# Newbie Catch Cup Test



## jacheech (Aug 9, 2020)

Hi, first post. Looking to transform a neglected weedy lawn into something respectable.

Focusing first on my front lawn. Step one was to install irrigation system, done this month. Now performing a catch cup test and wanted some guidance. The zones are set up on rows, there are four of them that stretch across my lawn, each having 4 Hunter rotor heads.

The zones at either outside edge rotate 180 degrees and the two middle zones rotate 360 degrees.

Since the zones overlap, should I run zone 1, then zone 2 with cups in same location to get a combined irrigation rate?

A bit confused....


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## MrMeaner (Feb 21, 2017)

Yes run both zones and place the cups randomly in between both zones. The rotor streams should reach from each head to other neighboring heads

The other thing I would look at is your nozzles between the 180 degree rotors and the 360 degree rotors. Every head in my system came with 1.0gal nozzles and the installer didn't change a single nozzle. So I mapped out the system and left those in areas the had 90 degree corners, put 2.0gal nozzles in 180 degree rotors and 3 or4 gallon nozzles in the 360 degree rotors.


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## jacheech (Aug 9, 2020)

Thanks very much! I have the Hunter PGP rotors, do those have interchangeable nozzles?


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## uts (Jul 8, 2019)

jacheech said:


> Thanks very much! I have the Hunter PGP rotors, do those have interchangeable nozzles?


Yes they do. Go to an irrigation store or online and look for a pgp nozzle tree. Should be under a dollar. Get as many rotors as you have so you can always swap.

Also get the hunter adjustment key (my advise is to get multiple so you have a spare if you loose it). They are under a dollar usually as well.


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## jacheech (Aug 9, 2020)

Great advice, thanks. Just ordered some blue nozzles, paid $.51 per tree, have a couple of keys from the install.

Still running catch cup test but noticing the zones with 360 degree rotation are getting about 1/3-1/2 the volume.


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## MrMeaner (Feb 21, 2017)

jacheech said:


> Great advice, thanks. Just ordered some blue nozzles, paid $.51 per tree, have a couple of keys from the install.
> 
> Still running catch cup test but noticing the zones with 360 degree rotation are getting about 1/3-1/2 the volume.


Correct...Think if it like this only having one catch cup in front of a head. The 90 degree head theoretically will go back and forth 4 times over the same area and a 360 degree head only goes over that one catch cup each revolution. Hence the need for a larger nozzles in 180, 270 and 360 degree heads.


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## jacheech (Aug 9, 2020)

Thanks, everyone. Given the inconsistencies I noted in my initial test I pulled the plug. Today I received my nozzle trees and plan to get them installed in the next few days and redo the test. My plan is to follow @MrMeaner's suggestion and start with 1 gal at the 90 degree corner arcs, the two gallon for the 180 arcs, and the 4 gallon at the 360 degree arcs. I'll do this and then run a anew test to see how consistent the results are.

Thinking I'll want to keep an eye on the length of the radius so that I get the head-to-head coverage. Any other tips? If I maintain head-to-head coverage does it make sense to use even larger tips to reduce run time?

Thanks, again!


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## Justmatson (Apr 4, 2020)

jacheech said:


> Thinking I'll want to keep an eye on the length of the radius so that I get the head-to-head coverage. Any other tips? If I maintain head-to-head coverage does it make sense to use even larger tips to reduce run time?


Not necessarily.... sometimes slower is better. Allows water to soak in instead of run off especially if you got clay. 
Watering longer doesn't mean your using more water. Using smaller nozzle means you have to run them longer to get down the same amount of water as a larger nozzle.

Make sure you do an audit to know how much water you are putting down. Tuna cans in multiple locations.

Tip: if your not getting head-to-head coverage try a bigger nozzle. If you start to get run off. Run your zones in cycles. Eg: zone 1 haft amount of time, continue with the other zones then start back at zone 1 for the other haft. 
You want to try over shooting head-to-head by a foot or two. Most sprinklers you can reduce the distance if its to far.

But slower is better IMO. Hunter mp rotators use that principle.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^+1 slower is better as long as it doesnt take you 24hrs to water your 1 acre. Hunter targets ~0.5in/hr


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## BadDogPSD (Jul 9, 2020)

g-man said:


> ^+1 slower is better as long as it doesnt take you 24hrs to water your 1 acre. Hunter targets ~0.5in/hr


Is that ~0.5in/hr per nozzle? So head-to-head-to head coverage would put down ~1.5in/hr? Or about 20 minutes to apply ~ 0.5 inches for that zone?


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## Justmatson (Apr 4, 2020)

BadDogPSD said:


> g-man said:
> 
> 
> > ^+1 slower is better as long as it doesnt take you 24hrs to water your 1 acre. Hunter targets ~0.5in/hr
> ...


If you asking about the mp rotator's their nozzles are little under 0.5"/hr per nozzle. If you had a square yard with a rotator in the middle and correct head to head coverage then yes about ½hr to apply 1.5"

- It's different with rotors as they rotate.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@Justmatson @BadDogPSD the 0.44in/hr in hunter is by zone if you do the square pattern. Triangle pattern is a different precipitation rate.


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## Justmatson (Apr 4, 2020)

Yes thats correct, my fault, I knew that. D'oh! 
1.5"/ 0.5hr is very heavy.

I think another important spec with the MP's is the correct PSI (40psi) there is pressure regulated spray bodies.


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## jacheech (Aug 9, 2020)

Got my nozzles this weekend. Here's how I laid them out: 90 degree corners (4) got 1.5's, 180 degree (9) got 2's, and the 360 degree (6) got 4's. Getting great head to head coverage. Going to rerun a catch cup test and let you know how I make out.

Thanks for all the great advice everyone.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I don't think that will work. You need 1.5 (90), 3 (180), 6(360). Or 1 (90), 2(180), 4(360).


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## jacheech (Aug 9, 2020)

Thanks Gman. I'll have to go option A since 1.5 was the smallest nozzle on the blue trees. Thanks for the advice.


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## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

@Justmatson @BadDogPSD @g-man

Agreed with @g-man. Just did a catch cup test in front and back after replacing all the heads with MP rotators from Rainbird VANs because the VANS were so inconsistent. Head to head coverage in a semi square yard got me 0.47"/hr in front and 0.54"/hr. Still have around a 75% efficiency per Rachio's calculations for both zones but its been hard to get a higher efficiency with how slow these guys output water. Ran each zone for 20 min and was getting around 0.1-.2 for 20 min which seems pretty even but it's 2x more water. Might look at running these greater than 20 min since they have such a slow output. My catch cups only have 0.1" increments so running them longer might give me more uniform measurements.


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## BadDogPSD (Jul 9, 2020)

Thanks @mjh648 good info. I appreciate you sharing. I'm finally about finished with my irrigation upgrade and need to to a water audit too.


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