How to set your sprinkler control panel

Setting your sprinkler control panel should be something that you at least do every season.  In the summer, you should set your watering schedule for more duration and frequency.  In the winter, you should set your panel to the "off" position or greatly diminish the watering frequency.  Generally speaking, you should set your control panel to turn on each irrigation zone for about 15-25 minutes.  The exact settings, however, should be set uniquely for every yard.

The first setting is the amount of time you want each zone to water your lawn.  Some areas of your yard may call for more water, some may call for less time on the timer.  In the case of a slope where the water runs off more easily, you may want to increase the watering duration and/or frequency.  Alternately, where you have a more shady area, you may want your sprinkler heads to irrigate less because there is less evaporation in shady lawn areas.  Drip zones on the other hand may need to have more time allotted to that zone depending upon the gallons of water per minute (gpm) that each drip emitter is putting out.

Another important setting is the time at which the first zone in your system comes on.  In most cases, you want that first watering of the day to begin just before the crack of dawn.  This allows the water to soak into the turf a while before evaporation might occur.  One thing to avoid is irrigating your yard too late in the evening.  This can encourage root rot, fungus, and oxygen starvation in the root system.  In hot summer days or if germinating new grass seed, you may want to consider having your system turn on more than once a day...perhaps one time around 5am, and another time around 2pm.

Thirdly, you want to set the days that the system is to water.  Consider avoiding peak water usage times like weekends, consider when you would like your lawn to look its best and when you don't mind it looking a bit dry (like the days you have to work).  Consider the general rule of thumb: water as infrequently as possible, but when you do water let it run for a long time as to get down to the deepest roots.  Some cities regulate when you can water...this should also be a consideration of course (in Columbia, S.C. there are no water usage restrictions).

When considering how to set your sprinkler system control panel, consider that as a general rule, you want the dirt in the area that you are watering to be just slightly damp to the touch.  Your goal is to keep the plants watered at the right amount, which depends greatly on the layout of the irrigation installation, light or shade, water pressure and volume, and types of sprinkler heads. 

Sprinkler Heads Not Popping Up

How do you fix a low pressure situation in a lawn irrigation sprinkler system where your sprinkler heads are not popping up?

First, you have to figure out what is causing the low pressure...check for leaks.  You are looking for a major leak which may manifest itself by way of a vigorous spray that is obvious or by way of a large leak that can sometimes be less obvious.  Large pvc leaks can be less obvious because they do not emit water at as high of a pressure so the water more gently flows out of the breach as opposed to spraying out of the break.  If the location of the leak is not evident, one way to find it is to either cap off the heads or turn the heads off at the head (this is a feature of The Newer RainBird Sprinkler Heads).  By capping off the heads, you then send all of the available pressure to the weakest point which is the water main leak you are looking for.  This additional pressure will hopefully make the leak more evident. 

One cause for low "output" which can sometimes be perceived as a low pressure situation is trash or sludge in the pvc pipes, the valves, or at the head. Before the gunk gets to the nozzle, though, there are small filters that can be cleaned out or replaced to achieve better spray flow:

Another cause for low pressure on a lawn irrigation system zone is having too many heads on a zone.  Zones are only rated for a finite number of heads.  You can only use as many sprinkler heads as your pressure and water volume will accommodate.  These factors should be taken into account when designing the layout of the system.  If there have already been heads erroneously installed (too many to a zone), one option would be to reduce the amount of water that is emitted by changing the spray nozzle to a lower gpm rate nozzle.  For instance, you may be able to get away with replacing a 2.5gpm nozzle with a 1.5gpm nozzle.  In regards to popup spray heads, there is an option for a water saving nozzle.  Below is a video showing how water saving nozzles work - enjoy!

 

 

For more tips on lawn stuff keep checking back here on my blog, follow Busy Bee on Twitter, or lets be friends on Facebook...until next time, your yard boy ash signing off!