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Sprinkler system off of deck
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Is it possible to have a sprinkler system operate from the bottom of a raised deck? My deck area covers the majority of the property I need to water. I am looking for parts designed to be used from a deck. Don Grantier
No. Think of it, what if your deck is nine feet above grade? How do you service the parts? You know that the required backflow preventer in the sprinkler plumbing has to be higher in elevation than any of the pipes or heads that it feeds water to. (unless you employ the costly RPZ device) Elevation alone is enough to doom the idea. Also, sprinkler heads are designed with the idea that they will be close to the ground. Raise them up, and the coverage near the heads begins to disappear.
While I won't disagree with Wet Boots on the general idea of this being unwise, there are most definitely sprinkling devices designed to "rain" down on stuff. They are intended for greenhouse use mainly, but if you really wanted to go with your plan, you could look at them.
Is there a reason that the sprinklers cannot be installed in the ground below the deck?
Tony Posey
Ridge Run Landscapes
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My property is unusual in that the elevation allows the backflow preventer to be higher than any of the pipes or heads that will be used off of the deck. (6" above highest head per local code) All the parts would be accessable via a ladder from a patio below the deck.
Water would need to spray out 11 feet from the deck which is nine feet tall. Is their a way to distribute this water?
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The sprinklers can be installed below the deck.
I have seen a few sites that might have made use of this concept. The ground sloped steeply downhill from the house, and was so rocky the machine installation of pipe was a no-go. The ground cover could have been watered by sprinkler heads spraying away from house and deck. For duty high above the ground, the best sprinkler head choice is the humble impact head, because all the moving parts will splash water about which will drop down to water the ground near the head.
With only 11 feet of throw needed (instead of the 50 feet an impact head could manage) this becomes a non-issue, and you would want to use mist heads in the lower lawn (is it lawn?)
The ground does slope steeply downhill from the house to a flat area below the deck. The water will be sprayed on the lawn in front of the patio below the deck. The lawn ends at a 4' rock wall that runs the entire length of the deck. <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Wet_Boots</i>
<br />I have seen a few sites that might have made use of this concept. The ground sloped steeply downhill from the house, and was so rocky the machine installation of pipe was a no-go. The ground cover could have been watered by sprinkler heads spraying away from house and deck. For duty high above the ground, the best sprinkler head choice is the humble impact head, because all the moving parts will splash water about which will drop down to water the ground near the head.
With only 11 feet of throw needed (instead of the 50 feet an impact head could manage) this becomes a non-issue, and you would want to use mist heads in the lower lawn (is it lawn?)
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With lawn, stick with popup heads in the lawn. Long term, you don't want anything else.
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