Lawn Irrigation

[thcri]

Does anyone know of an attacment you can put on your 3 point to install or trench for lawn irrigation?


murph

 

[LoneCowboy]

They make 3 point trenchers
I'm sure you could rent one
Honestly, it's pretty cheap to rent a trencher.

What are you trying to do?
I did lawn sprinklers for YEARS.
I'm a guru.

 

[flusher]

Does anyone know of an attacment you can put on your 3 point to install or trench for lawn irrigation?


murph

I have a 21-hp Kubota B7510HST and a King Kutter middle buster/subsoiler combo ($139 at Tractor Supply Co) that I'm using to dig 12" deep trenches for PVC irrigation pipe in my landscaped areas.

The 2" wide chisel point that comes with the subsoiler is a little too narrow. I prefer a wider trench so I can use my 4" wide trench shovel to clean out the trench. So I bought a $5.00 6"-wide chisel plow sweep from Agri-Supply. The sweep bolts easily onto the subsoiler frame and cuts a nice trench in the soil. The soil is soft due to about 2 months of rain, so the 7510 has no problem pulling this sweep a 12" deep into the ground.

I'm installing 1" dia rigid PVC pipe that has tees included for the sprinkler risers. So I can't use the subsoiler trick that a lot of folks on TBN have employed to drag long pieces of flexible irrigation pipe directly into the trench in one operation.

 

[thcri]

They make 3 point trenchers
I'm sure you could rent one
Honestly, it's pretty cheap to rent a trencher.

What are you trying to do?
I did lawn sprinklers for YEARS.
I'm a guru.

Renting things around here for subcompacts doesn't much exist. I want to sprinkle my lawn. I am sick of dragging hoses around. I want to start out by doing my front lawn and part of the back lawn but I have over an acre to sprinkle plus I want to run a fairly large line down to my garden.

murph

 

[andrewj]

Does anyone know of an attacment you can put on your 3 point to install or trench for lawn irrigation?


murph

yeah, a 120 dollar middlebuster from tractor supply, ADJUSTED CORRECTLY for entry angle, I get trenches 8 to 12 inches with on epass, couple of passes gets deeper.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Does anyone know of an attacment you can put on your 3 point to install or trench for lawn irrigation?


murph

I did that two summers ago. Get your plan together, then rent a walk behind trencher. I planned on two days for about 3/4 of an acre. Picked up the trencher at 7am and was done by 1:30. And that is in soil that is more rock than soil. In MN, you won't have any problems at all. Just have a drawing done to scale, so that you know what you're doing and where. I think my one day trencher rental was around $150. Yes, I might have been able to buy a middle buster for that or not much more, but then I would have had to clean the trench out with a shovel, and I had close to half a mile of trench. The Vermeer I rented dug a perfectly square trench and laid the spoils just at the edge for easy backfilling.

I'm probably going to do the back yard this Spring. Another 1/2 acre, but filled with trees to work around. I might go pulled pipe for this one.

 

[LoneCowboy]

Renting things around here for subcompacts doesn't much exist. I want to sprinkle my lawn. I am sick of dragging hoses around. I want to start out by doing my front lawn and part of the back lawn but I have over an acre to sprinkle plus I want to run a fairly large line down to my garden.

murph

You miss what I'm saying
you can rent a real trencher for not much money, not just an implement
Lots of home owners want to put in sprinkler systems

 

[sandman2234]

That trencher I built was to do just what your doing. Not as good as some, but it was built quite a while back, out of parts I had. There are some improvements suggested in the course of the post.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...oorboys-stump-grinder.html?highlight=poorboys
David from jax

 

[_RaT_]

Does anyone know of an attacment you can put on your 3 point to install or trench for lawn irrigation?


murph

Murph, what do you plan to use for heads? Impacts or rotor? Just be sure to size the pipe correctly. Go to Hunter or Rainbird for the friction/loss tables. Do you irrigate with domestic? Raw water such as ditch water? Impacts handle dirty water much better then rotors or gear driven but gear driven have super coverage and typically less overspray. Lots of little things to think about that can make it work well and last years or leave a lot to be desired. Out here, we irrigate from May to November.

 

[LoneCowboy]

Since this has kinda turned into a irrigation thread.

use real wire for your valves, 80% of expensive irrigation problems are electrical. Direct Bury 14ga real wire. Yes, it's ungodly expensive esp. lately, it's worth every penny.
Use 3M DBY and DBR connectors, (direct burial) again, I've pulled up 20 year old connections that are crystal clear.

Best:
spray heads: Rainbird 1800 series, by far, MPR nozzles
Impacts: Rainbirds, but loud, nobody uses these anymore
Rotors: Hunter I20's, the next step up from the PGP's, cost about $7 more a head, the coverage is fantastic and light years beyond the PGP, also has a 5 year warranty.
Valves: Rainbird.
yes, this is all commercial grade stuff. it's expensive when I have to come fix it in 5 years and it will never work as well as being done right the first time. Put it in right and be done with it. The price of a sprinkler system is 80% labor, who wants to dig that all up again.

Space it all correctly Too close is better than too far.

Trench everything, do not pull pipe, always leads to bent ends. Also, I tend to bury deep, 18 to 24 inches, 24 to 36 inches for mainline. It never gets hit, mucked with, changed, etc. (i've actually aerated thru pipe put down too shallow, that's like 2 inches)

If using poly, use screw clamps only, crimp ons SUCK.

If using PVC, use primer and do a good clean joint and then use Gray glue, it dries slower so you get a better joint. (esp when it's hot out)

Febco backflows are the best, much easier to work on. use a female copper joint to mate to the PVC mainline (copper female to PVC male)

HTH

 

[thcri]

Murph, what do you plan to use for heads? Impacts or rotor? Just be sure to size the pipe correctly. Go to Hunter or Rainbird for the friction/loss tables. Do you irrigate with domestic? Raw water such as ditch water? Impacts handle dirty water much better then rotors or gear driven but gear driven have super coverage and typically less overspray. Lots of little things to think about that can make it work well and last years or leave a lot to be desired. Out here, we irrigate from May to November.

Rat,

I have not gotten that far yet. I plan on going to rainbird or hunter to get information. I know their web pages have the programs to determine how to lay everything out. I was just going to get going on the trencher as that can be done in the winter.

murph

 

[_RaT_]

Rat,

I have not gotten that far yet. I plan on going to rainbird or hunter to get information. I know their web pages have the programs to determine how to lay everything out. I was just going to get going on the trencher as that can be done in the winter.

murph

Sounds good....

 

[LoneCowboy]

not really
once you trench, you really want to get the pipe in within a day or two
It fills in, the trench wall collapses, you have a liability issue (open trench)
You'll end up digging way more out as the walls collapse.

Trench, build the lines, back fill.
A good crew can do about 3 commercial sized laterals a day (about 6 big zones, maybe a whole small house if you are working quick)
ON a house I like to do the mainline one day, and the laterals in the next day or two.

Never trench much more than you need in that day, you'll end up cleaning it out.

 

[_RaT_]

not really
once you trench, you really want to get the pipe in within a day or two
It fills in, the trench wall collapses, you have a liability issue (open trench)
You'll end up digging way more out as the walls collapse.

Trench, build the lines, back fill.
A good crew can do about 3 commercial sized laterals a day (about 6 big zones, maybe a whole small house if you are working quick)
ON a house I like to do the mainline one day, and the laterals in the next day or two.

Never trench much more than you need in that day, you'll end up cleaning it out.

I think Murph has all that figured out. He'll be OK.