Irrigation

[RJJR]

Have 5 Rainbird 35 sprinkler heads that I want to use to irrigate my garden. They will need risers of some sort
I also have a honda pump, capable of90 psi and 8000+ gpm and a 2" outlet. I need some ideas on the best way to get from 2" to the 3/4 inch sprinkler. I'll need to move the row of sprinklers at least 3 times to cover the whole garden. Should I set up a 2 inch main line along the field and reduce it down to use water hoses? garden is 250L by 150W and the water is about 75 feet away.
Thanks

 

[downslope]

Have 5 Rainbird 35 sprinkler heads that I want to use to irrigate my garden. They will need risers of some sort
I also have a honda pump, capable of90 psi and 8000+ gpm and a 2" outlet. I need some ideas on the best way to get from 2" to the 3/4 inch sprinkler. I'll need to move the row of sprinklers at least 3 times to cover the whole garden. Should I set up a 2 inch main line along the field and reduce it down to use water hoses? garden is 250L by 150W and the water is about 75 feet away.
Thanks

You probably mean gph not gpm, right? As far as the risers, how will you keep them upright? Will you construct some type of tripod for each one and interconnect with hose? The 2" will be good but I'm not crazy about the hose idea. Your pump has enough capacity to run all 5 at once. You don't say what size nozzle is in the Rainbirds, but if it's 3/16" they will be putting out almost 8 gpm each at 60 psi. The best you can run on 3/4" hose is about 15 gpm, so if you have them in series 2 sprinklers would be the max on one hose, and if you tried to drag it out to 150' or 250' there would be friction losses. Plus to run all five at once you'd have a large investment in hose.

Does used aluminum portable farm irrigation pipe ever come up for sale in your area? If you could find enough lengths for 250' you would be all set, anything 2" or up. Sometimes you even find it with the risers in place for reasonable price. The good thing about the irrigation pipe is that it will have a foot on each section to stay upright and it is easy to uncouple and move with 1 person.

If used is not available I would consider making something up out of 2" or 2 1/2" PVC, but I'm not sure about the couplings. Another idea would be to start out with one or two lengths of larger diameter PVC and then step down to garden hose at the end.

If you go with the hose and tripod stands you'll have to start out with at least 1" hose at the head of the line and then step down when appropriate. Even 1" is only good up to about 30 gpm.

You might consider setting it up with black poly pipe, should be cheaper than hose for large sizes. For the risers you need something rigid, iron, aluminum, copper, maybe even conduit. A 1" riser with reducing coupling at top is nice.

Take a look at this link, and the PDF catalog. It might give you some ideas and shows the prices of new aluminum. They only show down to 3" but I know there's still 2" aluminum around.


Vegetable Growing Equipment Plastic Mulch John Deere T-Tape Drip Tape :: Rain-Flo Irrigation PA

http://www.rainfloirrigation.com/downloads/2012RainFloCatalog.pdf

 

[RJJR]

Yes, I meant gph. Sorry about that. I may be ablt to get my hands on some three inch aluminum but not sure how to connect back to the hose or pump. The pump is 2 inch male and the hose would be 2 inch female. How do I go up to the the 3 inch or 4 inch aluminum? The aluminum is not threaded.

Thanks.

 

[downslope]

Yes, I meant gph. Sorry about that. I may be ablt to get my hands on some three inch aluminum but not sure how to connect back to the hose or pump. The pump is 2 inch male and the hose would be 2 inch female. How do I go up to the the 3 inch or 4 inch aluminum? The aluminum is not threaded.

Thanks.

Is the aluminum pipe you're looking to get regular irrigation pipe with couplers and taps for the risers? If so, do you know what brand it might be?

I can tell you where to get an aluminum cone adapter to reduce the size by welding on the cone. The cone has to be aluminum so that it can be welded to the aluminum pipe. You can't weld an iron fitting to aluminum. The same company can send you the parts and you can have it welded locallly or if you send them your 3" or 4" female coupler with a short length of pipe attached they can weld it up for you at a reasonable price + shipping. You have to know what type of threads you want on the 2" part of the adapter, or do you want a 2" hose barb?

Will your hose have a threaded coupling on each end? If so, will the threads be hose thread like a fire hose or regular iron pipe thread?

If you can get the pipe I think it would pay you to set up the adapter the best way possible.

P.S. What you really need is called a "starter coupling" or pump adapter. It has male pipe thread on one end and a female irrigation pipe coupling on the other end; they can be either cast aluminum or steel. With one of these you would be able to connect to your pump hose using standard fittings available at a plumbing supply store. If you can find one of these no welding would be involved. They still make new ones for some popular brands of pipe, otherwise you have to find a used one or make something up by welding as I described above. Good luck.