Time to consider installing an Irrigation Filter?
 

Soon we will be on a normal watering schedule and many will be doing work on their Irrigation systems. Because many are using re-claimed non-potable water for Irrigation, cleaning all the sprinkler head filters becomes an annual task. Some Villagers are fine spending the day cleaning all the filters and some hire an Irrigation company.

I and many of my neighbors installed an Irrigation filter which filters out most of the sediment from the re-claimed water so we only have to clean one filter instead of 30 for example. Once these rotator heads get grit in them, they need to be replaced. Your Irrigation company or whomever you use to maintain your system will never recommend this becasue they rely on the constant maintenance work you will pay them for yearly.

I used the following handi-man to install mine. Highly recommended and very fair prices. If you are considering an Irrigation filter you may want to give Chuck a call. You will recover the cost of the Irrigation filter probably in a year or two at the most.

Chuck Grospitch
chuck.grospitch@gmail.com
440-823-4273

+1 for Chuck irrigation filter installs.

Time to consider installing an Irrigation Filter?

Nope.

Over 10 years and all is good.

I check a couple heads/filters every year and they are clean.

:icon_bored:

My husband the retired plumber installed one on our system for that reason. Too many individual heads that were getting clogged. He has since done two others for neighbors.

I am the whomever I use to maintain my system and you're right, I would not recommend a filter for my home. Seven years and counting without ever needing to spend a day cleaning filters.

I have opened the size of the spray on perhaps five heads in that time to clear any grit that had accumulated and was interfering with the spray. All of these heads were in sandy areas of my lawn where the grit may have been picked up from outside the head. In any case, I have not needed to replace any heads due to being contaminated with grit.

It has been noted in threads in the past that when the ponds get low there can be a lot of material in the water. This seems to be more prevalent in the southern areas and I have never seen it in my area. A filter may be necessary for some and desirable to more but is certainly not required by all.

I am very glad I had an irrigation filter installed. For me, opening the heads wide individually would definitely not clear them, they had to be removed and cleaned one by one, bending over out in The Blast Furnace. Then when one puts them back in, one has to realign them. The entire process was time consuming, and would have been better spent pulling weeds or something.
So much nice just to flush out the main filter, or unscrew it and scrub off the mixture of sand and green scum, and be done with it.

I forgot to mention, many Villagers in the north have one water source for both their drinking and irrigation water. In these cases an Irrigation filter is not necessary. If you have a non-potable water source supplying your Irrigation water then you need to consider the filter because although there may be some areas where there is very little sediment, most areas have a lot, especially when the ponds are low like they are now.

So, the point of this post is, if your sprinkler heads are getting clogged with sediment, consider installing a Irrigation filter to minimize the maintenance of regular sprinkler head cleaning and the DIY labor and or cost involved. Once an irrigation filter is installed in homes that need it, you really don't need to spend the money on periodic maintenance from an Irrigation company. You should be able to check your system periodically and manually adjust any heads that are not spraying properly. Replacements can easily be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot.

BTW, if you get an Irrigation filter installed by Chuck, for a small fee he will clean your filter once a month or whatever the interval is. This is great for those who don't want or are unable to maintain the filter.

"I have opened the size of the spray on perhaps five heads in that time to clear any grit that had accumulated and was interfering with the spray. All of these heads were in sandy areas of my lawn where the grit may have been picked up from outside the head. In any case, I have not needed to replace any heads due to being contaminated with grit."

I am glad that this worked for you, but I can say from experience that this is not the case in the section of Citrus Grove I am in, built in 2021.

The developer supplied 30 low flow oscillating heads. Opening them up full throttle did not fix the problem, fits because they allow so little water through, but also because what was on the screen was an amalgam of green slime and sand.

The developer contractor did not entirely think through the overlap situation on my lawn, so I tinkered around with replacing some oscillators with sprays. Again, opening them all the way up did not work, for the same reason. The sand reinforces the slime and it becomes a tenacious substance.

I have 2 out of 30 heads high capacity high flow sprays, maybe those would work as flushers, but installing them is very tricky to balance with the other heads, they would have to be at the bottom of the loop, and could only at best help unclog the zone they are installed on ( I have four zones ).

So I am not a paid shill, just saying, that irrigation filter is worth every penny.

Citrus Grove? That would be one of the southern areas that I mentioned in the paragraph that you did not include.

Filters can’t hurt but some do not need them. Location matters.

I believe most everyone below 466 has non-potable water for Irrigation water coming from a pond. That may be "South" to you.

Your situation is not unique. Most homes have those rotator sprinkler heads installed. These heads will need to be replaced when that grit gets into it's mechanism. There is no way to fix that problem once it happens. You can install the large spray heads as some have but you need to make sure you have adequate flow for the rest of the rotator heads in that zone. But note, having a couple of these high volume heads will not "flush" out all that slime and debris from getting to those rotators. All that slime and junk you describe will be filtered by the Irrigation filter.

I can tell you when I first moved in, after one round of cleaning all the 30+ filters only to have them get clogged a month later when the ponds got low, I called Chuck and we installed a filter on my system. 3 1/2 years later, still working perfectly and never had to clean any sprinkler head filters or replace any heads. I feel bad when I see some of my neighbors paying a lot to have the Irrigation guy come and fix their sprinkler heads. I can always tell when the ponds are low by the presesence of these Irrigation trucks running around my village.

Yes, south of 466 has non-potable irrigation. My area, Hillsborough, has non-potable irrigation. My area does not have a sediment problem. I can’t speak to other areas between 466 and 44.

From past threads, it seems most of the sediment problems are south of 44. That is what I consider to be the southern areas.

some come from ponds, but it's treated prior to the irrigation system

Quoting a Village water official, the pond water for Irrigation is "litely treated". When I asked what that meant, he said it's screened to filter out any marine life and to reduce sediment. I don't believe they do much more. BUT, there is some Irrigation water that is "reclaimed" which some may be getting and what they use to Irrigate the golf courses. This water they filter and add a small mount of chlorine at the water treatment center. This is treated waste water. If you are getting this non-pottable water it's going to be a lot better. The Village water offical did say that this water is also used for fire so when the ponds get low they pump water from the Lower Aquifer to replenish the pond so they always have enough water to fight fires.

For example, here in Osceola Hills there is a large pond across from Rohan Rec Center that supplies much of our Irrigation water. When it is low, I can see a significant amount of sediment and other debris in my filter. When when its full, my filter will stay clean for a long time. So, it depends on where you live and if you have a problem or not.

Just sharing an example filter during low water levels south of 44.