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Old 11-13-2012, 10:53 PM   #21
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Another thing--if you get billed for your sewer use by the amount of water you use, see if your municipality will allow you to have a separate water meter for these sprinklers, and not charge you the sewage fee for the water they use (since this water isn't bound for the sewage treatment plant).
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Old 11-14-2012, 06:26 AM   #22
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Originally Posted by kyounge1956 View Post
The one thing I remember about sprinkler systems which I don't think has been mentioned here is the backflow prevention device.
I forgot to mention it and yes it's required.
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Originally Posted by Ronstar View Post
If your supply line is 3/4", then you probably won't gain anything by going to 1". In my situation it did, but that was coming off of 2" trunk line.
Seems debatable so I'm still undecided on what size to go with.
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Here's the low voltage transformer we bought for our landscape lighting. I'd check into how much it would cost to have someone trench your yard.
That's funny since I just got my order from them and am really happy with the quality. Order came to around $1000.00 and yes I should do both trenching at once. They want $225.00 for 4 hour walk behind trencher rental.
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I disagree. You'll benefit greatly by using 1", which I'd suggest you do unless you are constrained by flow rate.
Interesting......thanks.
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- The valves should go in a real box with a top that can be removed - If there's anything you might need to find again, take a picture - If you're putting the pipes in places where you'll be digging/trenching later consider burying another sacrificial pipe a few inches above your sprinkler pipe to intercept the first shovel blade. And it's not a bad idea to bury some 3" wide yellow plastic warning tape a few inches above the pipe everywhere else. The risers are the part of the installation that seem most prone to breakage. A riser that breaks right at the sprinkler head is much easier to fix than one which breaks farther down or which cracks the main line.
Thanks for the suggestions.
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In the OP's part of the world, the valves should be part of the manifold where the water line exits the house, it will be above ground. Some people remove the entire manifold and take it inside for the winter. It's not a bad idea.
I don't think I'll bring it inside, although it's highly recomended that I blow out any water so it doesn't freeze the pipes during winter.
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See if your municipality will allow you to have a separate water meter for these sprinklers, and not charge you the sewage fee for the water they use (since this water isn't bound for the sewage treatment plant).
It is billed together and they won't install a seperate meter but still a good suggestion.

Thanks everyone.
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Old 11-14-2012, 09:38 AM   #23
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Heck, I wonder what some people are watering....

Our system is 1/2 inch line and works just great...



One of the suggestions that I would give if your DW is into flowers is to have a separate system for the flower beds.... my wife insists that I run the sprinklers 3 times a week to keep her flowers alive.... this is not the best for the lawn and it pisses me off....

We have so many different flower beds, and I do not know where any of our system is located, I just live with what we have....
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Old 11-15-2012, 10:45 AM   #24
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Heck, I wonder what some people are watering....

Our system is 1/2 inch line and works just great...
There are a lot of variables - where you tap in to the main, avg pressure your main feeds you, size of yard, yard design, number of zones, type of sprinklers, controlling equipment, num sprinklers per zone etc etc. If someone, like me, is too lazy to calculate all this stuff (and I have fancy software for pipe flow calcs), you'd find the cost of your laziness to be anywhere from nothing (you need the bigger pipe diameter anyway) to the small difference in cost of the different pipe diameters. Availability of parts is another consideration, as the big box store I prefer (and is closest to me) has plenty of 1" fittings, but fewer 3/4" and even fewer 1/2" for the type of pipe I chose to run.
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Old 11-15-2012, 02:09 PM   #25
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This is somewhat off-topic, but we had a plumber visit this week to replace 3 bad outdoor faucets (one stuck open which necessitated the plumber visit, the other two drippy). I followed him over to the water shut-off valve (since this is the first time we've needed to use it since moving into this house more than 2 years ago). He asked me if I had one of the tools to operate the shutoff and I said nope. He went on to say that he gives one ($12 at your favorite big box home improvement store) to all of his friends as a housewarming present. He tells them to hang it on their garage wall in a convenient place and shows them how to use it. Said that many friends have thanked him later.
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Old 11-15-2012, 03:16 PM   #26
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He asked me if I had one of the tools to operate the shutoff and I said nope. He went on to say that he gives one ($12 at your favorite big box home improvement store) to all of his friends as a housewarming present. He tells them to hang it on their garage wall in a convenient place and shows them how to use it. Said that many friends have thanked him later.
That's a good point. Also, the valve is easy to turn off using a pair of ChannelLocks, and that way you get to stick your arm down inside the box and get acquainted with the local wildlife.
More importantly, I think every adult in the house and kids old enough to be at home alone should know how to shut off the water, the gas, and the electricity. It could save thousands of dollars in repair bills and a lot of trouble. When that pipe bursts inside the wall, it's no time to realize you don't know where the main shutoff is located.

Water: If you've got city water, the shutoff valve is usually outside by the curb in a box where you water meter is. As manual meter readers go the way of the dinosaur, these boxes tend to get overgrown by plantings or buried--it's worth the trouble to keep yours accessible.
If you have a well, there'll be a shutoff valve somewhere on the main line. If you can't find it, shut off power to the pump and you'll just have to wait until the water in the pressure tank drains out.

Electricity: Usually a big breaker at the top (or bottom) of the circuit breaker panel. Sometimes there's another big breaker outside the house underneath the electric meter.

Natural Gas: Usually at the gas meter.

For water or gas: Grab the small flat valve handle with pliers or a wrench and twist it 90 degrees (whichever way it will go) until it "crosses" the pipe. It should be off then.
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Old 11-15-2012, 04:12 PM   #27
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I found a sample RainBird Irrigation design and all I can say is......WOOO!

I don't know how to post a pdf file but maybe someone can post one of the design layouts.

http://www.rainbird.com/documents/di...DesignPlan.pdf
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Old 11-15-2012, 09:43 PM   #28
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one other long-buried memory...if pipes from your sprinkler system will run under a driveway or other paved area, it may be worthwhile to put the pipe in a sleeve of slightly larger piping. That way, if the pipe ever needs to be replaced, you won't have to break through the driveway to do it.
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Old 11-16-2012, 06:31 AM   #29
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Thats an excellent suggestion, thanks.

By the way, I wish I could purchase the key type tool that shuts off the main water valve that supplies water from the city to the meter, but it's burried about 5' down and I can't find out what the key type fitting looks like. Here in Canada only the city is allowed to turn it on and off so no stores sell it publicly, although I'm sure it's sold to contractors. I'm sure I could make one if I knew what the tip looked like.

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Old 11-16-2012, 07:36 AM   #30
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one other long-buried memory...if pipes from your sprinkler system will run under a driveway or other paved area, it may be worthwhile to put the pipe in a sleeve of slightly larger piping. That way, if the pipe ever needs to be replaced, you won't have to break through the driveway to do it.
laying 4" conduit under all drive ways should be written into the IRC. I went approx 20' with 1-1/4" black steel pipe, a garden hose and a sledge hammer. Took me a good part of the day and left me wanting to get a hold of the schmuck that built my house and skimped out on the $20 for conduit.
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Old 11-19-2012, 06:29 AM   #31
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ronocnikral;

Are you saying you installed a 20' long by 1 1/4" black pipe under a driveway using only a garden hose and sledge hammer and it took maybe 6 hours to do this. Please give me an idea how it's done, In my case,I'm wondering how to would get from one side of the side walk to the other and that's only 5', mind you it's in two areas, but still.........do tell.

Pipe and sledge hammer I can use my imagination to figure that out, but the garden hose, are you using water pressure to clean out the soil inside the pipe? I would image you would have to dig a trench just over 20' long beside the driveway so that that pipe runs straight underneath the driveway?
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Old 11-20-2012, 05:33 PM   #32
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ronocnikral;

Are you saying you installed a 20' long by 1 1/4" black pipe under a driveway using only a garden hose and sledge hammer and it took maybe 6 hours to do this. Please give me an idea how it's done, In my case,I'm wondering how to would get from one side of the side walk to the other and that's only 5', mind you it's in two areas, but still.........do tell.

Pipe and sledge hammer I can use my imagination to figure that out, but the garden hose, are you using water pressure to clean out the soil inside the pipe? I would image you would have to dig a trench just over 20' long beside the driveway so that that pipe runs straight underneath the driveway?
Greetings from phnom penh. Need trench in length of longest section of pipe (+ a couple of feet) orthoganal to sidewalk, reducing bushings for the business send of the pipe ( increase velocity exitingthe pipe), tee for sledge hammer end- one in direction of pipe gets nippleand blankingcap, other gets fitting for garden hose. Turn on water hammer end. If it gets tough, let water do its job for 30 secs or so. I have very rocky soil, mixed with tough silty soil. Can do sidewalk in 30 mins. For sidewalk, once thru, i remove fittings from all ends,remove black pipe and then put in pvc ( cap end and then cut off once thru) may want to let it dry out a bit. Be careful not to get debris in black pipe, can plug end and you get no jet impact force.

Can answer more when i get home. Same method drake used on first us oil well!
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Old 11-20-2012, 05:46 PM   #33
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Sorry but I'm having a hard time following your post, either you've had too much to drink........or maybe I have.

I'll wait till you get home, maybe it will make more sense to me.

Thanks


EDIT:

I'll assume this is how you did it, but to go 20'......wooow.

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Old 11-20-2012, 08:01 PM   #34
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Looks like the method we used to sink a sand point well at my uncle's lake cabin. We had to go down about 30 feet in sand. Started with 10 feet of ABS 3" pipe. Dug and 'screwed' it into the ground as far as possible (no more than 2 feet). Ran a garden hose down to the bottom and turned it on. Water pressure made a hole at the bottom so we could push the pipe down, also brought the sand to the top of the pipe and out onto the ground. When the first 10 feet were down, cement on another 10 and repeat.

Seems similar, only he went hozontal rather than vertical. Should work well if not too many big rocks.
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Old 12-04-2012, 09:19 PM   #35
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yes, similar. where the hose connects on the back end, I installed a tee. perpendicular to the length of the pipe, the hose connects. On the back end of the tee, a blanking cap which allows you to use a sledge hammer AND have the water pressure working for you. I did 1-1/4" pipe and had no problems. When you finish, for sidewalks, I slide the PVC or funny pipe in the 1-1/4" steel pipe, remove all fittings and then pull out the black pipe (helps if you have someone hold the other end of the PVC). . For under the driveway, I just left the steel pipe and fed 3/4" funny pipe with 12/2 LV landscaping wire taped to it.

Sorry if I was incoherent earlier. I wasn't drunk, but rather on a tablet...
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Old 12-05-2012, 12:53 PM   #36
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another long-dormant memory rising from the inky depths of my subconscious....MyDream mentioned in the original post that the design manual is about 100 pages long. I used to have a sprinkler design manual, and it was probably about the same length. I don't remember now whether it was Rainbird's or some other manufacturer, but as I recall much of the book was precipitation & evapotranspiration data for numerous locations around the country, I assume so you could figure out how much irrigation was likely to be needed. I'm not sure this would be relevant on a home system, but on a big one like a park or golf course, in a dry location, you might have to tweak things so that each zone gets watered frequently enough for good growth.

Also, a word of reassurance--you needn't understand physics to design irrigation systems. Don't ask me how I know!
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