Question
QUESTION: I am getting quotes on a sprinkler system. Low water pressure. About 49-50 now, summer months could get 40 or maybe a little less than 40. Hunter or Rain Bird?  I have .19 acre - I believe total.  I have a pool in the center of the yard 26x30.  I have 3 estimates. One has Hunter 44 heads, 12 zones - $4500; another company mixing RainBird controller - because it is "user friendly", Hunter heads and Rain Bird heads mixed with 29 heads 10 zones $3,100 + 360 for PVC or $540 for copper; last one is Rain Bird 26 heads - I believe 4-6 zones - $2,600.00.  I need to buy top soil and seed.  One company says do it after the sprinkler is in. If the heads get buried, they will come back no charge and raise them if needed.  The other company said add top soil before sprinkler comes in.  I don't know what to do.  As far as the amount of heads needed,  have no idea what the standard is for how many heads, how many stations.  Being a lay person -- I believe that 44 heads is total overkill.

ANSWER: Hey Jacquie, I hope this helps. To start with, we also deal with grading and installing topsoil. We normally install the irrigation system, prior to bringing in the topsoil, otherwise alot of times you are going to contaminate the good topsoil. When you install your sprinklers, have whoever does it, install what is called a swing joint on each head. What this allows you to do is raise or lower the head to your final grade, without digging down to the pipe and installing a longer or shorter nipple. For the cost of about $1.50 per head, the ease of being able to set the head and also straighten the head is well worth the money. Also down the road as the grass gets built up, it again is much easier to raise the head with a swing joint without having to dig down to the pipe and extending the nipple.Now as far as the irrigation question. First of all, when you are talking about heads, Rainbird and Hunter both make what would be considered either a spray head, or a rotor head. Normally a spray head will throw out a radius of from 5' up to about 18'. A rotor head will throw out a radius of from 15' up to 50'. The one thing you need to clarify with these contractors, is are they spray heads or rotor heads. It sounds as though the first bid with 44 heads could be with all spray type heads. Normally you're going to get a little bit better coverage with spray heads compared to rotor heads, and less evaporation. The second bid with 29 heads, sounds like he is going to use a combination of heads, spray heads and rotor heads. Normally if a yard has some smaller cut up areas, but also some wide open areas, we will use the spray heads in the cut up(narrow areas) and the rotors in the wide open areas. Or also, sometimes we will use the spray heads along the edges, because you won't get as much overthrow onto the house, fence, sidewalk, etc. The third bid looks as though he is using all rotor heads.I would definetly stay away from the third bid, he probably is doing it as cheap as possible to get the job. You know the sayings, "you get what you pay for" and "good work isn't cheap and cheap work isn't good" well in the sprinkler business this is definetly the case. There is nothing wrong with using rotor heads, and spray heads on the system, as long as the spray heads are put on a valve or valves by themself and the rotor heads are on valves by themselves.You don't want to mix them. What I would recommend is that these contractors give you a simple plan with at least a layout of where the heads are going. Also get a list of names of people they have installed for before. As far as the question about is 44 heads overkill, probably not, you will probably get the best coverage, as long as these are spray heads. Get as much information as you can, as far as what kinds of heads, what kinds of valves, what kinds of pipe, what kind of controller, etc. Normally Rainbird and Hunter make great equipment, but some products are lower end, and some are higher end. Either find out the model # of the heads they are using, and also the valve model # they are using, and give me a follow up question with this information, or check with an irrigation supply store to find out if this is good equipment. Sometimes if you spend an extra $1.00 on a head, or $ 5.00 on a valve, it will make a big difference in the long run. You can probably tell from my writing, that I didn't do good in English class, but I hope this helps. Let me know if I can be of further assistance. Thanks and have a good day.

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QUESTION: Thank you so much for the time you took to answer my question. It was very helpful  The controller used is Rainbird ESP Modular Controller. He would swap it out for the Hunter controller if I asked him to. The only brochure I have on the Hunter controller is an SRC Plus which was not given to me by this contractor.  The $3,600 job which I am leaning toward is using approx. 30 Hunter gear driven heads.  He gave me information on the PGP series and 8 Rainbird 1804 Spray heads.  Values are the Rainbird Electric Solenoid Zone Valves. No model # was given. If there is a particular model you prefer, please let me know.  (10 zones)  Thank you so much.  You have no idea how much you have helped me.

Answer
Hey jacquie, it sounds like you're on the right track. We also use the hunter PGP rotor heads and the Rainbird 1804 pop-up spray heads. Also I would stick with the Rainbird Esp controller. We also use the Rainbird valves, check to make sure they're the DV-100 series with a flow control. The flow control will allow you to increase or decrease the flow to the heads and control over spray. Also insist that they use a swing joint assembly on the heads, it will make it much easier to set them to your final grade, once you bring the top soil in. I hope this helps, let me know if I can be of anymore assistance, thanks and have a great day.