Thread: Need advice on an underground sprinkler system

Thanks all for the info....I will be there in June and hope to get some stuff done....Anyone who wants to go have a beer in Ban Chang or Pattaya let me know.

Take care,

Bob

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Also try to stick to 5 sprinklers per run otherwise you tend to loose power.

How long would the run be?
Thinking of doing this myself so I'll be following this thread.
Good luck.

I plan on being there the first 3 weeks in June.... I have 2 lots in Payoon Green. The second lot has nothing on it but some newly planted trees and shrubs....Maybe 100 feet by 125 feet and a small front yard and side yard. maybe we could pool some resources which might reduce our costs....But stuff is pretty cheap anyways in LOS compared to the USA.


Bob

Have you considered using trickle irrigation ? I don't know if the trickle irrigation line is available in LOS but using common 12mm pvc hose and inserting trickle heads at the desired intervals may be worth considering.

Did a "pop up" system in Taiwan a few years ago.
Got all the heads from UK and the installation was simple- went to the local golf course and got the greenkeeper to install the buggers over a weekend !!
Paid him about 2500 TWD ( baht) + the bits he provided- worked perfectly !!!

Maybe you could do a similar deal

Originally Posted by xen

I don't know if the trickle irrigation line is available in LOS

It's manufactured here and widely available.

Trickle irrigation is available here, but beware if your water quality is less than perfect.
If you have any of that "iron" residue from your well the small holes will become blocked very quickly.

As for underground pipe/sprinklers, the only problem I have had with these (7 x 200m runs - 30-35 sprinklers per run) is damn ants, they love making their homes in the sprinkler heads, so you need to be able to remove the sprinkler to poke em out with a stick.

We use a 2" pump, 350 litres/min, it can push water through 30-35 sprinklers no problem, all I would say is reduce your pipe diameter propertionally - IE. start with 2" from the pump and gradually decrease the diameter with the length of run, 1 1/2" after 40m, 1" after 100m etc.

Good luck...and make sure you dig down at least 30cm to bury the pipes...otherwise you will end up cutting into them.

I recently had my lot cleaned up, good top soil added and sod laid (I need to finish this house by the first of Oct.). My wife wanted an underground sprinkler system, which the person that laid the sod said he could do. So, he installed everything, while his co-workers finished the sod. Unfortunately, it didn't work. He laid 12 pop up heads on one line, added a pump to increase water pressure (twice) and dug up trenches in the lawn (which obviously made me very unhappy). After switching heads to a smaller variey, they worked marginally better, but I saw leaks around 3 or 4 of the connections to the head. I haven't fired him yet, but have told him to not come back until I tell him to. From suggestions here, I have bought rain bird 5006 full circle heads (20; in case a couple don't work properly) on Ebay (U.S.) and will have them shipped back here. Anything else I should have sent from the U.S. Any other suggestions (other than firing the contractor)?

Besides the rainbird sprinkler heads, I bought 3 rainbird anti-siphon valves. I did see on Ebay an orbit automatic yard watering kit timer sprinkler. I hope that I can get that here and not have to buy anything else. Right now, I should be able to ship two boxes from U.S. for $90 and hopefully no duty. Again, any suggestions are welcomed.

Originally Posted by Dean

Again, any suggestions are welcomed.

Next time, ask your taxi driver to do it.

Next time, ask your taxi driver to do it.

Actually, I save my taxi driver for drinking nites. I am tired of thais claiming to have a level of expertise and then fining out that they no shit about it. I'm going to do it myself when the parts come from the U.S. Maybe, I'll finally get around to posting pictures of my house, as I promised to do once it is finished (the yard, that is).

My problem this time was trusting the recommendation of the contractor that built my house (and did a very good job). That, and not being able to speak Thai. My wife kept telling me that she wanted sprinklers for the new lawn. So did I but I thought she was refering to portable sprinklers, not underground ones. If I knew she wanted an underground sprinkler, I would have had one installed before the sod went in, not at the same time. Fortunately, it didn't cost me much money, just about a month's time and my having to re-dig the trenches and take out the tubing for possible re-use (I may use pipe instead).

My sprinkler system was finished yesterday. I dug most of the trenches myself (9-10 feet deep and starting out wide to accommodate 5 zones; the plummer however only need four zones with 16 sprinklers) but let a plummer install the 3/4 inch PVC pipes and connections. I had 20 rainbird 5000 series sprinkler heads mailed to me from the U.S. (along with 4 orbit anti-siphon valves which the plummer wasn't sure how to connect to Thai current; the next time I come back from U.S., I'll bring a timer that will run on 240 volts and use it to run the anti-siphon valves; for now, the sprinkler system is manual) and he used 16 of them. I still have to adjust the rotation of them, so itwo of them don't it the teak gazebo/pond area. Tomarrow, I re-sod the lawn where the threnches were dug. Now, I'm looking for one or two persons to take care of lawn/trees/shrubs, etc. while I'm in the U.S. I have no intention of using the person who I originally gave the job to, the person that sodded the lawn and "tried" to install the sprinkler system the first time. I have to admit, as a skeptic at first in agreeing to an underground sprinkler system, that the sprinkler sysstem looks nice!

That should read "9-10 inches deep", not feet deep.

^ Hey Dean, a little off-topic I know, but important nonetheless.

A while ago you started a thread about a golden retriever. Could you please return to that thread and let us know the full story. There are a lot of very concerned people around here.

Thanks.

I've tried to post a reply on the "golden retreiver" thread 4 times but can't, so I'll try here. I did not put the dog to sleep but found a home for him, which my wife's children vetoed. I am taking the dog to U.S. on October 13. Thats the short version of a long story. I haven't logged on to Teakdoor in the last 3 weeks, so I didn't see the responses.