"Pop-up" Sprinklers.

I mentioned this in passing on another thread about sprinklers a few days ago.

I've always fancied these for the back lawn and doodling on ebay last week I came across some new ones at only six quid each. So I bought three, I intended using two and keeping one as a spare. I connected one to my garden hose and was quite satisfied that the mains pressure would get it to work. You can adjust the head to give you cover from 360 degrees down to about 10.

I purchased some "speed-fit" pipe and connectors so my total cost was around £50.

This was my "dry run"..well "wet run" to see if the positioning was adequate to cover the lawn and the rockery with a bit of "overlap."



The supply is from a tap union on the rear of the garage wall. It passes under the path and to a point midway between the two heads, where it joins another pipe that supplies both. This ensured I got an even pressure at both heads.
I cut a channel in the lawn taking 6 inch deep wedge shaped turves out and then dug out the soil to a depth of about eight inches with a hand trowel. I put bits of cardboard either side of the channel as I moved down, so I didn't get any soil on the grass as I dug it out.
After positioning the pipe work in the channel, it was fairly easy to fill it in and replace the turf, which I expect to recover over the next couple of weeks. The heads are flush with the lawn so my Flymo will easily pass over them.

So I've now got the garden "covered" between these and the "leaky hose" that supplies the bed at the side of the patio. I will still need the hose to water the small bed on the other side of the patio (and remove the wood pigeon mess on the patio), but that's no hardship.

The sprinklers are turned on by a re-cycled valve next to the hosepipe connection. I've threaded the "speed-fit" pipe though a short length of spare water waste pipe for above-ground protection.



I had to remake the path where I dug it up to get the pipe under it. Fortunately I had a bag of ready-mixed concrete and some mortar left over from when I did the edging pavers a couple of months ago.

I did the "dry run" on Thursday and the rest Friday afternoon after golf, (you've got to get your priorities right, haven't you?) Saturday morning and a bit in the evening after lunch out and shopping (had to "honour" this Saturday ritual).

I fortunately missed the rain.

 

It's just over a week since I installed these and the lawn has almost recovered. I put them on first thing in the morning for about ten minutes and again after lunch or when I'm home after golf and again in the evening. They're producing a fine spray that is certainly keeping the lawn fresh and stoping the acer leaves from burning. We're into the time of the year when if you aren't careful, the lawn gets brown patches before you've noticed it.






I've dug this out of the garage. It's not been used for 25 years, I bought it when I was building my koi pool and used it to measure the volume of water it holds when I first filled it. (Shows how old it is, it measures in gallons!)

Anyway, I've attached it to the feed to the leaky hose that waters the side bed next to the patio. I can set it to pass any number of gallons and it'll then turn itself off.



It's a bit "mission control" over the kitchen sink drain, there's a tap that supplies water to the tap half-way down the garden, the sprinklers, sink, water heater and tanks in my pool filter room via an alkethene pipe and another for the hose when I give the car a wash, (religiously, every three months, whether it needs it or not).

 

Well I never. Pop up sprinklers. What a clever idea. It would take to many for my garden but they look good with that nice fine mist. You mentioned them in another thread but i din't pick up on them. I was going to try the leaky hose but I am not sure how it would work. I mean I'd need an awful lot of hose and i don't know how many holes to put in it before losing pressure. It would take about 60-70 metres of hose pipe. Your garden is so spick and span. I have gremlins live in mine that replant all the weeds as soon as I've got rid of them.:skp:

 

Thank you for your kind words.
The "leaky hoses" come as just that, the wall of the hose is porous.
You need to connect them to a water supply (like an ordinary garden hose), trailed to where you want the leaky hose to start leaking. Then connect the two bits together. You use as much as you need, it cuts easily with a Stanley knife. You put in an "end stop" at the far end.
As the whole hose is under mains pressure, the leaking (more like weeping) occurs evenly along its length. When I bought mine (over ten years ago, it'd been in the shed since). it came with several Hoselock type connectors. You can use a Hoselock "threeway connector" if you want to take a spur off in another direction. I'm going to do just that tomorrow and run a bit more along the base of the rockery where I've some shrubs which overhang my koi pool as I presently have to water them with an ordinary garden hose.
I've looked the hose up, they are not much more expensive than ordinary garden hoses.
They'll water probably up to a foot either side of the hose on level ground, but you can curl the pipe round plants. You can either bury it just below the surface or leave it on top. I think that's best, stops me putting a spade through it.

Pop up sprinklers won't suit everyone. I doubt if ordinary mains pressure would cope with more than three. That's a guess, because the big coil spring that the water pressure has to overcome to get them to "pop up" seems surprisingly strong.

 

Hubby put a four way connector thingy on our outside tap which is incredibly useful. If the summer continues as dry, I think I need to get a leaky hose. I never thought of a stanley knife. I was thinking of actual holes. The leaking through slits wouldn't lose the water pressure so much. Cheers for that. Another trip to B&Q seems imminent

 

This looks like the one I have.

You can't actually see any holes in the pipe it just looks and feels rough to the touch. I looked on the BQ website but it didn't come up.

http://www.greenhousewarehouse.com/...hoz-6762-hozelock-15m-soaker--leaky-hose.html

 

I've sorted this now, I've connected some more leaky hose to cover the rockery, I have arranged it in an elongated "U" shape. I've laid the pipe up against the base of the rocks in a shallow groove, secured it with "U" shaped bits of strong garden wire and covered it with soil.

I've fitted one of these where the supply joined the original leaky hose. It means that I can water both areas or just either, by turning the knob. This is ideal as the rockery won't need as much water as the side bed.





Edit.


I've bought another switchable connector and used up all the remaining leaky hose I had.



I've trailed this down the long side bed almost to the bottom of the garden. I can now water any or a combination of the three areas, from any individual one to all three.


My decision to add more 'ose (no fork 'andles) was that a friend who travelled up to the Peak District over the weekend, said that the reservoirs that supply the Manchester area are now particularly low. We didn't get a hosepipe ban last year but we may this. In the past I understood that "leaky hoses" were exempt from hosepipe bans.

 

pop up sprinklers are great, yah , but I would connect them to a good system that you can use with a sensor- so that is automatic as can be- when soil is dry -than pop up sprinklers do the job.

I used to plan many of gardens with this sort of systems, also to get good reasults to see that all the area in the lawn are getting about same amount of water- it might mean few more sprinklers in the right places.

 

I'm sure most installations are far more sophisticated than mine. But there's a limit to how much some can justify spending on such niceties.
As I've mentioned it cost me less than fifty quid.

I've only two, as I said earlier I doubt if mains pressure would effectively handle more than three.
I've pretty much got my garden covered between the pop-ups and my leaky hoses. As far as when to water, with all due respect, a quick tour round my garden and the odd "poke with a hoe" here and there, will tell me all I need to know.

 

Automatic moisture sensing sprinklers may have a place for those away for long periods at a time but, in general, come on? How lazy :dh: No thanks.

Nice installation Doghouse, and nice looking garden.

 

Thanks for that.

With all my projects, none are beyond the capabilities of anyone with basic DIY skills and some common sense.
People of my age were brought up in a time when little more than a hammer and a screwdriver were about all the tools our parents had in the house.
I learned most of the modest skills I possess forty years ago from a weighty either "AA" or Readers Digest DIY book (long since lost). It even showed you how to re-wire your house. I'd imagine most of what it contained would be outlawed under "'elf 'n' safety" these days. It's just a question of thinking things through before starting and acquiring the necessary tools.

Many young people today when they start off on their own are pretty hopeless at practical tasks. This is not their fault as they've probably been brought up during the more affluent times, when there were jobs to be done in the house, their dad "got a man in" so never got the chance to learn. Though my kids would probably say "We spent most of the time doing the clearing up!"

 

Of course, since I've put in this "sophisticated" watering system, we've had a hosepipe ban. So I s'pose that's down to me.

Edit. 27.08.10

Hosepipe ban now over.

The scars on the lawn where I dug the trench have completely disappeared, but I've set my mower to cut higher now, as I do every year at this time. With quick-draining soil it doesn't take long for it to burn regardless of how often you water the grass. I've had one or two tentative enquires from neighbours about a bit of "contract work" for sprinklers, but really I've not the time or interest in doing the same job again.