Yesterday morning I was in town for my job for the day. She has a line of arbs in the back yard that were not getting near enough water thanks to a super janky hacked irrigation zone, like nothing I have seen before.

So most every irrigation system gets setup the same. The house can supply X amount of gallons per minute (gpm) and each zone in the system must be installed so that the number of sprinkler heads does not surpass that X gpm. That generally equates to a max of 10 sprinklers per zone so that each sprinkler can spray at the full extent, or about 1 gpm.

THIS zone that waters the arbs was NOT setup like normal. This one zone has 26 sprinklers, some pop-ups which would not pop-up due to the minimal pressure on the zone...

It took a bit of troubleshooting just to figure out how the zone was working and find all the buried heads.

The zone had been installed in pvc with risers stubbed up and then shrub sprays screwed into the riser. This made all the heads at or below the surface level. I ran to Horizon and picked up 25 each of new side spray nozzles and riser attachments. Each of the riser attachments is a pressure reducer which I hoped would even out the pressure along the insanely big zone.

The house can supply max 10 gpm but the zone at full pressure would require 26 gpm. Each arb had about 2 feet of bed space available so the original install had hacked the zone so each nozzle was spraying only a short distance. Install more heads and the pressure and volume gets reduced for every one. The zone REALLY should have been split in half and the nozzles cranked down to only spray a short distance.

After installing all the new nozzles I then had to go and turn each down so I could get barely enough water at the one on the end of the run. It was a LOT of fiddling. I had given her the option to split the zone and run part on a zone with 2 rotors but she wanted me to try the new nozzles first.

Then came the valves. Since the zone was trying to draw well more than the house was supplying the valve was hammering. It would push water but the demand was too high and it would allow air into the line so cavitation happened and the valve sounded like a drum getting beat. I managed to turn the nozzles down enough that the arbs get water and the valve does not hammer.

What a screwed up irrigation zone, one that I have never encountered before. I made it work though.

It was 2 pm before I got home. During my work I had found this knife that a prior landscaper had dropped. I can't seem to find this ANYWHERE in my searching online but I have seen them over the years for sale in gardening catalogs, always for $40 or more. A little oiling of the wood and it should be killer to have for gardening and for landscaping work.

My gutter attachment arrived for the pressure washer so I hooked it up to give it a test. The boys had a blast with the spray. It was a good lesson for them on why not to get hands too close to the 2k psi spray. I now can clean gutters of a 2 story house without needing a ladder.

I figured out a holder for the attachments which I zip tied to the handle. It's 3" pvc with a 90 on the bottom. It allows water to drain out and not collect. I also saw just how good it will be at dousing fire flames if it ever comes to that. It IS electric so would only be good for flames encroaching on the house or buildings but still.

Today I have to go to the store first thing this morning, then I will finish the chipping of the pile of branches, then I will take the pressure washer around the farm and clean off all the roofs of debris and will clean the lexan on the deck pergola. The boys have check ups this afternoon and J gets his sports physical.

Tomorrow I have a tree cutting job and will haul them back to the farm to get chipped.

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