Automatic Lawn/Garden Sprinkler Systems

Post by **mseely** » February 13, 2009, 9:30 am

Does anyone have any experience with installing Automatic inderground Lawn/Garden Sprinkler Systems in their yards? I'm starting a house near NonKhai and thought it would help keep the grounds tidy without having to hand water daily. Can this be a reality here or am I going for "Pie in the Sky?"

Thanks, Missouri Mike

Post by **beer monkey** » February 13, 2009, 7:33 pm

Its all possible, most parks have a system its only made up from buried blue plastic water pipe with outlets/sprinklers dotted around...nothing too fancy and does the job, i personally enjoy getting the hose out early evenings and having a sprinkle.

(and sorry no experiance of installing one...thats where the in-laws come in)

laphanphon · Post by **laphanphon** » February 13, 2009, 7:41 pm

two things that might have a major effect on system, water pressure, and most heads are plastic, and the sun is brutal, so life expectancy wouldn't be much. i used to install systems, way back when, i can't see it happening here except for a business w/excellent water pressure, or else you'll have to section off the parts of the yard and close/open all separately. i haven't seen much for heads either, whether for large coverage or for corner areas. thought about it myself, when build house, 8 yrs ago, and not much was available, not sure if things got better. doubt if much in nong khai, maybe home pro in udon.

Post by **jackspratt** » February 13, 2009, 8:02 pm

beer monkey wrote:....... i personally enjoy getting the hose out early evenings and having a sprinkle.

Yes, I can identify with that BM. Mind you, it used to be a gushing fountain

Post by **beer monkey** » February 13, 2009, 8:26 pm

I thought you had a good pressure in Dungers, hence the need for stabilizers on your equipment...

Post by **UdonExpat** » February 14, 2009, 9:38 am

I have an underground sprinkler system at my home. It is not automatic. I go out and turn it on and off as I consider necessary. At this time of year I use it regularly; during the rainy season it is seldom used. The supplies were purchased at a shop near ban huay market on Udon-Nong Khai Hwy in Udon. Global House, Home Mart, and Home Pro have similar products.

The water supply is totally insufficient for this set up. I had a 2500 liter tank and Mitsubishi pump model 305 which has sufficient pressure to power 4 sprinkler heads. It will not do more. The system has two sides as I needed more than 4 heads. I use the timer on the stove to remind me to turn it off. Without that reminder I have pumped the tank dry. Not a good thing as I was out of water much of the day.

I get a trickle of water into the tank from about 10am to 5pm. In the evening the tank fills up after 10pm. Usually no water flows to the tank in the mornings and evenings when many people are at home showering and cooking, etc. When they go to work or to bed then I get water.

The sprinker heads sink back into their receptacles, which are buried in the earth, after the water is turned off. When retracted they are level with the grass. So far the plastic has stood up to the sun better than to the workers hitting them with their weed wackers. The water lines are buried about a foot down.

The water line from the tank to the pump is 1.5 inch rigid blue as is the line from the pump to the irrigation and house. The house reduces to .75 inch and the irrigation changes to 1.5 inch flexible black pipe for the whole irrigation system. There are in line valves at the necessary places. I also have hose bibs on the house system at various outdoor locations for the extra watering needed by some trees and perennials, washing the car, hosing down the outdoor pebble-crete, etc.

I did not install the system. It was done by a gardener. The installed price was about 10,000 THB for the sprinkler system only. It didn't include the hose bibs on the house system, the tank, or pump which were preexisting. It included the supplies, modifications to the plumping after the pump, digging to place the pipes, etc. They tested and adjusted the sprinklers. A leak that developed several months later was fixed without charge. They also replaced a couple of worker damaged sprinklers without charge, although I had to buy the replacement parts.

I am happy with this setup. I can keep the lawn green without much effort and still have enough supplemental watering to enjoy some time outside swinging the hose around.

Post by **saint** » February 14, 2009, 11:09 am

i have a fantastic irrigation system in our new garden , but have to admit that it can be high maintenance sometimes !!!!! its called the wife

Post by **UdonExpat** » February 14, 2009, 1:14 pm

That type of system is undoubtedly beyond my meager budget and time investment.

Post by **rickfarang** » February 14, 2009, 3:59 pm

We have such a system. All of the material except for the automatic timer was purchased in or around Udon by our contractor. It required a new (about 6k Baht) pump to cover about 160 square meters at a time.

The difficult parts were finding two each 24V solenoid valves, and getting good enough coverage (during the dry season, some parts of the lawn get pretty brown without some use of old fashioned hose-end sprinklers, so we plan to "re-plumb" the system to incorporate thee valves, and add some more heads. At least I know that even when I am out of town for an extended period, I don't have to worry about the lawn drying up and blowing away.

The controller came from the U.S. - It cost only about 500 Baht in the U.S., compared to several thousand Baht for the only ones I could find in Udon.

Most of the watering heads are of the pop-up variety, but the housekeeper manages to break them every now and then anyway. With experimentation, I have found that the really cheap plastic sprinkler heads that have a spinning vane made of very thin chrome colored sheet metal give the best coverage -they do not pop up.

If your system requires more than two or three sprinkler heads, I strongly suggest that you have the thing built on top of the lawn and tested, then modified if necessary, then have it installed under the lawn. Revisions are much easier when its all on the surface.

The best thing you can do is read up on the state of the art. This (URL below) is the best tutorial I have ever seen on the topic. With it, you should stand a good chance of getting a good system put together, provided that the contractor listens to you

http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/sprinkler00.htm

If you would like, PM me and you can come over and I'll show you my system, including pointing out what I wish we had done differently.

Post by **747man** » February 16, 2009, 8:40 pm

beer monkey wrote:Its all possible, most parks have a system its only made up from buried blue plastic water pipe with outlets/sprinklers dotted around...nothing too fancy and does the job, i personally enjoy getting the hose out early evenings and having a sprinkle.

(and sorry no experiance of installing one...thats where the in-laws come in)

Yeah !! I've heard about you,Sprinkling in the garden......

Post by **mseely** » March 8, 2009, 10:10 am

UdonExpat,

Thanks for the detail you provided. I won't be doing this project until after the house is completed, but it has given me guidelines. Would you recommend the system installer? If so, could you give me contact details?

Post by **mseely** » March 8, 2009, 10:22 am

rickfarang,

Thanks for posting that website on irrigation. I have only skimmed over the contents - there is a lot there! - but I will study it when the time comes to install. That was a goldmine, I recommend the read to anyone who is thinking about doing such an installation. I will take you up on you PM offer in 3-4 months when its time to dig!

Missouri Mike

Post by **rickfarang** » March 8, 2009, 12:39 pm

You are welcome to come any time. Just send a PM

Post by **KHONDAHM** » February 9, 2012, 4:11 am

We recently extended our system's coverage, added more sprinklers, and some drips. As expected, the pump and the 1,200 L water tank are no longer adequate. The 25 mm above ground feeder hose which runs around the perimeter and next to the bushes (where the drips are installed between every other bush) is adequate. I figure I need at LEAST 80 L/min and 60+ PSI at 100m (and after many drips), so probably more like 100+ PSI (?) at the pump outlet. Pardon my fuzzy math.

My whole house pump is the Hitachi 250 (or something like that - too lazy to look right now). It used to do the trick just fine before we decided to "improve" and extend the system. It is now adequate for the drips, but I had to disconnect ALL the sprinklers. Fahgetaboutit with those on. Before the "improvements" I had 2 zones. The drips and a few mini sprinklers on Zone 1. About 5 sprinklers (10 L/min flow rate) on Zone 2. We have the dual timer thingy and this worked fine, but sprinkler coverage was less than optimal. I upgraded and added sprinklers and (as expected) it just ain't happenin' anymore. So, I currently have just the drips and mini sprinklers going as the only zone, but extended with additional length and drips. I plan to switch it back to a 2 zone system after I get a new pump. Going more than 2 zones is not desirable (I do not want to do anything manually) and I would prefer to just get a lawn pump which could handle everything with no more than 2 zones.

Here's what I am thinking and would appreciate the board's input, if possible:

I am thinking rather than kick out for a larger tank and mess up the aesthetics, perhaps installing a suction pump (aka booster pump) and putting it between the village main (a 1/2" pipe) and our existing 1,200 L tank. It would be wired so that when the new dedicated lawn pump turns on in the wee hours when village usage is minimal, so will the suction pump. That should replenish the tank almost as fast as the water is being drained by the lawn pump. A suction pump also costs a whole lot less than a huge new tank and can easily fit inside my pump room next to my current tank - whereas a new tank and plumping would have to go outside and be visible.

Ever hear of anyone sucking water from the mains? Thoughts? There is no house after ours, so it would not deprive our neighbors.

I am also thinking I do not want to touch the existing house pump. It works perfectly for the house needs. No need to fiddle with perfection and risk problems. I am thinking I want to install a dedicated lawn pump and simply add plumbing between the tank and house pump to feed it water for the lawn.

The big question is: Which friggin pump to buy? I've asked in Global House and have been told to get the Hitachi 350 (?) with the reservoir. However, I read the specs (all in Thai, unfortunately), and it looks like it can only do 58 L/min - and I am not sure about the PSI. I do not want to buy something that already looks to be inadequate despite the employees' recommendation.

Suggestions from those experienced in the subject are welcomed. Thanks in advance!

Post by **KHONDAHM** » February 9, 2012, 6:25 am

Another option I am considering instead of the booster pump at the main would be to drill a well on our property just outside the fenced (grassy) area, but close enough to have the lawn pump installed inside the fence at a corner - and a cage built around it so it does not walk away. The water table is not more than 30-40 meters down. I could maybe do the in-ground concrete tank thing and have the lawn water draw from that. I anticipate using @2,500 L per day for the lawn and the wife wants to start a 10 m x 30 m garden soon - so that's more reason for a well solution. I've read well-drilling posts which suggest it would cost less than THB 10k to drill the well, so perhaps a payback of a year or so versus getting lawn water from the mains. Aside from filtration issues, what gotchas might I be missing.

Again, input from those experienced in the subject are welcomed. Thanks in advance!

Post by **stargate** » February 9, 2012, 7:23 am

1st, there are posts on the site that some grondwater in the area is high is salts, one post reported his plants and grass turned brown and he found it was due to the high iron content in the water. 2nd, watering the grass every day, given the high temps. and daylight hours someone is going to spend alot of time cutting the rapily growing grass.

Post by **rickfarang** » February 9, 2012, 10:33 am

A neighbor of mine is or was set up to suck water from the mains, can't recommend it, though. The water company tires to maintain positive pressure in the lines so that contaminants don't seep into the line through the many leaks in the system. Sucking on the pipes would suck contaminants into the entire village's watering system -might even pull water out of your neighbor's tanks (making their meters run backwards).

I am sure others will have more detailed comments on the subject of a well, so I will only note that it has been written on this forum that in many places in and around Udon, the water near the surface is not suitable for use in the garden or on lawns.

I think all you need to know about pumps in garden irrigation systems can be found on this web page:
http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/sprinkler04.htm