Irrigation System Advice

[Superman]

I hope Baz's account has not been hacked or, alternatively, that the problem gets fixed.

Our place needs irrigation system improvements. We have about 0.25 acres and no irrigation system. The house has only two hose bibs (not enough) and we are tired of watering everything with a ganglion of garden hoses. We seem to be constantly expanding garden areas of vegetables, herbs and flowers. We don't care too much for lawn grass but we are likely to continue making improvements with various plantings. I need to improve/create an irrigation system. This is the start of a research effort to plan for that. I am retired now, and will probably do the work myself.

The first pic includes the front door area and garage. The water supply line enters the house under this flower bed, under the window on the left. It looks like the irrigation system will need to come out through the foundation and then under the sidewalk/walkway. I suppose I would drill through the foundation without disturbing the rebar, and I don't know how to do this. I also do not know how to run this irrigation line under the walkway.

If an above-ground manifold system will be needed, then I suppose it would go into the garage in this pic. I presume this would mean more concrete drilling of the garage slab.



The other two pics show the back yard were most of the current garden areas are located. It would be nice to have spigots in those areas so that we could eliminate a couple hundred feet of garden hoses going everywhere. Our climate is mild, but temperatures can get into the twenties and high teens occasionally in winter. Lines underground would be fine but spigots poking up out of the ground could potentially freeze. Perhaps I need advice from a landscape construction outfit. Sure, I could just contract it all out but I do have the time to do this myself. But I lack the expertise at the moment. This is where your advice comes in.

[wdfifteen]

A combination of drip hoses and weep hoses is what I would use. I really like drip irrigation because you can put the water directly on the plant you need to water. You don't waste any. The weep hoses are good if you have a dense planting and basically need to water the whole area.

[Superman]

I agree. I just need to get the water TO the garden areas without having garden hoses running everywhere. For example, in the first picture, of the house entrance, the nearest hose bib is at least 40 feet away, and on the other side of a fence. That hose would need to run across either the walkway or the driveway.

[wdfifteen]

Yep, you need Baz.

[Superman]

Where is Baz?

[Crowbob]

Typically, domestic, i.e., homeowner, irrigation systems tap into the water line before the line feeds the house and have a back-flow preventer installed.

Depending on how much ground needs irrigation this could be a major undertaking.

What I would do in your situation is to lay black plastic pipe (in trenches) with a flexible adapter that would be manually connected to the nearest outside faucet(s) for each use. A slight hassle but waaaay easier than dragging hoses all over the place.

[Baz]

Happy to offer my thoughts, Jim.

Do you know what kind of pipe is used to supply water to your house?

PVC? Copper? Diameter? 3/4"?

Does it come from some kind of meter, closer to the road out front?

When was your house built?

That would be a good start.

Busy today so will respond when able to....

[Crowbob]

In the first pic, the vertical line (all lines are copper wrapped in foam insulation) comes directly from the well. The irrigation system taps into the line at the yellow valve lever (barely visible) before the water goes into the house distribution plumbing. The yellow valve is to shut the irrigation system off completely for winterization. The other valve attached to the green hose is to drain whatever little water remains in the irrigation system inside the house when shut off. It’s hard to tell but the both valves tap into the same line.



The second pic is the back-flow preventer which is shut off for winterizing and compressed air is blown into the system after the cap is removed on the left to evacuate all the water from the irrigation system outside (the black vertical pipe goes to the buried valve controller).

[Superman]

Thanks, Baz. Good to hear from you. Absolutely no hurry whatsoever. Let's see how these pictures present:

[Superman]

Okay, this is a box with only a shutoff valve, located in my yard, downstream of the meter which is ten feet closer to the street. Everything here looks and feels like plastic. The grey thing on the right in the top pic is a 90-degree elbow pointing down. The second pic shows that same grey elbow pointing down, and the pipe connected to it. As I say, as near as i can tell everything is plastic. I could measure that pipe going into the ground, but I'd guess it is around 1.25 - 1.5 inches OD. House was built in 1999.

Thanks, Crowbob. Very helpful. I am curious about this buried valve controller. Is it buried but accessible, similar to a water meter? Does it have electrical, or it it a box of mechanical valves for different system branches?

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Superman

Okay, this is a box with only a shutoff valve, located in my yard, downstream of the meter which is ten feet closer to the street. Everything here looks and feels like plastic. -snip-

OK thanks. Going to assume the pipe that feeds your house (& current hose bibs) is PVC, based on what you posted.

If so, in order to install additional hose bibs, you could proceed in this fashion:

1. Turn water off at valve mentioned above. And back on when finished with job.

2. Cut PVC pipe and add a tee at a location that makes the most sense - where you can run additional PVC lines out to desired additional hose bibs.

3. The above method would also be used, should you desire to add conventional sprinklers.

4. The work with PVC pipe and fittings is very straight forward. I won't get into that at this point. But seems like this would be the best way for you to achieve your goals.

5. Assuming this is the right choice for you, you would ideally end up with additional hose bibs, from which you could add some kind of sprinkler device.

That decision really depends on things I have no knowledge of, based just on what's been posted.

You'd have to do a sketch and post it showing a schematic plus dimensions for me to add more commentary.

6. The last consideration would be to add some kind of timer(s). They make these that can run off batteries or you could use a simple "egg timer" type.

Of course, conventional sprinkler systems have timers that are more sophisticated and run off 110v house current. Those types operated solenoid valves. This type of system is ideal but I'm not sure that's what you are looking for.

Let me/us know...thanks!

[Superman]

Your guesses are spot on. Thanks muchly for the advice. Perhaps I will draw up a grid map to consider.

One thing I am not clear on, and perhaps several here could answer, is how to install the underground "T." When I have installed pipe systems, I have started at one end and ended at the other. But if I cut a slice out of an underground pipe, how do I get the two female collars, and the T fixture, on? I cannot move the existing pipe to create sufficient room and then move it back into place.

And wouldn't polyethylene pipe be better? Somewhat bendable, when warm enough. That is what I used to replace a failed incoming water line to a house I owned years ago.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Superman

....I cannot move the existing pipe to create sufficient room and then move it back into place.....

Dig a bigger hole for more flex or use heat.

[greglepore]

The heat idea is interesting. I've used unions in that situation, but never heat. Hmmm.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Dig a bigger hole for more flex or use heat.

There is a 90 in the pic [I mean the pic Superman posted of his supply pipe], can you cut that off and replace with a T?

[Superman]

Originally Posted by greglepore

...I've used unions in that situation, but never heat.....

"Unions?" Explain.

[Superman]

Ah. 90s.

[jyl]

When I put a sprinkler system in my last house, I built a PVC manifold, electrically controlled valves at each outlet, with wired-in controller. You could put all that by where the water line goes into the house, controller attached to the wall, all shielded from view by the bushes. Backflow valve and manual shutoff valve between water line and the manifold. Filter on each circuit. Give yourself plenty of circuits, so you can have different things on their own watering cycle and not have too many sprinkler heads or drip emitters on one circuit. Put a garden hose into a bucket to measure your gallons/hour, and figure out what is too many.

Drip is easy to assemble and water efficient, requires painstakingly placing one emitter per plant and fiddling with micro-sprinklers. For a larger area you will probably want normal sprinklers. For rows of veg or bushes, soaker hose.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Superman

Your guesses are spot on. Thanks muchly for the advice. Perhaps I will draw up a grid map to consider.

One thing I am not clear on, and perhaps several here could answer, is how to install the underground "T." When I have installed pipe systems, I have started at one end and ended at the other. But if I cut a slice out of an underground pipe, how do I get the two female collars, and the T fixture, on? I cannot move the existing pipe to create sufficient room and then move it back into place.

And wouldn't polyethylene pipe be better? Somewhat bendable, when warm enough. That is what I used to replace a failed incoming water line to a house I owned years ago.

There a few different ways to add a tee, but without knowing more about what you have there, this would be my first suggestion. Using what's called a "slip fix" coupling and a tee fitting.



Cutting PVC pipe can be done with several methods. If it's "thin wall" and 1" and under I like to use this tool:



Schedule 40 and/or larger than 1" - a hacksaw or a ratchet cutter is the way to go:



Now your question about pipe - is a good one. I don't know the level of concern in your area about frozen water in your pipes. Maybe give a call to a local irrigation supply house, explain what you are doing, and ask their opinion. Post it here afterwards if you want. Helpful info to know. Otherwise I don't know why conventional PVC pipe couldn't be used.

You could probably be OK just running 3/4" diameter since you are using "city water' which typically has very good water pressure/volume.

But if you were installing a conventional irrigation system, for your size lot, I would go with 1" diameter before dropping to smaller (3/4" and/or 1/2") when you branch off.

I know one contractor here who always used 1" for the entire system he installed. Streamlined the assortment of fittings he had to keep on hand and also allowed for future expansion of the system just about anywhere desired.

[Baz]

A sketch/schematic would be the next item to post here that would help.

Also, I'm curious what kind of "shutoff" valve you have in the front that you posted pics of. Can you post a pic of the actual valve and also the box it sits in?

Also, I wonder how deep your feed pipe is - that goes to your house - from that shutoff valve.

Maybe you could carefully dig an inspection hole and find out. Also verify it's PVC pipe and what size.

How is the soil there for digging, BTW?

Thanks!