I’m trying to find sprinklers that are a step up from the cheap ones at home depot.
I have a small lawn so the cost isn’t a big deal.
I’d like to put in rotators or something that will be “nice”.
I found these online but I’m not sure if they are right.
http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/Walla-Walla-MP1000-MP-Rotator-s/782.htm
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Replies
I installed a new Champion sprinkler system, here in SoCal, a couple years ago, replacing the corroded old galvanized system with PVC pipe and using new brass pop-up sprinkler heads and brass valves.
I'm very pleased with the spray pattern from the old fashioned brass heads. Larger droplets mean less evaporation as well as loss of water from light winds blowing mist away. I've also heard and seen how plastic sprinklers become brittle after a few years under UV sunlight, where the brass sprinklers are virtually maintenance free.
For the same reason I'm strongly in favor of brass valves, with built in electric controllers wired to a wall mounted computer inside the home.
Looking at your site, I'd suggest that you put one 3/4" main line up the center of the lawn and T laterals off it, out to the edges of the lawn for 180 degree sprinklers. The main line and the laterals can also be tapped for sprinklers wherever they're needed to cover or overlap.
The basics of sprinkler plumbing is 3/4" PVC for all mains and laterals with 1/2" threaded nipples T'ed vertically to connect with the sprinker heads.
You can rent a gas powered trenching machine, designed for just this purpose, at most rental centers. These machines are adjustable for precise depth, usually about eight inches.
After you decide what type of sprinkler head you want to use, you simply put together a 3/4"X threaded 1/2" T with a threaded nipple of the proper length and the sprinkler head, then measure the resulting height to determine the depth required.
There are web sites for all the major sprinkler manufacturers with detailed information about sprinker system design and how to get the best coverage.
I have the lines in and some sprinkler heads that are junk. They just don't work very well. I'd like to put in rotators but can't find recommendations for product.
I'm looking for sprinkler high quality heads. I like rotators.
Do you think these would work?
http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/Walla-Walla-MP1000-MP-Rotator-s/782.htm
Do you think these would work?
As our old friend, Sgt Shultz would say, "I know nut-ting".
My best advice is to do your experimenting with something you can buy at one of the big box stores. That way, if you don't like 'em you can return 'em, without taking any grief from the salesperson. Then try something else.
I don't know how fine your water department's filters are but here in SoCal, we get a fair number of small grains of sand. They clog up shower heads and sprinkler heads with small orifices. That's another good reason to use brass sprinklers which don't get f'ed up that way.
BTW, I'll content myself that my detailed explanation of system installations will help a few people who dig for this topic in the future.
Once again I'm stuck in the middle. The big box stores don't have the ones I want and the sprinkler place has them but doesn't like home owners.
The MP 1000s aren't that much more but HD doesn't carry them.
I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy them I guess.
Champion and Rain Bird are both pretty good brands. Steer clear of Orbit. If you use Champions, be careful when you mow. Whacking a sprinkler that's stuck in the "up" position doesn't do anything good for your mower. Go ahead and ask how I know that. - lol
If you use the popup heads with the variable arc adjustment (you can set them for odd angles), be careful about running over them with the mower. Mine often shift a little and I have to reset them.
Oh, pops, save yourself!
HD is the LAST place you wanna go for irrigation parts. They haven't a clue. Blowes is a small step above, but still an embarassment.
Go to Ewing Irrigation, in the SW corner of I-25 and E. Mulberry. Specifically, 900 Smithfield. 970-416-8388.
Ask about the undercuts.
Tell them "I'm doing this job," abd they won't treat you like scum.
Edited 7/25/2008 7:13 pm by peteshlagor
HD is the LAST place you wanna go for irrigation parts. They haven't a clue.
Having a clue isn't important when the idea is to "borrow" some stuff you've been researching and give it a try.
I bought most of my sprinkler stuff at my local HD because it was easy to find what I needed there and it was about one third off the prices at the local garden center.
I even got two expensive valves free, under a little known replacement program being offered at the time by Champion. The salesperson in that department and the store manager were the only people in the loop on that one. They saved me about $120.
No one at the garden center had heard of that free replacement program so, in that case, HD definitely did have THE clue.
Garden Center? For irrigation parts?
Some of the best irrigation supply houses I've ever seen are in S. California. Those boys got it down. And they'll blow HD's price's away. Not to mention quality, selection, and advice.
Just gotta know some Spanish.
Garden Center? For irrigation parts?
Some of the best irrigation supply houses I've ever seen are in S. California.
LOL. Irrigation supply house? For two-three hundred bucks worth of PVC and sprinkler heads? The OP is looking at maybe a hundred bucks worth of sprinkler heads for a small lawn.
BTW, I just checked the SF Valley yellow pages. There's no listings for anything under irrigation.
Another BTW, the local garden center, Green Arrow, is on about two acres of prime real estate and has a full department for sprinkler systems with one trained employee there to answer questions. They've been the go-to place for DIYers for a couple of generations.
Edited 7/25/2008 8:41 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
Irrigation Equipment
How's about this guy?
Yosef Amzalag Supply. (818) 896-6633 13650 Vaughn St, San Fernando, CA 91340
He's in the NW quadrant of the 5 and 118.
The outfit I used to use was Hydroscape.
They gots a coupla of shops around town.
Edited 7/25/2008 8:46 pm by peteshlagor
Irrigation Equipment
Matters not whether it's "supply" or "equipment". There's no heading or listing for anything beginning with the word irrigation.
How's about this guy?
Yosef Amzalag Supply. (818) 896-6633 13650 Vaughn St, San Fernando, CA 91340
That's a thirty minute drive from here, on the other side of the valley. And my Spanish is only good enough for small talk, nothing technical. Y quien sabe qual lingua habla Sr. Amzalag. ;-)
The local HD is five-six minutes away. After doing my own research, they only need to keep the shelves stocked and the return line moving.
The convenient hours, competitive pricing and the close proximity keep me going there for most small home related purchases, other than real plumbing parts and supplies.
Edited 7/25/2008 9:14 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
Then go to Yahoo, click on their Yellow Pages, enter your address as the location, and enter, "irrigation equipment" in the search box.
If'n I'm not mistook, there're be a Hydroscape close by.
I do have to admit, the HD's out there do have a bit better selection than the rest of the world's HDs. But it still is peanuts compared to these other shops.
Edited 7/25/2008 9:27 pm by peteshlagor
Thanks for the Yahoo info. I wasn't aware they had that service available.
It's not a matter of consequence in any case. I'm very pleased with the way the Champion system works, including the simple computer. I don't need a wholesale supplier nor am I the kind of customer that they want to do business with.
You can't just randomly replace heads with ones of a different type.All of them on one circuit need to have the coverage rates or else parts of the area will be flooding and others dry.Here is a good place to start.http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/sprinkler00.htm.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Edited 7/25/2008 7:44 pm by BillHartmann
You can't just randomly replace heads with ones of a different type.
No, and I didn't advise that either, did I? I suggested researching the subject and then trying out a particular type, according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Bill, even though you provide a lot of useful information, you're one of the most argumentative people posting on this board. Why is it so important to you to criticise someone else's advice before offering your own?
Edited 7/25/2008 9:11 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
Actually I thought that I was address the message to the person that started the thread..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Actually I thought that I was address the message to the person that started the thread
That explains it then.
Hi, Having had Toro and Hunter hears for years, i can tell you Hunter heard are far better. also do NOt try and squeeze too many heads on a circuit, less is much better, then add circuts as needed
Thanks for that tip.
I haven't been very impressed with Toro either, although almost everyone has them in this neigborhood. Each time I see them running, even in still air, a lot of the spray is drifting off and vaporizing, never to reach it's intended target.
In fact my next door neighbor's Toros take care of watering my half of the side yard, so I put plugs in my sprinklers that cover that area.
Thanks Toro! For saving me about twenty gallons per day.
Excellent advice. Most of the sprinkler system problems I've seen involved someone trying to run way too many heads on the same zone.
One of the most important pieces of info needed to lay out a good system is the water pressure at the sprinkler system valve manifold. Many garden centers have brochures that can help a DIY'er design a system that will have the right number of heads for the available water pressure.
Bill, if you look at the link for the mp 1000 it is intended to be used in an existing sprinkler body.
I think they designed the part just for people like me who are tired of the low quality sprinklers they have.
I will be replacing all 5 on the zone.
Here's the link
http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/Walla-Walla-MP1000-MP-Rotator-s/782.htm
Here's another one
http://www.mprotator.com/products/MP1000/MP1000features.html
Edited 7/25/2008 8:24 pm ET by popawheelie
The existing sprinkler body needs to have the pressure reducing willy built in. I suggest you get the MP Rotator bodies to go with the heads.
I bought myself a case of the MP rotators, a mess of the 1000's, several 2000's, and a 3000 or two.
I'm redoing my entire 1/2 acre with them as they are far more efficient than the usual rotators.
BUT - these little babies spray different. You gotta let them run longer, sometimes much longer, to get the proper amount of water dispensed. But you can really put a lot of heads on one circuit, since the output is so low.
And this is the tuff part - make sure you understand what is meant by the square pattern vs the triangular pattern. A triangular pattern will deliver more water per hour, but requires you to overlap spray patterns more. DON'T cut it short or you'll have brown circles in places.
These are sweet heads that really allow for a lot of flexiblibilty in weird geometries like you show in your picture.
I'm sitting here reading from their booklet I got from Ewing's. Any other questions?
I caaled them today. I will be going by there next time I'm out that way. I think the Hunter MP 1000 is the way to go. The lawn is so small that the 1000 will have to be adjusted to it's minimum distance. I asked him if it was ok and he said it depended on the pressure. So in order to get the minimum distance I might have to reduce the pressure somehow. Just to the one in the middle though.
Maybe something as simple as a washer like the ones behind a shower head.
MP rotators are a quality spray product, but they apply less water per hour than "standard rotors". This can be good or bad depends on the specifics.
Someone mentioned irrigation tutorials and that is the best place on the web to understand irrigation.
Your design is missing a few key items. In order to receive adequate coverage every spot needs a head watering in to a area and a second head watering out.
If you had a 10 X 10 square lawn you should not put a sprinkler in the middle but a head in each corner. The center of the lawn will receive some water from each of the 4 heads. A spray head does not spread the water evenly, thus you need overlapping head to apply the water evenly.
F1
Our entire subdivision is set up with Hunter sprinkler systems. No problems with them except when they get hit by snowplows in the winter.
They have a pretty in depth planning guide that you can download on their website to teach you how to design a system.