How to set up an automatic irrigation system for watering?

[KSB]

Hi I’m an absolute Newbie at this and keen to do a DIY set up of an automatic irrigation system for watering grass,gardenBeds & Pots some on the deck. Will appreciate help from the community starting from absolute basics. This is for a new Build where the wooden deck goes in Next week and grab the following week. 

cheers

 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @KSB. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about installing an irrigation system.

You might like to start by reading through these helpful guides: How to plan an irrigation system, How to install a drip irrigation system and How to install an irrigation system. They'll provide a heap of information that will benefit you. 

Next, I recommend you start the planning stage and the Gardena My Garden Planner is an excellent tool for this. It allows you to plan your pipework and where you'll need to distribute water.

I also suggest spending some time on the Pope irrigation website to familiarise yourself with the types of drippers/sprayers and weeping hoses. It's important to understand the various methods of irrigating. They have some fantastic D.I.Y guides and a self-guided selection process for all your components.

Once you have taken a look at the guides and planner above let us know if you have some questions that our helpful members can assist with.

Mitchell
 

[KSB]

Hi Mitch many thanx for your reply and and the info. Have gone through some material and seem to be more knowledgeable than I was before. I’d like to know if to use 13mil or 19mil pipe for the pop up irrigation system? The lady at my local Bunnings store said all I’ll need is 13mil for home use however there was a Holman staff who recommend 19mil, also would I need a water manifold like the one in the image or can I connect the pipes directly to the tap?

 

Any suggestions?

 Cheers,

Karan

[EricL]

Hello @KSB 

Using 19mm hose gives you more water pressure especially if you are using pop-up sprayers. But it all depends on the size of the system you are building. I propose drawing it on paper first and then you can make an evaluation regarding hose size. In regards to the manifold this is often used on smaller systems and if you are spraying in a very specific garden bed with very specific needs. It gives you direct control in regards to water flow. Again, it all depends on your needs. 

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[KSB]

Hi I’m about to start my auto irrigation project and have had some advise from MitchellMc previously as to what articles to go through before jumping in. Was going through this article and found it useful. I’m curious to know weather I should be using a 13 or 19mm tubing. Planning riding sprinklers for tall fresque grass, plus keen to know what type of tubing should be used in garden beds for flowers, hedge and trees. Should it be drip irrigation or just low pressure sprinklers. 

cheers,

 Karan

[KSB]

Hi Eric seems I would’ve asked the same question again without realizing you’ve replied back. Please disregard. Just wanting to know if I should be using drip or low pressure sprinklers for flowers, hedge, fruit trees and leafy plants?

 Cheers,

Karan

[EricL]

Hello @KSB 

I suggest splitting your system into a high-pressure and low-pressure irrigation set. The low pressure is for drippers and the high pressure is for your lawns. Your flowers, hedges, fruit trees and leafy plants can be watered with a drip system. This is an economical way to water your plants and is quite easy to control. Your lawn covers a large amount of area and drippers can't be used for this; You'll need pop-up sprinklers to get maximum coverage. This will therefor require a lot of water pressure.

I suggest having a look at this discussion - How to plan drip irrigation - Layout & zones? by @tanveersattar. This is an excellent discussion regarding a drip irrigation system.

Here is a handy step-by-step guide: How to install a drip irrigation watering system by @Adam_W.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[R4addZ]

This sounds like you are short on time and need to decide what to do. My suggestion is work out what areas will be blocked to you as the construction proceeds and rather that just put in what you need, put in a way of doing it later. when my house was being built, as it is built out to both boundary walls, I installed a couple of runs of storm water pipe before the garage floor was poured from front to back. One of these was great because all the stormwater management had to be at the front of the house (soak wells) so I was able to send all the rear downpipe output through one and the other I used to thread my reticulation stations through. Alternatively whilst putting the storm water pipes through, you can put some 20mm retic pipes through and decide later how to connect them up (I ran the front end to near the water meter as that is where the retic solenoid valves will go) Just remember to seal off the ends of the pipes before and after passing things through them so they don't fill up with soil!

[J-P]

@KSB - sharing this based on my experience in setting up few systems in front and backyard 

1. Sketch out the plan on a paper with zones

2. You can daisy chain only x number of pop up sprinklers so that they pop. Plan this first, their placement points, 90 / 180 degree ones. Variable ones don’t seem to be best.

3. My exp with drip is that it doesn’t make wifey happy becos it doesn’t wet the entire area. I would suggest 4mm jets.

4. Drip is best for trees

5. think about how you will water them once it is set like turn on zone 1 10 mins, then zone 2 15 mins etc because you will probably start with same tap outlet and it can’t feed all at once.

6. 19mm for pop up and 13mm for garden beds.

7. Keep future expansion in mind and invest in some for it

8. plan up to the number of elbow joints, clips needed and buy one or two packets more so that you don’t do another run after the project starts

9. Unbend the pipe an hour before laying. You can use the natural bend of the pipe and avoid elbow and save on cost.

10. Turo and k-rain are cheaper alternatives to Holman and pope

[KSB]

You got that exactly right mate although construction is over but the grass rolls go in on Tuesday so being rushed a bit worst case will have to dig through new grass which Boss certainly won’t be happy about 😁. You recommend 20mm retic pipes do you mean sobering like conduit pipes? Through which I can run Poly pipes? Something I was considering before but wasn’t sure how that’ll work? Plus I thought it’ll be easier to change worn out Poly Pipes when it’s time?