# obove ground timer for 5 times/day watering



## jackallis (Apr 15, 2019)

any recommendation on timer that can be set for 5 times a day watering? most i see can only be set for three times/day.


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## gm560 (Feb 22, 2018)

How many zones do you need? The b-hyve can probably do this but its pretty expensive and really expensive for multiple zones.


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## jackallis (Apr 15, 2019)

gm560 said:


> How many zones do you need? The b-hyve can probably do this but its pretty expensive and really expensive for multiple zones.


so i have five zones with above ground sprinklers. i can't figure out how to time them so i can water atleast 5 times and these sprinklers man only do 3times/day. :x


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## Sonoran Desert Lawn (Aug 22, 2020)

Rainbird handles my zones 6 times a day. The older models had schedules and you could overlap those for a total of 24 times a day


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## gm560 (Feb 22, 2018)

If you are somewhat handy you could build your own and use a real irrigation timer. Would require a few valves, some pvc and a trip or *4* to home depot for fittings.


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## gm560 (Feb 22, 2018)

Sonoran Desert Lawn said:


> Rainbird handles my zones 6 times a day. The older models had schedules and you could overlap those for a total of 24 times a day


Is this a hose end timer? It sounds like a sprinkler controller, but if it is a hose end I think that is exactly what the OP is looking for so post a link if you can.


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## crussell (Mar 12, 2018)

gm560 said:


> and a trip or 2 to home depot for fittings.


haha - It's never one trip.

I like to grab extra fittings that I "might" need, and next thing you know I'll be on trip #4.


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## gm560 (Feb 22, 2018)

gm560 said:


> If you are somewhat handy you could build your own and use a real irrigation timer. Would require a few valves, some pvc and a trip or *4* to home depot for fittings.


Fixed it @crussell..... My wife knows exactly of what you speak.


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## quattljl (Aug 8, 2018)

The Melnor Hydrologic has 4 zones and can run up to 4 schedules. I don't know of one that does 5. Do you really need the 5th watering? Could you extend your watering time on the other 4 to make up for it?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

jackallis said:


> any recommendation on timer that can be set for 5 times a day watering? most i see can only be set for three times/day.





jackallis said:


> so i have five zones with above ground sprinklers. i can't figure out how to time them so i can water atleast 5 times and these sprinklers man only do 3times/day. :x


Not saying this is the best/cleanest solution, but if you can't find a single unit that does what you need you could always rig up two timers in parallel such that one unit handles the first 3 scheduled runs and the second unit handles another 2-3 runs.

For illustrative purposes here is sketch of a 3 zone setup using 2 timers and garden hose splitters, but you could probably save some money and pressure loss by using PVC tees with 3/4 male and female GHT adapters since there would be no need to close any of the paths to accomplish your goal. To plumb it all together you could use a cheap/donor hose and some inexpensive hose mender ends.


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## jackallis (Apr 15, 2019)

Ware said:


> jackallis said:
> 
> 
> > any recommendation on timer that can be set for 5 times a day watering? most i see can only be set for three times/day.
> ...


this is intense but might have to go this way. thanks Ware.

thank you alll for your inputs.


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## Lawn Whisperer (Feb 15, 2021)

jackallis said:


> gm560 said:
> 
> 
> > How many zones do you need? The b-hyve can probably do this but its pretty expensive and really expensive for multiple zones.
> ...


Some digital timers can be set to water at a certain interval for a period of time. 
Ex: set timer from 8-10am, 10-2pm, 2-4pm;
Water for 10 mins every 2 hrs.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Some members buy an irrigation controller (eg rachio) and in ground valves and make an above ground setups with hoses (or some PVC pipes). The main benefit is that you can use these for an in ground setup in the future.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

^^^

That's probably what I would do. :thumbup:


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## gm560 (Feb 22, 2018)

g-man said:


> Some members buy an irrigation controller (eg rachio) and in ground valves and make an above ground setups with hoses (or some PVC pipes). The main benefit is that you can use these for an in ground setup in the future.


This is what I did. Both in terms of building it as an above ground system and then repurposing it as an in ground system.


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## gm560 (Feb 22, 2018)

I put together a diagram for you if this sounds daunting. I messed up the top part, I put on a FHT, thinking it would attach to the bib, but since the pvc is ridgid and this will not be small, you would probably want a leader hose and therefore would want to use a MHT there.



The top is the whole manifold. Bottom is more detail of each one of the valve assemblies.

Assuming a 3/4 setup, you would need

3/4 inch PVC, primer and glue. Some teflon tape wouldnt hurt either.
2 - 3/4 elbows https://www.homedepot.com/p/Charlotte-Pipe-3-4-in-PVC-Schedule-40-90-S-x-S-Elbow-Fitting-PVC023000800HD/203812123
2 - 3/4 T's https://www.homedepot.com/p/Charlotte-Pipe-3-4-in-Schedule-40-S-x-S-x-S-Tee-PVC024000800HD/203812197
1 - 3/4 cross https://www.homedepot.com/p/Charlotte-Pipe-3-4-in-PVC-Schedule-40-S-x-S-x-S-x-S-Cross-PVC024100600HD/203812455
10 - MPT / Slip fittings https://www.homedepot.com/p/LASCO-Fittings-3-4-in-PVC-Schedule-40-MPT-x-Slip-Male-Adapter-436007BC/317654571
6 - MHT / Slip fittings https://www.lowes.com/pd/Apollo-3-4-in-PVC-Drip-Irrigation-Male-Adapter/50030698?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-plb-_-google-_-lia-_-207-_-irrigation-_-50030698-_-0&placeholder=null&ds_rl=1286981&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsZKJBhC0ARIsAJ96n3Uv6d-Rmp2CAYgdms48T8cwUAXl59bseDinZz-u_6lT8oX1o_RdKUIaAvPxEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
5 - FPT Irrigation valves, such as https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/rain-bird-dv-in-line-valve-3-4-in-fpt-075-dv

Anyone else can tell me if I missed anything. Hopefully this is helpful to anyone trying to build one of these and I can save them a trip or 2 to the hardware store.


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## gm560 (Feb 22, 2018)

One tip to save some head ache is to make sure the pvc spans (horizontal parts between the T's, Cross, and Elbows) are reasonably wide. You will need to screw on the valves so need to make sure you have enough room to rotate them without hitting the valve next to it.


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## spaceman_spiff (Feb 5, 2021)

Rachio 3 has a fixed schedule set up for "every X hours." If you wanted, like, 8am, noon, 1pm, 3pm, 3:30pm, or something that's not "every X hours," it makes it a bit more difficult and you'd probably need separate fixed schedules. This is what I do for when I'm watering new seed. I set up 3 schedules, one for 8am, one for noon, and one for 4pm because I don't want it running every 4 hours all day or whatever.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

spaceman_spiff said:


> Rachio 3 has a fixed schedule set up for "every X hours." If you wanted, like, 8am, noon, 1pm, 3pm, 3:30pm, or something that's not "every X hours," it makes it a bit more difficult and you'd probably need separate fixed schedules. This is what I do for when I'm watering new seed. I set up 3 schedules, one for 8am, one for noon, and one for 4pm because I don't want it running every 4 hours all day or whatever.


It's a little ridiculous that an app-driven smart controller doesn't make this stupid-simple to setup. But it's possible to do with a single fixed schedule.

For a single "Grow-In" schedule that doesn't water all night - you need a fixed, daily schedule. Use the Cycle/Soak feature to create intermissions between events all rolled into one long daily cycle.

Described under "Hourly Interval using Cycle and Soak"

https://support.rachio.com/en_us/new-seeding-schedule-SJ_FwIktD


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## spaceman_spiff (Feb 5, 2021)

MasterMech said:


> spaceman_spiff said:
> 
> 
> > Rachio 3 has a fixed schedule set up for "every X hours." If you wanted, like, 8am, noon, 1pm, 3pm, 3:30pm, or something that's not "every X hours," it makes it a bit more difficult and you'd probably need separate fixed schedules. This is what I do for when I'm watering new seed. I set up 3 schedules, one for 8am, one for noon, and one for 4pm because I don't want it running every 4 hours all day or whatever.
> ...


Actually, right after I made that post, I saw a Rachio forum post on how to do the cycle and soak thing. Pretty clever!
So I have a fixed daily schedule that starts at 10am, and runs 27 mins with 3 mins on and 57 mins of soak time.


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