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Often sprinklers waste water on sidewalks and driveways or spray against the house or garage. Shrubs, trees, flowers, and grass all need different amounts of water. Delivering the same amount of water to every plant can reduce plant life and are simply a waste of water. A great solution is low-volume drip irrigation that allows you to customize the water delivery to each plant individually. Designing a system with multiple independent zones allows you to schedule watering according to each area's unique watering needs.
Getting Into the Zones
Further, they offer the adjustability of rotors with the effectiveness of popups. Other benefits include use with lower water pressures where gear drives cannot be used. There is also evidence suggesting that rotary sprinkler water coverage is superior to popups. There are many types of sprinkler heads with different water pressure, flow rate, and coverage.
Find your water meter size
The computer will do the calculations and give you a plan for placing heads, valves, and zones in ideal locations. OSSD will even give you a comprehensive parts and estimated price list of all the supplies you’ll need. You also are able to print a detailed, customized guide for installing the sprinkler system, down to the placement of every pipe, every sprinkler head, and every nozzle.
Break the hydrozones into small clusters or zones
Use Rain Bird standard details to minimize water and product consumption and reduce overall waste. At Rain Bird, we understand irrigation designers come with varying levels of expertise and industry experience. Depending on where you live, a small residential lawn can be up to one-quarter of an acre or 10,890 square feet. A medium lawn could be up to a half acre or 21,780 square feet.
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Picking your sprinkler heads is one of the most essential parts of designing a home sprinkler system. There are many different kinds of heads, and knowing which ones you need will help your design process go more smoothly. Dividing your property into zones will help you estimate the amount of water and coverage needed to suit your needs. For instance, if a large area will only need sprinklers during certain times of day (morning before work or late evening), this would be considered one zone.
Step 3: Design Irrigation Systems Using Hydrozones
All of those, while saving significant money, are often beyond the knowledge of a typical homeowner. You can cover large areas with these sprinklers because they shoot water back and forth in big arcs. Getting plant leaves wet just before dark often leads to fungus and other disease issues. Wetting the leaves during the day can lead to burning by sunlight. These sprinklers are generally reserved for lawns and can be adjusted to hit specific areas.
On a spray head, water pressure reduces when you close the small valve in the nozzle. On the flip side, the GPM of rotor sprinkler heads doesn’t change no matter how much you reduce the radius. This is all-important because it will determine what size pipes you need for the mainline. Preparing your lawn for the system will also include determining the best location for your water source and installing a regulator if you have multiple zones.
The Best Lawn Sprinklers of 2024, Tested & Reviewed - Bob Vila
The Best Lawn Sprinklers of 2024, Tested & Reviewed.
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As all sprinkler systems aren't designed the same, make sure to stick with one sprinkler brand for effective output. In addition, check the water pressure throughout the house because it differs from area to area. You can use a water pressure gauge to measure the water pressure by attaching a gauge to the spigot of your water source. Most homes have water pressure between psi and a flow rate of 5-10 gallons per minute (GPM).
To find the water pressure, you can simply use a water pressure testing gauge and attach it to the spigot of your water source (for example, the hose). To find the flow rate, you can grab any bucket that you have then turn the water from your source on fully. While waiting for the water to fill the bucket to the top, record how long it takes to do so. Now that you have the different hydrozones mapped out, it’s time to pick the sprinkler heads to use in each. There are many different brands available to choose from, but you must stick to one manufacturer for the entire system. Designing an automatic sprinkler system for your home can seem daunting, but following these simple tips will help make the process easier.
Designing the layout of your sprinkler system is essential before you connect the pipes. Draw out sprinkler head locations and spraying circles on your map. Ensure your entire lawn or garden gets watered by including the spots in the design where nozzles start and finish.
Pop-up sprinkler heads aren’t perfect though, and there are situations where they may not be ideal. Pop-ups are the carpet-bombing of sprinklers; they’re not precision instruments. The advantages of using pop-up sprinkler heads are the ease of use, even watering patterns, and affordability. When you are done choosing the sprinkler head, you can check its water pressure and flow rate on the manufacturer's website. Compare those numbers with your water source's figures to determine how many heads you can install on your irrigation line.
They are irrigation lines with carefully cut notches so they drip uniformly along their length. They offer the most efficient watering system but may not provide enough water for thirsty plants. Since they don’t get buried, drip lines are a good solution if your irrigation system needs to cross over buried utilities. These sprinklers are designed to cover just one or a few plants. They use your water more efficiently than high-volume rotary and oscillating heads, but it takes more to cover a given area.
Include the locations of trees, bushes, flower beds, and any other landscape features. Also, identify your house, garage, and any other buildings, and hard surfaces such as patios, driveways, and sidewalks. Don’t worry about being too precise at this stage; you can always refine your sketch later on graph paper or transfer your drawing onto our free design worksheet. Now is the perfect time to plan to install an automatic sprinkler system or upgrade your existing one.
This is a minimal hydrozone—a place that receives little to no human use—justifying little irrigation. Such areas include buffer zones, distant views, and directional delineators such as grass strips between sidewalks and paths. Match these areas with native plants that survive with rainfall only. Any mistake in lawn size measurement affects the entire design.
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