Budget Friendly Lawn Irrigation System: SEE HOW I DID IT!
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- Опубліковано 22 лип 2024
- If you are anything like me, you don't have the luxury of having an in-ground irrigation system and need to stay within a budget! After years of dragging hoses around and moving sprinklers, I figured there had to be a better way - without breaking the bank! In this video, I show you how I sent up my own automated above ground irrigation setup for less than $450 - which has made my life MUCH EASIER!
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Please visit my website www.thelawnlover.com for helpful information, links, discount codes, awesome merch, and much more!
0:00 - Introduction
0:54 - My Current Needs/Equipment
1:45 - Sprinkler Upgrades
2:57 - My Irrigation Plan/Map
4:31 - How Much Did It Cost?
5:28 - Wrap Up
Product Links:
- RainBird Spike - amzn.to/44WT7UA
- Melnor 4 Zone Digital Water Timer - amzn.to/45l3t1E
- Melnor 2 Zone Digital Water Timer - amzn.to/3KTPMyB
- 50ft ¾" Water Hose - www.northerntool.com/products...
- 100ft ¾" Water Hose - www.northerntool.com/products...
- Zero G Pro ¾" Water Hose - www.amazon.com/zero-G-4300-75...
- Melnor Quick Connects - amzn.to/47GJ34L
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases
#lawnirrigation #diylawncare #diylawn #abovegroundirrigation #sprinklers #sprinklersetup #lawnwatering #howtowatermylawn #sprinklertimers - Розваги
If you found this video helpful, hit that like button, drop a question/comment below, and subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss out on future updates.
Please visit my website at www.thelawnlover.com for helpful information, discount codes, awesome merch, and much more!
I use this same timer on my lawn and it's definitely a game changer. Helped keep my RTF seed from drying.
Great to hear! I love these timers and sprinklers - they are now my go-to for irrigation. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the good info! I need to set them up asap
I'm glad it was helpful. This setup has really simplified things for me. Thanks for watching!
Great video Justin, great advice on saving money!
Glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching!
I'm putting in 3 100' Rainbird swing pipe (poly pipe) in the ground, 12 32SA sprinklers total. Going to split it up into 2 different zones, each zone will have 6 heads, and each run will have 3 heads. Running it off the spigot on the house, I'm lucky to have both a really good PSI and GPM at the spigot. Will probably have around like you said $400 or less in it.
That's awesome!
I like your setup and the fact that it only costs a minimal amount. Glad I stumbled upon your channel
Welcome aboard! It has really simplified watering for me. Thanks for watching 🤜💥🤛
I like how you kept the hoses mainly contained in the landscaping to avoid having to move them. Pretty nice system and a hell of a lot cheaper than an in ground system
I appreciate your kind words about our system. It's all about finding creative solutions!
Nice setup!
Thanks! It has really made watering much easier. Thanks for watching!
7 Hours? Do you have a well? I can't imagine how much you are spending per month on irrigation
I'm on city water and have decent pressure. That is the amount of time it takes me to get 1/2" down per zone on the entire lawn. In mid season when it's really hot and dry, my bill is about $250ish per month for water when I irrigate like that, which isn't terrible based on feedback I have heard from others. Thanks for watching!
I had to stop using automatic timers. The immediate shut off of the water was shaking my water pipes inside my home. Eventually a piped knocked of its brackets in between my joist.
Oh that sucks. We're your pipes not secured to the joists in the walls or what? Thanks for watching!
That typically means that sprinkler system is pulling water out of your house. Sometimes this happens because you have a lot of low head drainage of the lateral line after zones run.
1). You can try partially turning down the irrigation main shutoff valve at the tap to reduce the overall GPM needed (while making sure system still functions). This can be hit or miss on its own and not an actual fix so much as a countermeasure.
2). You can install a pressure regulator on the irrigation mainline, downstream from the irrigation main shut off valve. Lowering the PSI in conjunction with partially closing the shutoff valve as outlined in #1 to reduce the GPM can be an effective combination, but if you’re having to finesse a shutoff valve in hopes of the desired outcome, is it really fixed?
3). My preference. If you know where the irrigation ties into the domestic waterline, you can put a dual check valve on the waterline just downstream from that point to prevent the irrigation from being able to pull water back out of your house.
what would your thoughts be about diggin a shallow 1" - 1 1/2" trench to barely bury the hose out of sight, then when arriving at the sprinkler location, digging a space just deep enough to bury the sprinkler into it's full underground depth (maybe a 5" by 5" hole, 12" deep). Using a couple of 90º elbows to let the hose down into the sprinkler inlet, then returning the hose with another couple 90º elbows to ground level where it could go to the next sprinkler inside another shallow trench?... I mean, in an effort to hide the hoses and sprinklers, but avoiding digging a big trench all the way
(I just found out about the SW Swing Joint that may do the trick of burying the sprinkler only)
You could probably accomplish this. I would recommend the pvc joint to bury it, but it should work. Great idea!
I've been using the same sprinklers and the Melnor 4 port timers to water 15,000 sq ft. This is certainly a game changer!! Simple is the best way to describe the setup that works amazingly!! Thanks for sharing, brother!!
Great to hear! Those sprinkler timers really are game changers and make life so much easier. Thanks for watching!
How far do those sprinklers reach? I am converting drip in ground to sprinklers and trying to use existing piping.
This specific rain bird can reach up to 32 feet. Thanks for watching!
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!
I picked up two of those rain birds on a spike when you posted about them before, I absolutely love them!
Glad you like them! They are by far my favorite sprinkler now. I appreciate you watching and dropping a comment!
I am about to sell my house next summer, but working to get the lawn to look its best before then. I just put down some seed to overseed to help with the Halloween traffic we had and currently watering every other day. Its been getting to about freezing temps at night (N KY). I am currently using a rotary sprinkler but been looking to get one of these types of heads I can move around to diff spots every 30 mins. Will this work?
Yes, since this is on a spike, it is easy to move around. The head is also adjustable for each spot in relation to rotation and spray distance (need a phillips screwdriver to adjust distance). You can usually grab them on Amazon for less than $20 each, I would personally get a few of them and save yourself time hassling with changing the adjustment of one of them each time you move it. I have tried numerous sprinklers over the years and this is by far my favorite. Thanks for watching!
@@TheLawnLover BTW, do you think im wasting my time trying to overseed this late in the season with overnight freezing temps?
As long as ground isn't frozen you should be ok. The tricky part will be once it sprouts trying to ensure it doesn't freeze and kill the new sprouts. If it were up here in NE Indiana I would say yes it is too late, but I'm not sure the exact weather where you are at.
@@TheLawnLover thanks. Pretty much atm, calm winds, day temps of 60-70, night temps around 35.
@@TheXerosynYou should be ok then if it germinates soon and gets established before the daytime temps bottom out and freeze the soil.
Great stuff!
🤜💥🤛
Justin, I think it’s awesome that you have a great lawn with an above ground system. Nice work 👍
Thanks Rueben! It's been a lot of work but semi automating things has really made the irrigation process much easier for me. Thanks for watching! 🤜💥🤛
Which sprinkler heads did you use again? Link? Also what or how did you use to get the long area on the bottom left hand corner?
I got the link to the RainBird rotors on a spike added in the description - here is the link too amzn.to/44WT7UA
The spot I'm in the bottom right of the diagram I have always had to drag a hose to and I had to continue to do so in that spot since I can't leave a hose laying over the walk. The rest of the heads I was able to cover the lawn while keeping them mainly around the house to keep them automated.
Thanks for watching!
@@TheLawnLover thanks. I meant on the left. The long strip. Sorry about that
@HangryPandaMike No worries. I used to use the melnor mini max on that strip near the street. When I I the rain bird heads, I was able to set the head up near the street and cover the stripe and the front portion of the lawn with the range it has. With the melnor mini max it took me a few moves and I wasted alot of water trying to cover that strip.
@@TheLawnLover oh cool. Didnt think those heads would work since its long one way but short another. I have a strip on the side of my house that hard to find a system to water since it rectangle shape.
@@HangryPandaMike Yes, even when they are adjusted to the farthest range, they still water evenly back to the head. They work well in that spot, I just oversprsy thr sidewalk and into the main lawn for coverage
I only have 2,200 sf of lawn so I have a 4 port Melnor timer at the front lawn and one at the back lawn. I hooked it up to 1/2" poly pipe distribution tubing and buried the tubes and hunter rotors. The whole system is underground. I even installed backflow preventers on each of my 8 "zones". Dirt cheap project (no pun intended) and it's working great for 3 years now. Rainbird sells a complete diy kit but I purchased all the supplies from Amazon and Lowe's. The most difficult part of the job was burying the Rainbird poly pipe. Very gratifying.
That sounds like an awesome setup and MUCH cheaper than a standard in-ground system. I have seen others do similar projects like this and this is possibly a project that I may consider doing down the road at some point to avoid hoses laying around. Thanks for watching and dropping a comment, I appreciate the support!
Did you use barbed fittings and pinch clamps at the joints or how did you do the connections? And how did you connect the poly pipe to the actual timers? I was looking at these brass male adapters
Yes, I used barbed fittings to connect the rotor fittings to the poly pipe. I did not use pinch clamps but I had to use a butane torch to soften the poly pipe to accept the fittings and used spring action hose clamps on top of that. The connection was crazy strong once the pipe cooled. For the connection to the Melnor timer I again softened the pipe and inserted 1/2" barbed 3/4" female garden hose fittings. However, the poly pipe is very stiff so connecting and disconnecting those female hose fittings to the timer isn't easy so I purchased washing machine water hoses and I'm going to remove three feet of the poly pipe and connect that to three feet of washing machine hose and then connect the female GH fittings to the washing machine hoses. Should be much easier to connect and disconnect at the beginning and end of the season.
@TheDylan6908 ahh good point about the connection to the timer. Unless the connector freely spins on its own I imagine it's a pain to twist those off with the poly pipe connected
@@dlandes14 just lining up the female connector to the timer port was difficult. But using the washing machine hoses should make that easy and washing machine hoses are tough. They're made to be under water pressure all the time.
If your able - getting the heads where the spray reaches the next spray head. Essentially this should give you best coverage.
I would add a digital rain gauge to up the game on when your needing to water… if someone could buy me one… 😊… that would be great 😂
The map that I drew up was not the greatest, but I do have the heads hitting (slight overlap) to ensure consistent coverage across the lawn. I actually just got an AcuRite Atlas weather station that I mounted on my roof eave that has the digital rain gauge. It isn't tied to the sprinkler timers, but I stay on top of it to ensure I am getting enough water on the lawn weekly. It would be AWESOME if I could tie the two together though. Thanks for watching and dropping a comment, I appreciate your support!
And next comes the drought, like California , cause watering the yard and population growth
Thankfully, I don't live in CA and in my 38 years of living here in Indiana we have never had any water issues. We have a very different climate here in the Midwest and don't have the water issues - especially with all the snow melt we get in the winter. Thanks for watching!