Superior VP LLC

K-Rain's "K-Spray" pop-ups offer fixed male nozzles that allow patterns of quarter, half, three quarter or full circle arcs, watering in 12-foot or 15-foot radius. This makes for easy irrigation of irregular beds and smaller lawn areas.

In general, when people talk about pop-up sprinklers, they mean everything from pop-up spray heads to impacts, gear drives or anything else that could pop up and throw water. Let's focus on pop-up spray heads from selection to installation.

We'll start with head selection. There are many variations of heads including plastic standard adjustable heads, plastic matched precipitation adjustable heads, plastic matched precipitation fixed angle head, brass standard adjustable heads, brass matched precipitation adjustable head, and brass fixed matched precipitation heads, and the ever-popular adjustable angle plastic head.

As a professional contractor, you are not only faced with proper installation of a spray head, but minimizing water wasted on one of the more inefficient ways we water today. Many of us were taught early on that the best and safest way to water was with a 15-foot diameter head, spacing them head-to-head to ensure coverage (or closer if we considered any wind problems).

Generally this worked, but in many cases water was wasted. In some cases, the manufacturing on the heads was so poor that we still had dry spots so we would overlap even more. As the market has become more sophisticated and manufacturers find better ways to manufacture, irrigation designs have become much better and more efficient. A positive change to the market was pressure regulation to control misting from high-pressure or uneven water because of pressure variation.

The Irrigation Association offers great irrigation courses that deal with the proper selection and use of spray heads as well as other equipment. Data is available from all irrigation manufacturers and additional detailed information can be obtained from the Center of Irrigation Technology in Fresno, Calif. There are also great turf irrigation manuals for reference. One of the best is the "Turf Irrigation Manual" by James Watkins. This book is a bit dated but the basics of irrigation have not changed.

I have seen more and more projects that use only adjustable angle heads because it is faster and you only need a few different ranges of heads on the truck. Without taking a lot of time, set up a test stand on black top. Attach a pressure gauge and run the head at different angles. What you will see are dry spots as well as heavy water areas. This particular head was developed to take care of the odd angle, not replace all heads.

K-Rain's 6-inch K-spray body, fitted with a 15' male adjustable nozzle, rises above tall turfgrass or low groundcover, while its 15-foot adjustable nozzle can be adjusted to any arc pattern from 25° to 360°.

After you have selected the head, select the body. There are a number of different types and sizes. The most popular is the plastic pop-up with or with out a drain check. There are other options that your dealer can show you that can help make the project even more efficient. Pop-up height can be very important to an efficient design. If the head is too tall, the wind can blow the water and cause dry spots and/or flood areas that are as bad as dry spots.

Another area to look at is the head placement. In placing a head next to a driveway, you may want to use a swing joint on a head in case someone might drive over it. If the head is solid it could break off; with a swing joint there is some flexibility. Another item might be a plastic or brass quick coupler next to the driveway for wash-downs. These are the kind of extras customers appreciate and will pay for.

Now that the design has been done, permits pulled if needed, project checked and the proper materials selected, it's time to install. One of the critical areas with the installation is head layout. Do not deviate from the design unless the designer has signed off on the change. Adding one more head to a line can and will change the system. There is a reason that manufacturers have gone to the trouble of developing pressure and flow charts, and if you go outside that it is your problem, not theirs.

Re-doing a system is not only expensive, but will also damage your reputation; it is hard to put a value on that. Be sure you know where waterlines, electric and buried phone and cable lines are. This holds true as much for a residential project as for a commercial project.

Whether the trenches are dug with a shovel or a machine, the key is clean straight and level depth. If you are solvent-welding the PVC, be sure to keep the pipe and fitting clean where they are going to be joined. If you are using poly pipe, be sure to properly clamp the pipe to the fittings. Again, there is a reason that manufacturers put instructions on the cans or boxes.

Taking short cuts to save a little time can be very expensive. Teflon™ tape with two wraps will keep you out of trouble. Thread-to-thread can and will leak, so get the tape on. "A little is good, a lot is better" does not fit on a sprinkler system. The more tape you put on the better chance to split the body and not know it until the system is on.

When the pipe system is done, flush out the lines before installing the heads. Flush caps are great, but if dirt or fine sand gets into the body you will end up with heads that will stick up. After installing the heads, flush again to be sure you have as clean a system as possible. If you do not flush the heads properly they will get clogged and you will have problems. Do not leave out the screens -- there is a reason that the manufacturers include them with the head.

Maintenance

The key to maintenance is proper installation in the first place. Annual maintenance is a separate article that needs more discussion time than I am allowed at this time. As a professional contractor, it is your obligation to yourself, your company and the industry to do the best job up front -- to irrigate plants with the water they require without wasting any more than necessary.