# DIY Sprinkler System Install Project



## Grizzly Adam

Hey everyone. I am in the early planning stages for an irrigation system and was looking for some short-cuts from those who may have already done a deep-dive into research. I got 8,500 sq ft, not including space taken by house w/ attached garage, driveway, and shed. No sidewalks. Large ditch running across the southern edge of the property. Narrow sections one both sides. I will be working up a map in the near future.

Are there any general rules of thumbs for how many zones, how far to space heads, how many heads per zone, etc?


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## bretts

Read from beginning to end.

https://irrigationtutorials.com


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## Grizzly Adam

Thanks @bretts I will read it over.

I just plumbed in everything up to where the first irrigation line will attach. I have also sent away for Rainbird's free design service, I am excited to see how detailed that will be. It is supposed to take up to three weeks, and I received confirmation that they received the order this morning.


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## Grizzly Adam

Really interesting read so far, I am following along with my worksheet


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## SouthernTiftuf

You can contact rainbird with your information and a sketch of your property, your pressure information, etc, etc. In a pretty short time they will send you everything you need to know about pipe, heads, etc and you can use the concepts of that to either use their products or base it on whatever heads and products you want. Was really useful when I did mine.


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## Grizzly Adam

SouthernTiftuf said:


> You can contact rainbird with your information and a sketch of your property, your pressure information, etc, etc. In a pretty short time they will send you everything you need to know about pipe, heads, etc and you can use the concepts of that to either use their products or base it on whatever heads and products you want. Was really useful when I did mine.


Yep, I did that. See post #3 in this thread.


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## SouthernTiftuf

@Grizzly Adam my apologies I missed that somehow


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## Grizzly Adam

Everyone loves these right? I received my Rainbird design today and immediately asked for some revisions. What would you ask for if this was you design. Note: I can not put any pipe or sprinklers in the ditch area, but do want to be able to water it as best as I can.


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## Grizzly Adam

I am working on dotting the i's and crossing the t's when it comes to my upcoming irrigation install. I will be putting the valve boxes in the landscaping (mulch) beds. What tactics have you used to camouflage your box, short of just covering it with mulch?


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## Colinwjholding

Grizzly Adam said:


> I am working on dotting the i's and crossing the t's when it comes to my upcoming irrigation install. I will be putting the valve boxes in the landscaping (mulch) beds. What tactics have you used to camouflage your box, short of just covering it with mulch?


Never cover the box. Why create a headache for later. Make it flush with current grade and done.


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## Grizzly Adam

I decided to go with a ST8i-Wifi 2.0 controller. It was easy to set up and program, not that it is hooked to anything yet. Yesterday I finished running the supply line from inside, through the 8" block wall outside. I plumbed the back-flow preventer, a Zurn Wilkins 720a, on my workbench with unions and a supply shutoff valve. It is ready for the rest of it's installation once I break ground. I have gotten my final drawing from Rainbird's design service, and quote from my Rainbird rep. I am still waiting for a quote from my Orbit rep for interchangeable parts and for the manifold parts Rainbird doesn't make.



I put together a quick pictorial schematic for future reference. The plan is to break ground tomorrow night and have things wrapped up by Sunday.



The work plan for the two weeks leading up to the project will be:


Hand excavate where the piping will cross shallow utilities so I will already have these areas ready when I bring the ditch witch on site
Mark yard for sprinklers and piping
Hand dig for the backflow preventer and the manifold boxes
Plumb to the backflow preventer
Run valve wires from controller to outside - front and back
Install rain sensor on eaves and run back to controller
Pre-assemble sprinkler heads and valve manifolds
Pre-assemble long runs of cpvc and lay in landscaping bed next to where trench will be run
Friday *March 25*-- break ground with ditch witch


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## The Lawnfather

That is pretty cool. Do you have plantings that you want to possibly run drip line on, and maybe drips for potted flowers etc
Is the controller wifi enabled
Faucet for the shed?
Guy that did mine put white rock in valve boxes which just was a nice touch and keeps valve cleaner


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## Grizzly Adam

The Lawnfather said:


> That is pretty cool. Do you have plantings that you want to possibly run drip line on, and maybe drips for potted flowers etc
> Is the controller wifi enabled
> Faucet for the shed?
> Guy that did mine put white rock in valve boxes which just was a nice touch and keeps valve cleaner


I am going to run an extra pipe from that valve box to the garden because I think she will eventually want to add that as the eighth and final zone. I am planning to toss some of the rock from out landscaping into the bottom of the valve boxes-- as we will be removing that landscaping anyway. The control is wifi enabled I went with the ST8i-2.0. I was able to test that the valves were firing while sitting next to the them. No faucet for the shed, it is not necessary.

Some photos from the marking process:







The valve manifold and valve box install:



And the backflow preventer install:


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## Grizzly Adam

I brought home the ditch witch and two hours later the trenches were trenched and my back was sore.


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## SouthernTiftuf

Wow reading the 2 hour piece made me rethink hand digging my irrigation….. oh well in the past now and I enjoyed it haha


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## Grizzly Adam

I am moving some stuff from my lawn journal thread to here to make the documentation trail better for both threads. Original dates included in posts.

*Tue Mar 29, 2022 3:02 pm*

Zones 1-4 and zone 7 are in the ground. Zones 5 & 6 are yet to be installed. Trenching with the ditch witch on Thursday night went well and we complete within two hours. The next morning, my buddy and I cleaned up the trenches and connected the corners. My arms were aching from trying to control the ditch witch the day before, so this became a short day.

I hit it again Saturday at the crack of noon (I worked the morning) and got the CPVC supply line mostly installed, it is within a foot of each of the valve boxes. My buddy, the Mrs., and I got zones 1-4 hooked up before sun down. The next morning we awoke to frozen ground, so we didn't work on Sunday. Monday I hooked up zone 7, and I am planning to hook up zone 5 tonight before the rain hits.

*We have been without water since last Sunday due to our community well caving in on itself. *We may have water by Friday, which might mean that the well could be back up and running before the sprinkler system is. I still have to dig to set each sprinkler head fully into the ground and further clean up around all the trenches to decrease the amount of damage done to the lawn.

Below is a picture of the Orbit manifold assembled with Rainbird valves in an Orbit box.


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## Grizzly Adam

Sun Apr 03, 2022 3:28 pm

I hit it again at a slow pace this weekend due to an inflamed elbow/tendinitis making it difficult for me to work more than an hour or so at a time. Here is a list of what was accomplished:

Friday night and Saturday morning I got the last of the zone piping and sprinklers in the ground.

I now have over half of the sprinkler heads set to the proper depth -- I really appreciate this swing pipes.

I have completed repairs to the damaged coax coming to the house and it will get buried again tomorrow after the liquid electrical tape has a chance to fully dry.

I have made a lot of progress in getting the dirt that was thrown out of the trenches back to where it belongs. Much of it was trampled as consequence the installation process. I have found that a garden hoe works better that a garden rake for making this happen.

I plan to go back out once or twice more tonight to continue closing the trenches while I am feeling good enough to do so. It seems that that crimping and the digging are the two things setting off the tendinitis-- using the hoe to close the trenches has been relatively easy on me.

On my list but not yet completed is to do the last portion of the CPVC pipe going directly into the valve boxes-- the temperature lately has not met the minimum requirement of the CPVC cement. Tomorrow afternoon should be warm enough.


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## Grizzly Adam

Wed Apr 06, 2022 8:15 am

Another update:

The sprinkler system is all in the ground and buried, except for the CPVC line that I want to pressure test before hand. I did get the CVPC completely hooked up. We have been without water for about 3 weeks, but the HOA is expecting it to be back on by 4PM today. We have some hard freeze temps still in the forecast and I am going on a cruise next week, so I will be leaving the pressure testing until I return. Then I will go through the arduous task of removing the sprinkler guts from the bodies to flush the system, zone by zone, and set each sprinkler's spray and pattern.


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## Grizzly Adam

We are in the homestretch now.

After work last night I pressurized the supply lines and backflow preventer-- no leaks!

Zones 1-4 work correctly, I still need to get the right nozzles in the heads and aim/adjust them. I think I will do that tomorrow after work on those zones.

There is some funny stuff going on with zones 5&6, I think 7 was functioning right. I am pretty sure I crossed two lines and have part of zone 5 hooked into zone six. I may also have a stuck valve on zone 6, but the more I think about it the more I think I just didn't realize that I had the two zones tied together.

Anyway-- I want to get zones 1-4 set tomorrow and then put the shovel to it Thursday and get 5&6 straightened out. I am hoping by Saturday evening to have the whole system in perfect working order.


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## San

Just looking at some of your pictures, but where are you planning to winterize the system from? 
I didn't see any hookups in your set up.


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## Grizzly Adam

San said:


> Just looking at some of your pictures, but where are you planning to winterize the system from?
> I didn't see any hookups in your set up.


I have a low point in the basement for draining with a GHT connector, isolation valves, and a union. To that connector I can attach a garden hose, a pressure meter, or a blow out nozzle. I will open zone by zone and blow each out, and then I can remove the backflow preventer in it's entirety and bring it inside for the winter.


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## San

Grizzly Adam said:


> San said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just looking at some of your pictures, but where are you planning to winterize the system from?
> I didn't see any hookups in your set up.
> 
> 
> 
> I have a low point in the basement for draining with a GHT connector, isolation valves, and a union. To that connector I can attach a garden hose, a pressure meter, or a blow out nozzle. I will open zone by zone and blow each out, and then I can remove the backflow preventer in it's entirety and bring it inside for the winter.
Click to expand...

It's generally recommended not to blow out through your Backflow Preventer though.
It might be worth it to add a port right after the BP and blow out from there.

Realizing that there are plenty of people that use their test ports to blow out their system. 
But if you're going through installing it all, might as well install it right.


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## Grizzly Adam

San said:


> Grizzly Adam said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> San said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just looking at some of your pictures, but where are you planning to winterize the system from?
> I didn't see any hookups in your set up.
> 
> 
> 
> I have a low point in the basement for draining with a GHT connector, isolation valves, and a union. To that connector I can attach a garden hose, a pressure meter, or a blow out nozzle. I will open zone by zone and blow each out, and then I can remove the backflow preventer in it's entirety and bring it inside for the winter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's generally recommended not to blow out through your Backflow Preventer though.
> It might be worth it to add a port right after the BP and blow out from there.
> 
> Realizing that there are plenty of people that use their test ports to blow out their system.
> But if you're going through installing it all, might as well install it right.
Click to expand...

That is good to know. I was going pick up a couple more unions and make a dummy pipe for when I pull the backflow preventer so nothing gets in the line, I will just put it on before the blow out.


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## Grizzly Adam

Zones 1-3 are set up, but I need to change nozzles on two of the 42SA's on zone 3. I have them set up to water across the ditch, but the ditch sits a little higher on the back side. The low-angle nozzles aren't able to get all the way across.

It was a muddy mess as it had been raining all day, so the work was slower than usual. I am hoping things dry out enough today that after work I can uncross the two lines I mixed up between zones 5 & 6. I would also like to get the zone 3 nozzles swapped and get zones 4 & 5 setup today.


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## San

As you are getting things dialed in, these were really handy for me in the past.

You just place them all over your zone that your testing. 
Run the zone for a while.
Then see if they are approximately evenly filled
Adjust sprinklers if needed to make them more even.
And then average them and calculate for how long a zone needs to run to get your water down in that zone.

https://www.amazon.com/ROUSHUN-Sprinkler-Bright-Outdoor-Measuring/dp/B08V4X21LK


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## Grizzly Adam

San said:


> As you are getting things dialed in, these were really handy for me in the past.
> 
> You just place them all over your zone that your testing.
> Run the zone for a while.
> Then see if they are approximately evenly filled
> Adjust sprinklers if needed to make them more even.
> And then average them and calculate for how long a zone needs to run to get your water down in that zone.
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/ROUSHUN-Sprinkler-Bright-Outdoor-Measuring/dp/B08V4X21LK


I have three cats, so I have been running their wet food cans through the dishwasher and will be using them. Same process as what you are suggesting.


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## Grizzly Adam

My buddy come over last night to lend a hand and we got all the remaining zones set up. We also got the lines between zones 5 & 6 uncrossed. However, I now have one sprinkler head on zone 5 that should be on 6, so I need to get it moved over, should be a minor job. I have at least two zones with debris in the solenoids-- zones 5 & 6, and possibly zone 3. I will need to get those cleaned out, and all the trenches 100% closed up and I can then call the project a wrap. However, the weather is not my friend as it looks like it will be a rainy windy mess all weekend.


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## Grizzly Adam

I had a little bit of time to work on the system last night, and I am happy to say that I found the issue with zones 5 & 6. The images below show debris that was on the lip of the diaphragm of each of the valves, keeping them from closing completely. Zone 5 was the work of the two, probably because it was the first one.





I got home about 20 minutes before sun down and was able to get most of the trenching closed back up. I am expecting to get everything finished tonight!


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## Grizzly Adam

*Project Done!*

I got the rest of the trenches and the two remaining sprinkler heads buried last night. I had to bring in a little compost as filler around the valve boxes. I reinstalled the two valves that I cleaned out, and they are operating perfectly! I have two more to clean out (zones 3 and 4) but that is maintenance, not installation .


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## Grizzly Adam

Here are some shots of the system up and running. Not the best pictures, but the best I've got.

Zone 1


Zone 2


Zone 3


Zone 4


Zone 5


Zone 6a


Zone 6a


Zone 7


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