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

I am running 6 PGP's (and some I-20/25's) on each zone with no problems on my system. I have 80 psi (very high) on 1" line. Using 1" poly since 1998 without problems in Massachusetts.

I think he is working off of city water and that is a different beast.

but only putting 3 on the zone that means each sprinkler will be be 5gpm. If you used 3 that is only 9 gpm and 6 gpm remains. Your pump will turn on and off and you will not get a constant pressure.

Someone clarify this for me......

I am pretty sure that you must use all gpm in the zone. That is what i was told. If you do not you will wreck your pump. You can go like 1-2 under tho and the pump will still stay on.

Thx to all who assited me with this decision. I went ahead and stayed with the 1", put 3PGPs per zone for a total of two zones and voila, the backyard is now fully irrigated. I have a putting green in the backyard as well, right in the middle actually, so it's nice that the PGPs throw up, over, and on that as well the rest of the lawn. I might, just might add two PGJs in the middle left and right (see below) but I'm not sure if those are truly necessary, but then again, my head-to-head coverage is off by about 3ft between the two zones. Thoughts, ideas are appreciated...let me know...

Zone 1
x-------------------x-----------------------x
- -
- -
- -
0 <-Proposed PGJ (<-Zone3-&gt Proposed PGJ-> 0
- -
- -
- -
x-------------------x-----------------------x
Zone 2

From the sounds of it I think it makes sence to stay with 1 inch unless you have a very long run after your valve box.

Thx! Being that I just buried the takeoff portion of my backyard run, I guess I'll just stick with 1". It seems rather odd to go from 1" out of the PVB, size up to 1.25 for 20ft, reduce to 1" for the valves and size up to 1.25 for the lateral runs to the sprinklers. I guess I should be able to find a nozzle or two that will work out of the 12, including the low angle nozzles. Do you think it would be worth it to go with 1.25 at least after the valve box? Let me know before I'm off to home depot to buy the poly.

Thx all in advance!

15 gpm is a lot for 1 inch. The velocity of the water moving through 1 inch is pushing the limits. From this stand point go with 1.25. Now on the other hand you dont use the 5 gpm nozzles and do the 3 gpms you will be ok with 1 inch.

Also...do you think it would be ok to stay with the 1" poly I've been using and will I really see any improvements going to 1 1/4 with only 3 PGPs per zone?

Thx for the reply and advice Aquamatic! After doing a little more research, I'm probably down to about 13gpm or so when all is said and done, and in my front lawn I'm running 6 mini8s with about 25' being about the longest throw between them and they seem to work just fine. I just thought the PGPs would work even better if I split them up in the back into two zones allowing me to get longer, more consistent distances, up in the 47' range, whereas 41' is about the longest I have. I just wanted someone like yourself to reaffirm my initial thoughts and perhaps add more as you did.

Thx!

If you truly have the 15gpm, you can run all six on one zone but just three would be fine also