# Hypothetically, is it possible? What would someone need?



## jebundy (Aug 18, 2020)

LONG STORY SHORT: Can you set up an irrigation system that will have one zone for one acre? What would it take to make it work?

I'm currently living on about 1/4 of an acre. We have an irrigation syster that uses 6 zones to water the property. We are in the process of buying a home that sits on 9 acres of completely undeveloped land. The plan is to turn a large portion of it into wide open, grass. There are 4 wells on the property. Only one is being used right now.

So starting from scratch, assuming that there is ample water in the well what woud it take to build a hypethatical system that would allow each acre to be its own zone. Imagine a perfectly square acre, what kind of equipment, ie pumps, heads, solienoids, pipe, etc... would be needed to suply an entire acre with enough preasure and gpm to run a zone that size?

Followup question: If it is not even possible in a hypethetical, starting from scratch building your dream system setting, then what is the fewest number of zones with the fewest number of heads that it would take to irrigate one acre preppoerly?

I am trying to avoid having to be overly cautious in using heavy equipment becasue there are so many heads in the field that I run the risk of breaking heads everytime I take a big machine onto it.

My ultimate goal is good coverage, with the fewst number of zones, and the fewest heads possible.


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## Ge0rdi3brit (Aug 30, 2018)

It will all come down to the specific pressure and flow rates coming out of your well pumps (not the label on the pumps, but the actual measured flow they are producing).
From there it's all about how many sprinkler heads you need. If you're getting 25gpm coming out of your well, then you can only run as many sprinklers that add up to less than 25gpm (to account for some pressure loss over distance).
It will likely be a very hard stretch to cover one acre with only one zone. High pressure is bad for thin walled pipe. 
But it all comes down to the actual rates coming from your wells. In the meantime, check out irrigationtutorials.com it is the standard for how to properly do irrigation.


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## BadDogPSD (Jul 9, 2020)

For that kind of acreage, I'd look into doing some type of a pivot system.


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## jebundy (Aug 18, 2020)

I've thought about that, but astehtically, its not ideal. I'd prefer it to mostly be invisible, but I may not get what I want. Thanks for the tip.



BadDogPSD said:


> For that kind of acreage, I'd look into doing some type of a pivot system.


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## jebundy (Aug 18, 2020)

Thanks for the website, I'll definitley be spending some time there.



Ge0rdi3brit said:


> It will all come down to the specific pressure and flow rates coming out of your well pumps (not the label on the pumps, but the actual measured flow they are producing).
> From there it's all about how many sprinkler heads you need. If you're getting 25gpm coming out of your well, then you can only run as many sprinklers that add up to less than 25gpm (to account for some pressure loss over distance).
> It will likely be a very hard stretch to cover one acre with only one zone. High pressure is bad for thin walled pipe.
> But it all comes down to the actual rates coming from your wells. In the meantime, check out irrigationtutorials.com it is the standard for how to properly do irrigation.


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## Wiley (Dec 2, 2019)

It's possible but you are looking at a lot of output to provide irrigation to an acre with a single zone. Get some more info on the wells and the pumps to give you a better idea. I assume the one well in operation supplies the house so you will have to take that into consideration.


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## uts (Jul 8, 2019)

As others have stated, the problem will not be rotors or other things but the input. See what your well and.pump is capable of.

Just as an example the hunter i90 rotor can cover upto 96' per rotor and can put out upto 60gpm. So usually the limitation falls on your source.


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## jebundy (Aug 18, 2020)

Yes, this is what I'm looking for. Right now, there is no pump. I'm starting from scratch. The question is really, is there a pump that produces enough pressure and gpm to do it? What heads cover the most ground to be able to give the coverage with the fewest number of them? What is needed to accomplish it?



uts said:


> As others have stated, the problem will not be rotors or other things but the input. See what your well and.pump is capable of.
> 
> Just as an example the hunter i90 rotor can cover upto 96' per rotor and can put out upto 60gpm. So usually the limitation falls on your source.


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## uts (Jul 8, 2019)

jebundy said:


> Yes, this is what I'm looking for. Right now, there is no pump. I'm starting from scratch. The question is really, is there a pump that produces enough pressure and gpm to do it? What heads cover the most ground to be able to give the coverage with the fewest number of them? What is needed to accomplish it?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


There are tons of rotors like these which are used all over the golf, athletic and other turf areas. They run on big pumps which are expensive. So everything is available. Just depends on how much you want to spend. Golf has time restrictions on how much they can water before playing starts. You can do well with a 20-30gpm pump probably and run a few zones. Start at 3am. Finish at 8. Dont seethe need to drive the cost astronomically, because those types of pumps and rotors are very expensive.

You could also run 2 wells simultaneously and water from 2 different sources. What's important is the well depth, recovery time, the pump you will get and your pocket.


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

1) Farmers do it everywhere. Go talk to them and ask about their equipment, water source, and suppliers. Then add it all up. Don't forget to report back here.

2) What will the 1 acre be used for? Is it pure turf, no planting or buildings? Just ornamental? Maybe look at sub grade drip hose. Low pressure. No evaporation. No moving parts. Just a hundred miles of soaker hose 3" under the surface. &#129300;


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## Kmartel (Feb 12, 2019)

Huge pipes in ground to reduce pressure loss. It's possible


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## jebundy (Aug 18, 2020)

Yeah, the plan is wide open green fields of beautiful lush lawn. It's gonna be a project for sure, probably years of work. But you gotta start somewhere.



thebmrust said:


> 1) Farmers do it everywhere. Go talk to them and ask about their equipment, water source, and suppliers. Then add it all up. Don't forget to report back here.
> 
> 2) What will the 1 acre be used for? Is it pure turf, no planting or buildings? Just ornamental? Maybe look at sub grade drip hose. Low pressure. No evaporation. No moving parts. Just a hundred miles of soaker hose 3" under the surface. 🤔


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