How to design and organize automatic lawn watering

System Description

When installing an automatic lawn irrigation system, the plants will be moistened exactly in a given rhythm and at a strictly defined time. Moreover, if the installation included the use of special meteorological devices, then the operation of such a system will be corrected in the event of strong wind or rain.

Automatic irrigation does not require human presence to function. Plants growing on the lawn will receive an optimal portion of moisture for their life, and watering is carried out at a time of day when water drops on the leaves will not cause sunburn.

If the irrigated area has a large area, and the water source cannot provide its supply in the required volumes, the automatic system allows irrigation to be carried out alternately in different designated zones. Also, with proper design, the presence of oversized shrubs or trees in the irrigation zone is taken into account, which can cause excessive moisture in the lawn in front of them.

A set of various components offered on the market today allows you to install a system for automatic irrigation with your own hands. At the same time, despite the abundance of structures used, the harmony of landscape design on the site will in no way be violated. Programming irrigation for the night time will not create inconvenience for relaxing on the lawn, and guests can be surprised by the beauty of real rain.

Video "Feedback on the automatic irrigation system"

Participants of the Dachny Answer program (NTV channel) Natalya Kolomiets and Stefan Verstappen share their impressions of the Rain Bird equipment, which they installed during the filming.

What is needed

A lawn watering system operating in an automatic mode, when arranging it with your own hands, will require the purchase of such equipment and components as sprinklers, plastic pipes, electromagnetic and drainage valves, pressure regulators, a pumping station, controllers that control the work, filters and fittings.

Since the system is installed with a view to a long period of operation, then all elements should be carefully selected, give preference to well-known brands, especially if you intend to do everything yourself.

Sprinklers will directly spray the water on the irrigated area. They can be either constantly protruding above the surface of the earth, or hiding under it, as well as rising 15 - 20 cm up only during watering. The second option is used more often because sprinklers do not interfere with resting on the lawn and do not interfere with the movement of the lawn mower.Both static sprinklers, which irrigate a certain area, and rotary ones, rotating within a given sector, can be used.

Since automatic irrigation often requires combining different types of sprinklers and, in some cases, connecting drip irrigation lines, installation cannot be done without the use of pressure regulators. They will provide the required working pressure for each element. This must be borne in mind when assembling an automatic irrigation with your own hands.

The water supply to the sprinklers is carried out through plastic pipes located underground. Since they stay at the installation site of the system all year round, it is advisable to place them at a depth below the freezing point of the soil. However, if for some reason this option is not possible, the pipes can be placed at a depth of about 25 cm.Low-pressure polyethylene pipes should be used, which are easy to bend and quite simply connected using compression fittings, which is important when laying with your own hands.

Pipes for the main water supply section, as a rule, are used with a diameter of 32 mm, and as distribution pipes - with a diameter of 25 mm. In order to easily distinguish them upon purchase, the former are light gray, while the latter are dark gray.

The design of an automatic irrigation system requires the use of different types of fittings: tees for branching pipes, connectors for extending the pipeline, plugs for plugging ends, sleeves and tees for connecting sprinklers.

To organize irrigation when dividing the irrigated area into separate zones, special electromagnetic valves are used. Their opening / closing is controlled by a controller regulating the operation of the system, which makes it possible to automatically set the time and duration of water supply at each section. After the end of the work, the water from the pipes is removed using the drain valves installed at the lowest point. When installing watering with your own hands, it should be borne in mind that before the onset of frost, all water must be removed from the system, which is impossible without such valves.

You can connect the irrigation system using a garden hose and water inlet to the yard tap. However, the central water supply is often unable to provide sufficient pressure for its proper functioning, therefore a pumping station is used. Its technical parameters are selected based on the estimated water consumption. In the event that a well is used as a water source, fine filters should be used, otherwise the sprinklers will quickly become clogged with small grains of sand and stop working.

The controller used to control the system gives commands to open or close the water supply to the main, open or close the valves. At the same time, he is guided by the instructions of the program entered by the user, and can also take into account and analyze weather factors. For this, in addition to timers, various meteorological sensors (temperature, wind force, rain) are also connected to it. Then irrigation will be automatically turned off in case of strong gusts of wind or frost.

Drafting a project

When arranging automatic watering with your own hands, it is important to draft a preliminary project. You should start with a schematic plan of the entire lawn, on which images of the irrigated area are applied, shrubs, trees located nearby or on it, as well as those areas that should not be watered (fences, buildings, recreation areas, etc.).

Further, the locations of the proposed sprinkler placement are marked with a tracing of the spray radius. They should be installed along the perimeter and in the center so that the radii of each of them reach the heads of the devices adjacent to it.It is when using such a scheme that irrigation uniformity, which is so important for lawns, is ensured. This is due to the fact that for sprinklers at a distance of about 3/5 of the irrigation radius, the amount of sprayed water is significantly reduced, therefore, for uniform moistening, the edges of the irrigated zones should be overlapped.

Then, experimentally, the productivity of the water intake and the throughput of the main pipeline are determined in liters per minute. Each of the irrigation lines should be designed so that the total water demand of all sprinklers connected to it can be provided by the water supply and the pipeline. Based on the irrigation zones, the locations are determined where the solenoid valves will be installed. It is desirable to place them in one place, which facilitates installation and is convenient for further maintenance. The location of the drain valves is also noted.

The controller that controls the operation of the system is installed in a weather-protected place and is connected to a power supply from a 220 V network, the settings made in the memory in case of a sudden power outage are saved thanks to an additional battery.

Then determine the places and direction of laying pipes of the main line and branches. Pipes should run as short as possible to the sprinklers, but with as few bends as possible. This helps to maintain water pressure and reduce material consumption.

With a carefully thought out and properly calculated project, creating an automatic watering system with your own hands will not present any particular difficulties..

How to install and test

Installation of automatic irrigation of the lawn begins with the marking of the territory according to a previously prepared project. First, the locations of the pipeline are marked and the required trench depth is dug. Sometimes this can be obstructed by tree roots or large stones. In the event that they cannot be eliminated, the pipe laying plan should be adjusted.

Pipes are generally sold in coils, so they should be laid out for leveling on the surface and then laid in trenches. Electrical control cables leading to the valves must be placed in a special protective sheath.

After completing the installation of the system, it should be tested as a whole before filling the trenches. First, water must be fed into the pipeline to check the tightness of the assembly and clean it from dirt that has got inside. Then the sprinklers are screwed on and the trenches are filled up. Then adjust the direction of the water spray. Now you can enjoy your DIY automatic irrigation system.

Video "DIY automatic watering"

This video tutorial will help you figure out how to properly install and set up automatic watering for your lawn.