If you are new to sprinkler design, there are some very comprehensive tutorials at http://www.jessstryker.com/ .They go into quite a bit of detail, but will give a good overall view of what to expect when designing. Some of the American terminology is slightly different to ours.

Read the following design tips in conjunction with the plans shown below.

• Draw an accurate plan of your property, showing as much detail as possible. This will include such things as gardens, trees, sand-pits and clothes lines. The best scale to use is 1:100 which is 1 cm for each 1 mtr of your property.
  Decide where you wish to place the valves. It is better to keep the length of pipe from the valves to the sprinklers as short as possible. Having said that, it is also preferable to group several valves together.
• Solenoid valves should be installed below ground level in a valve box. Make sure that a backflow prevention valve is installed near the water source, as this is a legal requirement in most states.
• Do not try to run too many sprinklers on one valve. Check with the local water authorities for the available flow and pressure. This can also be done using a gatevalve and pressure gauge and filling a bucket. Check how long it takes to fill the bucket @ 30 psi, 40 psi and 50 psi. For a 10 ltr bucket divide 10 by the number of seconds it takes to fill. Multiply that figure by 60 and that will give you the amount of water available. For example if a 10 ltr bucket takes 15 secs to fill @ 40 psi, divide 10 (ltrs) by 15 (secs) = 0.666 times 60 (secs) = 40 lpm available. Please email us for a loan of a pressure gauge and gatevalve. (Subject to refundable deposit). Pressure will be lost through the backflow prevention valve as well as the solenoid valve and pipe. For best results, you will ideally want your gear drive rotors to run at 30 psi (min) and sprayheads at 25 psi. Drippers and dripline work best at 20 psi.
• Try to limit the amount of water to the following pipe sizes.

20mm 15 lpm max

25mm 30 lpm max

32mm 60 lpm max

40mm 90 lpm max

• Never install a sprinkler directly above a pipe. This causes problems if the sprinkler needs to be raised or lowered. Always use a tee off to the side or an articulated riser. You should only ever need 20 mm pipe going to each sprinkler. Refer to the plans below.
• The best location for a controller is in the laundry. There it can be readily accessed if you wish to turn it off for rain etc. Make sure there is an available power point to connect it.
• Thread tape is not necessary on fittings after the valves. However, if using low density poly, always make sure ratchet clips are used so that pipes will not blow off their fittings. It is best to keep the pressure in low density poly to less than 40 psi.
• For watering systems being supplied by a pump, the pipe and fittings will generally be larger with fewer zones required. If the water is unfiltered, it is advisable to use a filter near the pump (coarse mesh) with a finer mesh filter for any zones using dripline. Refer section 'Filters'
• We do not recommend using sprays in gardens as drip can do a much more efficient job. Drippers and dripline can deliver water to individual shrubs and flowers at ground level where it will be taken up by the root system. If microsprays are installed, the plant they are watering will get bigger and as it grows, it will 'catch' more water, leaving any plants behind the one being watered dry. Microsprays also water areas where there are no plants, causing more weeds to grow. We only recommend microsprays in ferneries (overhead) and for citrus trees that have a wide, shallow root zone