segal@nbires.UUCP (Alan Segal) (04/22/85)
I'm planning to install an underground sprinkler system this year
and I've got a few questions.
First, the regional RainJet representative just passed through Boulder
and there is a promotion on at a local garden/home supply store.
Is there anything especially good/bad about the RainJet product line?
Second, to avoid the cost (and potential errors) involved with plumbing,
I'm considering attaching the system to my outside "boiler valve" hose
connection instead of adding new piping, valves, and holes through my
foundation walls. I'm aware that you get less gallons per minute with
this arrangement, but my lawn is small and I can still deliver the needed
water volume. I'm just wondering about the problems with installation
and maintenance with this approach.
Looking forward to garage-sailing my hoses:
Al Segal
NBI, Inc.
{allegra,ucbvax,hao} ! nbires ! segalklein@ucbcad.UUCP (04/24/85)
> Is there anything especially good/bad about the RainJet product line?
Someone asked about sprinklers a while ago, and I replied by mail
to him. Maybe he can repost my reply (it was some good number of lines,
which I don't have time right now to retype). In any case, RainJet
is a fantastic line of sprinklers. If you thought sprinklers were
lo-tech, think again. I installed RainJet (NOT to be confused with Rain Bird)
in my yard, and recommend them very highly. If no one knows about these,
I'll repost a summary of why they're so darn good.
--
-Mike Klein
...!ucbvax!ucbmerlin:klein (UUCP)
klein%ucbmerlin@berkeley (ARPA)klein@ucbcad.UUCP (04/30/85)
I have gotten a number of requests to post the summary of Rain Jet sprinklers for overall consumption on the net. So here it is: First, I looked into this about two years ago after we bought a house that had dead jungles for front and back yards. I looked at a lot of sprinklers, asked a lot of people, because I wanted to do it the best I could for not too much money, and it had to be real automatic, reliable, and be good for the plants! We are blessed in the SF Bay Area to have an absolutely wonderful chain of hardware stores called Orchard Supply Hardware (I won't consider moving to a house more than 10 miles from the nearest one anymore). I visit these often, and that's where I started looking for sprinklers. Along with the usual assortment of sprinklers, the kind where a small high pressure stream hits a deflector plate, were these big clunky plastic heads from Rain Jet. I was intrigued by the literature on them and decided to take one home to try out. I have found that absolutely everything they say they do, they actually do. Rain Jet has some inordinate number of patents on these things (and I thought sprinklers were low-tech!). The basic principle behind all of the heads is a resonator which builds up large droplets of water and shoots them out at high speed. The pop-up heads have an insert which pops up under pressure and rotates and vibrates. Here are the advantages: - Large drops means the water can be thrown out at high speed, so it goes far and/or can be thrown flat. - Large drops means no problem with mist being carried off by the wind on the sidewalk, your car, or the windows, and leaving unwatered spots upwind from the head. - According to the Rain Jet brochures, the large drops are much more like real rain, are absorbed more easily by the ground, and don't keep the plants wet leading to mold and mildew. It is true that I never have puddles, but I don't know if this is why. - The way the head insert rotates and vibrates gives a nice random pattern to the head. Most other heads I've seen will have spotty coverage due to the deflection plate. This also means you don't have to overlap patterns. This is REALLY TRUE. You'll get some variation from the driest to the wettest parts of the pattern (I've measured about 1:2) but this is no worse than what you get with overlapping regular heads. - The rotating insert is drilled with holes corresponding with holes in the collar which shoot extra water at certain places in the pattern. Four sets of these holes and you have a SQUARE PATTERN! For a big lawn, say 20' x 40', you will need a grand total of two heads here. And they cover it evenly, wind or not. - All the resonating water keeps the heads clean. Little bits of dirt aren't that big a problem because the openings in the head are not that small. In the two years I've had mine, I have not had to clean a single one. - The power behind the water droplets and their large size means they can be thrown very far. I have one round sprinkler in the back yard that is a 40 foot diameter circle and gets most of the yard in one shot. Their biggest one is a 48 foot diameter circle. I think they go up to about 36 or 40 foot squares. Overall, the watered portion of our yard is about 3500 square feet. I use 15 heads, of which about 6 would be considered small planter heads. 6 heads do all of the 2200 square feet of lawn, for instance. With typical heads, I would probably have to use about 40. If you do get Rain Jet heads, try to get the plastic ones if you can. In addition to being cheaper (half the brass ones) they have an adjustment screw built in. To adjust the brass ones, you have to buy a constrictor which screws into the bottom of the head; you have to unscrew the head, adjust the constrictor, and reinstall the head to perform the actual adjustment. Cost per head here is usually over $10. Plastic heads go for about $4-$5, less on sale. Pardon me if I sound overly biased here, but this is the kind of thing that really restores my faith in American industry. When something has been as slow and staid as sprinkler head technology, and somebody comes along with so many good ideas that really work, I get excited. Anyway, to round out my system, I have drip irrigation on most of the bushes, trees, and planters. This is not because I'm trying hard to save water (I am from California, you know :-) (=:), but because it is the best for the plants. It helps develop deep root systems and gets the water to where it's needed most. As far as I can tell, pretty much all the drip irrigation systems are alike; just get the ones that deliver the right amount of water in the right amount of time. If it looks like you will need more than 3 or 4 drippers on a plant, you should be able to find another dripper maker that makes higher volume drippers. Most bushes and shrubs won't need more than one or two. One warning, though: whereas all 1/4" tubing is the same size, different manufacturers' 3/8" and 1/2" tubings vary. Buy just one manufacturer's tubing and fittings. In addition to drippers, you can get low-volume misters which just put out a very fine spray. And then there's an automatic control. This does wonders for us, since my wife and I both work and would forget to water religiously otherwise. I got a digital one because they tend to have more flexibility in programming. This one controls 6 circuits, just enough for our yard, where 5 go on two to five times per two-week cycle, and one goes on every day. This last one is used for things that dry out fast like hanging planters, pots, etc., and is almost exclusively misters on a drip system. It is also used for humidity-loving plants with shallow root systems like azaleas. Our azaleas have not stopped blooming since I installed this. Make absolutely sure your digital control box has a battery backup that keeps time and the program if the power goes out! For laying out everything, most of the sprinkler and drip manufacturers have free brochures that tell you all you need to know. The Rain Jet literature is especially good. -- -Mike Klein ...!ucbvax!ucbmerlin:klein (UUCP) klein%ucbmerlin@berkeley (ARPA) -- -Mike Klein ...!ucbvax!ucbmerlin:klein (UUCP) klein%ucbmerlin@berkeley (ARPA)
ajs@hpfcla.UUCP (ajs) (05/17/85)
Re: RainJet sprinklers I've used a self-installed RainJet system for five years, and I highly recommend it. The parts are sturdy, wear well, and are as easy to install as possible considering you have to do a lot of digging... Don't let a sprinkler system guru do all the design for you and then go out and install what they design. Odds are they'll overdo it by about a factor of two, to insure coverage and sell hardware. There's a big learning curve, and the spare parts laying around attest to my trial and error, but overall I saved money by learning, and then planning my own system. For example, no lines around perimeters facing inwards; large squares in the center facing out are adequate (until trees grow in the way, etc. in which case you lay more heads as needed). Keep accurate records of what you put in where -- distances to corners, riser nipple sizes, etc. You'll need them later to add sprinkler heads, raise existing heads, etc. A single scale map suffices. Alan "keep the PSI high" Silverstein