SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

True bubblers. They are supposed to emit a "mushroom" looking stream. But with only four in a zone, water barely trickles out. Your remark about the flaws of using my garden hose is exactly what I was questioning. The zones were designed by DIY Online for 10 GPM. Before moving ahead, I wanted to question how accurate the design is and I appreciate you pointing out that the garden hose test will not give an accurate portrayal of actual performance.

You should be able to support 4 of the Orbit Voyager heads at 10gpm. Your simple hose test is pretty flawed due to how restrictive a hose is coupled with the fact that the supply line to a hose bib is usually 1/2" in size as well.

When you say that you are useing shrub bubblers, do you mean pop-up sprayers or true bubblers? Proper tree bubblers just gurgle water gently and are intended for watering one tree each.

Thanks Mark:

I am running 1 inch lines throughout. Initial pressure was measured at 10 GPM at 40 PSI. On two of the zones I've tried out, I'm running 4 of the Orbit Voyager II Heads and then 1 zone of just shrub bubblers. Oddly enough, its the zone of shrub bubblers that I've had the most trouble with.

I'll check out the links and do some math and make some adjustments. This all started as I was just "playing around" and stuck the hose on one zone just for a look.

Thanks again.

Needalittlehelp,

Did you take a pressure reading and test the GPM? I would also make sure that you calculate the flow of each head that you have on that particular zone to make sure that you don't have more heads then your water can handle. Another note is not to ever mix different heads with different flow rates on the same zone. Also remember that friction is added to everything water is added to. So for example you have a 50 foot hose testing the zone where the valve would be the hose is adding friction thus slowing the water down a bit. I do not know how to calculate friction loss for a hose or the length maybe someone else can add that portion. Could you give a little more information on that particular zone. I also wanted to point out that its very, very important to make sure you flush your system. During the installation you wouldn't believe the junk that gets in those pipes and if you have something stuck in a main lateral then that would definately effect your output. Here is a link that Wet Boots gave me which helped a great deal. Check these two links out. They are awesome
http://www.jessstryker.com/instal15.htm
http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/

What type of heads (brand and make)for that one zone your testing?
What size of laterals are feeding your heads?
What was your initial pressure and GPM readings?

Mark

<font face="Arial">I've had a manufacturer draw up a plan for my irrigation system and am building it now. I am "dry fitting" all of my zones, heads, etc. just to test the layout before cementing everything.

Now for the beginner level question. I finished laying everything out for one of my completed manifolds and decided, just out of curiosity, how it might work. I hooked by water hose up where the valve would go and was very dissapointed in the output (water just trickled out of the shrub heads). Is there any degree of accuracy in this result in comparison to what the output will be when the valve is attached and everything is cemented properly? If so, then I need to make adjustments</font id="Arial">