# Need a check on my irrigation layout



## spaceman_spiff (Feb 5, 2021)

I just had sod laid around the backside of our pool. With it, the landscaper laid PVC and sprinkler heads. He used standard Rainbird sprays, various nozzles. After doing a catch-cup test, I figured out the efficiency/even distribution of water was not that great. Here's the crude diagram I drew of it, the nozzle locations, and the catch cup readings. Yes, it's a super odd-shaped zone, and a lot of the heads do spray into the pool, which I'm fine with. Not optimal, but whatever.


(Xs are the heads but I accidentally added an extra along the back fence in this drawing)

Not great. I wish he would have added another head or two along the back and right side. Oh well.

I've got a couple small dry spots where the sod is dying off and don't think I'm getting true head-to-head coverage out of these Rainbirds. I've got pressure-regulated Hunter heads and MP1000 Rotator nozzles on the other two lawn zones of my yard that seem to work great. So, I'm looking into swapping all the Rainbird heads and spray nozzles with Hunter pressure-regulated heads and MP Rotators. I measured distances today to determine the radius I need out of the nozzles, and based on the MP Rotator specs found here, I've come up with the following design:



Does this look reasonable? Excuse the crude drawing, as I did everything in Visio. The pool is a blobby shape, so it was quite hard to freehand :lol:


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

You need more heads to be near the concrete/pool. They should be alternating sides. One sprays towards the fence and one sprays towards the pool. You might also need to use MP corner.

The left side of the image has a lot of shade. I dont think any grass will survive.


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## spaceman_spiff (Feb 5, 2021)

g-man said:


> You need more heads to be near the concrete/pool. They should be alternating sides. One sprays towards the fence and one sprays towards the pool. You might also need to use MP corner.
> 
> The left side of the image has a lot of shade. I dont think any grass will survive.


Yeah I realize a couple extra heads would be more optimal, but at this point it's not possible without doing some major digging and laying new PVC, which I'm not willing to do at this point. I don't want to wreck my beautiful new sod 

And the left side gets lots of sun, it was just the time of day where it gets shade when I took the pics.


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## spaceman_spiff (Feb 5, 2021)

I guess I was looking for validation on the head/nozzle choices. Should I assume the specs are going to be on the money or are they typically shorter than advertised?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

If you want even distribution of water, you need to follow their documentation on head placement.


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## BadDogPSD (Jul 9, 2020)

G-Man is telling you what needs to be done to fix the issue. Digging trenches in the new sod won't ruin it. In a few weeks you won't even know it was dug up. For an area that small, I'd stick with the Rain Bird spray nozzles. Do you know if he used the
regular of HE-VAN nozzles?


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## spaceman_spiff (Feb 5, 2021)

BadDogPSD said:


> G-Man is telling you what needs to be done to fix the issue. Digging trenches in the new sod won't ruin it. In a few weeks you won't even know it was dug up. For an area that small, I'd stick with the Rain Bird spray nozzles. Do you know if he used the
> regular of HE-VAN nozzles?


Just regular #-VAN nozzles.

Yesterday I replaced all the heads and nozzles with the ones from my drawing above. The coverage is MUCH better. I did a catch-cup test and got 0.47in/hr with an efficiency of 74% according to the wateringschedule.com calculator. I don't think I could have gotten it much better, to be honest.


I do have some pool overspray with the MP2000 nozzles, but I've got some MP Corner and Side Strip nozzles on the way. I might play with them a bit, but seeing how evenly the water is distributed at the moment, I don't know if I care enough to put the time, money, and effort into it. Head 10 is my only concern really, but that's the most downhill head. I'll probably replace this one with a corner nozzle.

For reference, here was my previous catch-cup test with the Rainbirds:

Wild distribution of numbers, with an efficiency of 34% or so.


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