Sprinkler system water pressure
 

I got up early today, turned on coffee and then looked outside to make sure my sprinklers came on.

I had to do a double take. The stream coming out of the front yard rotors was about 6 feet instead of 20 - 25. There is no water pressure. We live in Mallory and our sprinklers use the reclaimed water system.

I wonder how often this happens, who would know normally unless you get up early? I will call the water folks later, but wondering if this has happened to others?

It pays to check your sprnklers manually about every 2-3 months. Mowers break heads, leaks occur.

Thanks. Thought of that after posting :doh:. Not enough :mornincoffee:

Try running a test a little later on today to see if the pressure is back. Could be that everyone watering their lawn at the same reduced the pressure.

On a related note, I read somewhere recently that the ponds around the Villages are only used to irrigate golf courses (not sure about other common areas along roadside). Those of us on the South side are watering with non-potable water but it comes from the upper aquifier not from The Villages ponds.

There are also filters in each sprinkler head that should be cleaned once in a while.

We were having a problem with our sprinkler system so we had an Irrigation Company set our system for us. (Arranged by e-mail as we're in Canada for six months.) They obviously set it incorrectly as our monthly amenity/water bill suddenly increased from around $200 to $350. :censored: And we received a letter from The Villages telling us we were using too much water.

The only reason I'm posting .. be careful who you hire to inspect or adjust your Irrigation System.

Just went back out and manually started front yard zone. Everything looks great now. I did walk down the street this AM before I posted to see how many houses were watering and did not see any, but who knows where the trunk comes from.

This is a bit disconcerting as I water once per week. If half the time I do not have enough pressure on my scheduled day, it explains why my lawn has some dry spots. Last year I spent quite a bit of time adjusting and moving heads, replacing nozzles, etc. Of course all my adjustments and tests were during the day when I had water pressure.

Maybe my issue has not been with my system, but the delivery of water at my time to water. This would explain why I struggled to get uniform coverage (tuna can test). I am lucky I got up this AM to see this, now I can put together a plan to resolve.

The best time to water is 5 AM More pressure and more volume.

In my thirty plus years living in Florida and dealing with irrigation systems here I have found adjusting a system is not a one shot process. Most people, including some of the "professionals" think it is just a matter of setting the run times. I have found by setting out rain gauges, in the form of tuna fish cans, I get a better reading of the actual amount of water my lawn is receiving in inches, not minutes. I then replace nozzles accordingly as well as the "throw".

Shortly after I moved to TV I went through the above process. I found a spread of 1/4" to 1-1/2".

Someone pointed out sprinkler heads get broken. They also get overgrown with grass. They also simply wear out.

I don't know how this can help you while you are in Canada and not here. But maybe it can help when you get here.

In the past I have helped neighbors adjust their systems, gratis. No more. There is a lot of getting up and down to the job. My up and down machinery has worn out.

Would pressure or lack thereof be responsible for my system coming back on a couple of hours after it has completed it's cycle? That happened yesterday, I double checked the times, start time , etc and all appears okay.

i have no idea how to adjust my sprinklers
 

They are the HUNTER brand. Im out of the waranttee period . This cannot be that hard.

Is there a set of tools required.

My main problem is that close to the sprinkler head gets hardly any water.
I do those areas with garden hose.

Its crazy or maybe I am

I do not see water pressure causing a zone to come on. To come on the valve for a zone has to be opened.

If you have a control box like mine (Hunter) make sure nothing has been setup in all THREE programs. There are three programs A, B and C which contain start times.

I find this site very useful for my system: http://www.hunterindustries.com/homeowners.html

Look under the support tab.

What brand do you have? Some are set to go off in half-hour increments. So, if you set the zones to run for 30 minutes, it will run for 30, do the next zone until all zones have completed and then restart if the ground sensors don't show enough water. Forget the brand name, but it's a small, white controller box. It's complicated and you almost need a pro to get it adjusted properly.

I read the same thing but this is a contradiction from what we were told in a presentation by the engineer in charge of the water system. He said that the water for residential irrigation south of 466 comes from two sources: the retention ponds and the acquifer - but not the same acquifer that is used for potable water. The golf courses use the above two sources plus use the reclaimed water from the sewage treament plant - after it has gone through a number of purification processes.

That is a helpful site, aj. Hunter is a good system but can confuse some users. I have had Hunter for years but I still got out the abbreviated directions when changing settings. It is easy to miss an important step.
My last Hunter control system died on me a couple of years ago. Being somewhat miserly, I replaced it with another brand. Big mistake. I should have stayed with Hunter.

It is a very expensive ordeal with watering systems
 

and feeding in the ongoing battle to grow grass on a sand lot!!!

btk

Tell us more about these ground sensors?