Underground Sprinklers Questions?

[Lud]

I bought a house in Richland last November and with spring coming I have no idea how to get this thing going. Or even how often to have the UGS on to water the yard or what times to water.

Here is what I know so far after looking around the yard:

Found the automatic timer box for the sprinkers on the wall in the garage.

I have three different plates in my front yard.

I pulled up one and found the water meter. Cool

The other one has a single valve under it.

The third plate has two valves under it.

I'm hooked up to city water if that makes any difference.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Grumpy]

My guess would be the single valve, if right behind the meter, may be the shutoff for the house. The others should feed the irrigation. The city has their standard specs on line, so you should be able to find the detail for the "typical" irrigation service there.

[Lurch]

You can probably find instructions online for the timer.

[GRADESCHOOL]

Ask my dad he might know, we watched them install those. Just catch him when he is home sometime.

[Lud]

Thanks guys. I actually found a second valve in the other box so there are two boxes with two valves each. Found 2 more covers on the side of the house with electric solenoids in them, probably for the timer system.

Found instructions downstairs for the timer system.

I should just ask Wrestlers5005's dad as that would be a no brainer. lol


Saw someone down the other street with a geyser in his yard a few weeks ago. I did have the lines blown out before winter so hopefully that doesn't happen.

I'll probably try the sprinklers tomorrow as I'm getting the Jeep on the trailer now so I can drop the Jeep off at Lurch's for a front ARB locker/axle shaft upgrade hopefully this week.

[Lud]

Hey I got everything turned on and it works! I just played with the valves and then used the instructions to put it in manual mode just to see what the system looks like.

It's huge. There's 8 different zones of sprinklers controled by 8 electric solenoids. So I can get to programming this thing now. No busted sprinkler heads which is cool.


So here's one more question, how often do I water a section. 10 min? 30 min? How many days a week? Don't want to spends mega bucks on water usage though. Anyone have a typical program they run?

[SPR]

Watering is an art that takes a bit of time to figure out for each yard. I have 16 zones and only a few of them require the same amount of water. Factors to consider... Shade vs Sun, Soil (sandy, clay, rock), Size and pattern of sprinker, and the worst...Wind (In some cases, I water my neighbors lawn/house better than my own). Many folks water in the early morning to prevent fungus growth and minimize evaporation. In addition, around here, the mornings are often the least windy part of the day. Unless your soil is very sandy, you might want to try watering heavy twice a week. You want to get the water/moister down serveral inches. Too much water and your lawn will grow shallow roots and will not handle the summer heat very well. In addition, we will wash away your fertilizer. You can set bowls out in your lawn to check your watering. Shoot for about 1 inch twice a week once....less if you're shady. Your lawn should be dry before night to mizimize fungus and mold.


If you have trees, soak them real good at least twice week when it gets hot or else that damm wind and heat with mess them up. Remember that lawns can easily come back to life if they dry out. At the very least, you can overseed. However, a large dead or dieing tree will cost you big bucks to remove or treat.