of irrigation systems over the years.

1” pvc and raid bird 5000+ heads were our standard. The heads have 1-18 gpm nozzles. We generally kept each zone at 10 gpm. IIRC we planned on each head throwing 30’.

Spray heads are used in smaller areas, in that pic you would use them down the sides of your house. Spray heads always got their own zones.

If you are on sewer, you probably want to get a 2nd meter installed.

I use a hose and impact sprinkler on my own yard.
 
If you had to guess where the main is ran from the meter where would you dig by the house?

Green circles are hose spigots, blue circle is water heater, kitchen is top right and bathrooms are far left.


IMG-2754.jpg
 
Very interested thread! I have also been thinking of hack fabbing a sprinkler system.

My property has "free" (paid by taxes) irrigation water, so all I really need to do is put together a system and connect it.
 
4Eyedturd said:
If you had to guess where the main is ran from the meter where would you dig by the house?

Green circles are hose spigots, blue circle is water heater, kitchen is top right and bathrooms are far left.
Click to expand...
Is orange the meter?
Do you have a valve to turn off the water to your whole house somewhere in a closet or utility area?
I see TX so probably no basement?

If you have a valve, the main is probably more or less straight line from the meter to the valve.
If not/can't find, I'd start in the front corner of the house closest to the meter.

Sprinklers are pretty easy, I got a starter set of them and kept adding to the group until they didn't have the flow to sustain sprinkling (what they need depends on 90/180/270/360 as well) and laid out my zones to be a bit under limit. Rented a trencher, shredded my yard, laid out poly pipe and sprinklers, buried it all back in.
 
OutlawRider said:
Just curious, how come not sitting on it’s own meter? Are you not on sewer? We split all our outside water off so we don’t pay sewer in it.
Click to expand...

unsure if you were asking me but we are metered on water in, not sewer out.


You can call for locates and they will usually mark the direction the water line is going. Mine isn't a straight line from the valve in the driveway to the line in the basement.
 
Weasel said:
unsure if you were asking me but we are metered on water in, not sewer out.


You can call for locates and they will usually mark the direction the water line is going. Mine isn't a straight line from the valve in the driveway to the line in the basement.
Click to expand...
Yes. So the sewer is charged on water in basically. At least that is my understanding in my area. So we can set up a second meter and only pay for water like it is rural water set up on septic (and has no sewer going out)
 
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