# Irrigation Design/Layout



## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

Since this is my first post, I will introduce myself. I'm Scott and I live on the southside of Indy. I'm new here but I have been on th ATY board for a while (inactive as of late). I stumbled across your board by researching irrigation design/installation.

So here goes, I used the orbit design guide to do this. I feel it does a pretty good job on calculations and such. But, I feel my layout could use some tweaking. I have 8gpm available at 65psi static. I've also been through irrigationtutorials to verify this. I will be using MP Rotators throughout except where I will be using drip as indicated

The green circles are trees, the design guide didn't take this in to account. I think the design would be better if I moved the 2 360° spray heads to the left and added 2 more to the right. I also think I should change the 360°'s by the trees to 270° nozzles as to not constantly water the tree trunks. By doing this I think it will give better coverage.

Thoughts, concerns or criticisms?

Also, can any one local advise if I need to pull permits for any of this if I do it myself. Install permit, backflow permit?

Thanks in advance!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Welcome to TLF. Some of us also started at ATY and are also inactive (banned).

Backflow will need to tested yearly. A local irrigation company could do that and will like to winterize your system too. You do need to call 811 before you dig. In Fishers, IN there was no permits to pull, but I dont know about Indy.

The right side looks good, but the left doesnt have head to head coverage. The 360 are not being watered by edge heads. In the corners of the driveway you have 3 heads around what I think is a column. I think you could compromise and just use the 270 to not over water.


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

The "column" is grasses at the top of the driveway. I'm a certified tester so testing the backflow isn't an issue. Yeah, I'm not sure why the 360's are that way. But adding a few more heads as I described will take care of the issue I think. If I put a single 270 where the 2 90's are do you think I will get good enough coverage in that corner? In that area I didn't draw it out quite right, the grasses on both sides are actually about 6 feet down from where they are.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by moving the 360. It might end up over watering. Maybe update the layout?


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

I'll update that later tonight, sorry for the confusion..


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

Here is my revised plan. The 3 black dots by the trees will be 270° rotators and the other lower left will be a 360° rotator. I'm thinking that should be decent coverage. Not sure what to do up at the top of the driveway.


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

Here's are real world look at what I have


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Hmm. That a lot of shade from the matured trees. That brings another bigger problem, roots. Some of the placement of the heads will be impacted by the roots plus all the pipes.

I think the 4 black dots are too close to each other and will end up over watering the center.

An option is to use MP2000 at 18ft throw. This will yield 72ft width with 4 columns. On the length you will then need 5 rows. The last row will have to be reduced to 16ft to get the 88ft instead of the 90ft or watering the street. This will be a compromise since I dont see the MP3000 working in a 72 by 88 rectangle without adding a bunch of heads.

At the top of the driveway, I will just install a nozzle at 110 degrees right at the spot your arrow points at. The I would not use the two 90 you have there. Remember that the other heads will spray that corner. There is a small sliver of grass that is not getting the optimal rate, but it should be ok in my opinion.


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

Yes the roots are a problem that is my one big hesitation of installing this. My plan was to run all the pipes in the middle of the trees and as far away from trunks as possible. Most of the piping will go up the center to the street. Some will go in between the two trees on the right or up the edge of the driveway. The other pipes will just have to be carefully placed. For the heads near the trees, I planned on coming towards the trees at a diagonal as to not due too much root damage. I'm hoping that is a good plan, on paper it looks and sounds great. The black ********* are approx 25 feet away from each other. 
Thanks for taking a look and the advice!


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

Last night I got out there with a measuring wheel. My drawings above are a bit off. I will be able to do 3 heads across the right side. There will be a small patch of unwatered area up by the ornamental grass and driveway. That's an odd area any way so I will be doing something other than turf there. As far as the heads in the middle, 25-30 foot spacing works out very well for those.

The big question is still the roots of the trees. My laterals will be between 12"-18" deep maybe a bit more shallow as needed.


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

Those roots are a huge problem and will restrict your design.

Another thing is that, ideally, you don't want to water the tree trunks. It causes disease.


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

Ecks from Tex said:


> Those roots are a huge problem and will restrict your design.
> 
> Another thing is that, ideally, you don't want to water the tree trunks. It causes disease.


That's why I have decided on rotators instead of sprays, hopefull its less destructive.


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

SW315 said:


> Ecks from Tex said:
> 
> 
> > Those roots are a huge problem and will restrict your design.
> ...


I would definitely go for poly line or some sort of bluelock/hydroline for your laterals. It will help you navigating through the root systems a little easier. You're just going to have some hand digging. But with the small laterals, you might be able to rent a handheld trencher to dig your lines instead of a large trencher. That would make is so you could see the path ahead easier and stop before the root systems and hand dig around major root lines.


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

Ecks from Tex said:


> SW315 said:
> 
> 
> > Ecks from Tex said:
> ...


That's pretty much my plan. :thumbsup:


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

Let's talk about controllers:

I've been looking at 2 different controllers. The Hunter 12 zone HC-1200I with wireless solar sync $299 or the Rachio 16 zone for $279. I like the Hunter because it would give me the actual weather data for my house. The Rachio is a nice looking unit and the app looks great but does it not pull data from a weather station that may or may not be close to my house? Or am I not understanding it correctly?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Rachio will see the weather station data from pwsweather.com.

Another option is opensprinkler.


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

g-man said:


> Rachio will see the weather station data from pwsweather.com.
> 
> Another option is opensprinkler.


I just looked at the pws weather website. Looks like there is a station within about a mile from me. I guess that will work out well for the Rachio.

G-man do you have the Rachio, if so how do you like it? Anything you don't like about it?

Thanks!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I have 2 rachios. I bought a gen3 that I have not installed yet. I have a gen 2 8 zones that I will sell once I switch.

I like it. The software is easy to use and it has a large community. There are a few small things I would like to change like being able to manually input precipitation when the pws station is wrong.

I run a script that transfers data from weather underground to pws system to get more stations. I wonder what will happen next year  .


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## SW315 (Sep 10, 2018)

FYI, I contacted Citizens Energy (My Water Company) and they said I do not need a permit. Only If I was adding a second meter would I would need a permit.


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