| So have you finally have given up on hand | | | | |
| watering and want a in-ground system? | | | | Then we need to cut one of the sprays in half |
| Designing a sprinkler system may be easier | | | | and another in quarters for smaller areas. |
| than you think. | | | | Since our Rotors allow adjustable spray |
| | | | angles we can keep certain areas dry by |
| In this short tutorial you will learn how to | | | | simply spraying outward. |
| create a simple garden plan and then estimate | | | | |
| how much conduit and sprinkler heads you will | | | | Tracing your spray patterns |
| need for your project. | | | | |
| | | | Start with areas like the edge of house, |
| Plotting your garden area | | | | patios or edge of street and use the half |
| | | | circles. With the spray templates simply |
| First, find a some graph paper. If you don't | | | | trace around them using a pencil. |
| have any you can Google "printable graph | | | | |
| paper" and prnt the example images. Depending | | | | Each spray pattern should overlap at least |
| on the size of your yard, establish the scale | | | | 30% to ensure no areas in your lawn or garden |
| by referring to each square as 2 or more | | | | will become dry. Once all half circles are |
| feet. | | | | drawn, fill in middle areas with full sprays |
| | | | and quarter spays where needed. |
| Next, you will want to measure and draw your | | | | |
| house and patio areas. Be sure to include | | | | Defining your watering zones |
| side walks and other obstructions like trees | | | | |
| and garden borders as well. | | | | Lastly, we need to draw in the conduit and |
| | | | create watering zones. Starting at your |
| Locating your water source | | | | spigot, draw a gradual curve from one head to |
| | | | the next, making sure your conduit never |
| Once you have define these areas and your | | | | overlaps. Be sure to avoid tight turns in |
| garden boundary you will need to locate your | | | | your design. |
| water source. For this DIY project we will be | | | | |
| using your outside spigot as the water | | | | For this tutorial we will use 3 heads for |
| source. Locate these on your plan with an | | | | each zone. By connecting a series of 3 heads |
| "X". | | | | together you are establishing one watering |
| | | | zone. Repeat this process to the remaining |
| Choosing a sprinkler head | | | | heads on your plan. |
| | | | |
| Now we will need to decide on what kind of | | | | Checking your Psi and Gpm |
| sprinkler head to use. In this tutorial we | | | | |
| have selected Rotors for our project. These | | | | You will also want to check your Psi and GPM |
| are a rotating gear driven heads and are a | | | | levels. A call to your water company will |
| great choice for large lawn areas. | | | | give you a good idea of how good your water |
| | | | coverage will be. |
| Rotor heads silently spray a water stream out | | | | |
| to an average distance of 20 feet. They will | | | | Other methods include using a pressure guage |
| minimize the amount of conduit required for | | | | (it easily attaches to your faucet) and a |
| you project. | | | | gallon bucket (For example if it takes 7 |
| | | | seconds to fill a gallon bucket then divided |
| Creating spray templates | | | | 60 by 7 .. or 8.6 GPM) |
| | | | |
| Next, we will create a spray template. On a | | | | In Conclusion |
| separate peice of graph paper draw 4 circles | | | | |
| with a diameter (width of the circle) | | | | We hope this tutorial has given you a better |
| measuring 40 feet. Then cut each circle out | | | | understanding about DIY Sprinkler Irrigation |
| with a pair of scissors. (note: see our | | | | Design and Planning. You may have discivered |
| predrawn sprinkler templates to skip this | | | | that planning for a sprinkler system is much |
| step) | | | | easier than you had originally thought. |