Question
I have installed a Blue Points 4ft, 1-1/2" well head into a 6 ft water well to provide water for my 6 station sprinkler system. I purchased a 3/4 horse Water Ace Jet pump. Alone the system is producing 15gpm. Good flow out to the spigots. The item I need help with is when the 1st sprinkler station turns on the water just trickles out of the heads (pressure gage reads 15 psi) same thing happens with station #2. But when it gets to station #3 it jumps to 40 psi. (Note: station 3 is the closest to the pump with only 4 Rainbird 1800 spray heads). Travel distance out to the other stations could be as much as 70 feet with 5 sprinkler heads each. Can you resolve my low water output pressure problem. More powerful pump? perhaps? Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hey Douglas, I hope this helps. The first thing is how big are the pipes that you have feeding the different zones? The second thing is how many gallons per minute is each zone using? You say the other zones have 5 heads on them each. To calculate how many gallons per minute (GPM) each zone is using, you need to know what each nozzle on the head is and this will determine how many GPM each zone is using. For instance, if the head is a 12H, it is probably using from 1 to 1.5 GPM. If you have 5- 12H ( 12 foot spacing, half or 180 degree spray), this zone would use from 5 to 7.5 GPM. On the other hand, lets say the nozzle is a 15F (15 foot spacing and 360 degree patern) each of these nozzles use from 3.5 to 4 GPM. If all 5 heads were 15H, this zone would use 17.5 to 20 GPM, which would be more than the 15GPM you are getting, thus resulting in low pressure. If you are getting 15GPM, then this pump is probably fine. Now as far as the pipes go, You should probably be feeding them with at least a 3/4" line and a 1" line would be even better. The last 2 heads on the line could be fed with 1/2" but the first 3 should have at least a 3/4" line. People have a tendency to think that if the line is smaller you will get more pressure, the truth is the bigger the line the better flow rate you will get (GPM) thus better volume and pressure. Check back let let me know what you find, thanks and have a great day.