Question
I have an irrigation system that requires manual activation and because of traveling I need to automated it.

The water source is a 6" irrigation water pipe (ditch) supplied from snow melt.  Depending on snow pack and the start of spring it runs (at about 3" of flow) from mid-April to August or September.

There is a pump that pumps water from 2 55gal drums fed from the pipe.  The drums serve as a crude sedimentation tank.  The pump feeds four zones, 3 with Rainbird heads for the lawn and 1 that serves landscaping.

To operate the system requires the following steps:

1. insure there is water in the "ditch"
2. manually open 2 gates in the downstream 55 gal drum to allow water to fed in and flow into the upstream drum.  Excess water simply overflows the drums and into a pasture behind my property.
3. goto the house and activate a Square D pump controller that goes automatic once pressure reaches a specific level (I don't know what that is)
4. in series, open a manual valve for each zone and allow it to run for an amount of time of my choosing (I use an a manual timer for this), then close that valve and open the next.  Sometimes the pump stops during the transition due to, I believe over-pressure.
5. at the end, reverse steps 3 and 2.

Makes watering a whole lot of fun for a guy who is used to setting an irrigation controller and forgetting it.

So my question is, given that I have the pipes and heads installed, starting at the 6" pipe how do I plumb the drums to eliminate opening the gates and then how do I automate the irrigation process?

Regards,
Jim

Answer
You would need to construct some kind of a well, a vault that will hold a lot of water and is constantly being refilled.  I dont think the 55 gallon drum is going to do it, because you will probably pump water out faster than it can be replaced.  I would thn place a pump and a pressure tank near the well.  You will need to know what the GPM of the system is (the water demand) to gauge the size of pump that you need.  Then you can install a contoller that has a pump start feature, and a relay switch to turn the pump on from the controller.  Theres a lot to it.