Lawn Sprinkler System Cost

[Skipholiday]

I'm not sure if your on a sewer system or have a septic tank.

If you use city sewage you may need to look into getting an additional water meter.
An irrigation meter will not have the sewage cost added.
An additional 1 inch meter in my county runs $415.

 

[Bird]

We have city sewage alright and our garbage pickup is also included in our water bill. The garbage collection is actually done by Waste Management; once a week pickup (Monday on this side of town and they show up even on holidays, including Christmas) for $9.28 a month plus $.77 sales tax on the water bill. The water bill also has a $4 a month charge for "drainage". Then the city looks at your water usage in Nov., Dec., Jan., and Feb., discards the highest month, averages the other 3, and that's what the sewage charge is based on for the next 12 months. Mine is $26.82 a month. Those charges stay the same all year; the change is only in the amount of water used. So, I don't think I'd need another meter, although I'd have some questions for the city water department before I started buying any equipment.

 

[J_J]

I really feel like it would be too expensive, but I sure would like to have a sprinkler system instead of moving these garden hoses and sprinklers around. I know I need to contact some of the people in the business and get some estimates, but naturally, I don't know anyone in the business so I don't know which those listed in the yellow pages are better than others, or why. Anyone want to take a guess at what a decent sprinkler system might cost for a 70' x 130' residential lot with a 1295 sq. ft. house, plus attached 2 car garage, a 12' x 22' breezeway and a 22' x 26' shop attached and under the same roof as the house, plus an 8' x 12' garden tool storage shed. Of course a water line will have to go under a double wide concrete driveway.

I have put in a few systems myself, and the average cost would be around $1800.00 if someone does it for you. If you and some friends do the work , you can cut that price in half. PVC is real easy to work with, You can rent the trenchers from many places. It is best to stay with non-digital timers, lightning burns them up quite often. Some people will build a manifold with 4 or 5 valves and install up close to the house, and others will spread the valve boxes all over the yard. It is just a matter of more wire to lay, or more pipe. Some installers dig trenches all over the yard, and others will use a machine that vibrates a cutter and pulls pipe and or wire through the ground with very little disruption to the yard. Time involved could be as little as a day, or a couple of days. Double check on the warranty if someone installs the system for you. Some people use city water, and others will use a dedicated pump and well system. I use two pumps on a single well, the house pump has a large water tank, and cycles on only after you have used the draw down water. The sprinkler pump has a very small tank, The sprinkler system is designed to maintain pressure, and stay running as long as the sprinkler system is on. You could put the sprinkler system pump on another well if you had two, but mine works fine on one well.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I'm sure you'll get into details as you delve into it a little more, but here's a tip from my experience putting in a sprinkler system...

Use flexible risers or "funny pipe" to connect the head to the main. I spent half of the first summer replacing risers that I'd break off in one way or another.

 

[Bird]

Flexible risers? That's a new one to me, too; never heard of anyone doing that. I've got a lot of learning to do, but I guess I've got time because I'm sure not going to try to install a system until the weather cools off.

 

[Skipholiday]

Flexible risers? That's a new one to me, too; never heard of anyone doing that. I've got a lot of learning to do, but I guess I've got time because I'm sure not going to try to install a system until the weather cools off.

Yes thats correct. You will need to use a barbed ell fitting on the end of the pvc and another on the bottom of your heads.
The funny pipe or flex pipe connects to the barbed ells. And makes it where the head isn't mounted rigid.
This is a must. When the heads are buried if you drive over them with your mower or whatever they will give instead of snapping the pvc.

 

[Bird]

It's been 25 years of so since I helped install a system, but I have a brother who helped his son design and install one. They used Rainbird stuff from Home Depot he says. He'll be back down south in another month or so for the winter, so maybe we'll get it done. I've got something else to learn this next week. When I first bought this place, I noticed an extra valve in the water meter box, and don't know what it's for. I thought maybe that might be a place to connect for a sprinkler, but it's in the wrong place, and yesterday I tried opening and closing it for the first time and nothing happened. You can see the meter in the attached photo, the shut off valve just before the meter it partially under the transmitter that sends the meter reading, and then there's the other valve that I guess I'm going to have to ask the water department about.

My brother said they also went with "impact" heads instead of gear drive and I have no idea what the difference is, or why one is better than another.

 

[Skipholiday]

My brother said they also went with "impact" heads instead of gear drive and I have no idea what the difference is, or why one is better than another.

I think he may have it backwards. Most ppl use the gear drive head now.
Impact heads popped up out of a bowl and they are/were terrible about collecting trash in the bowl that eventually made them malfunction.

I must say that I really liked the way impacts performed and sounded while operating better than any other.

Gear drive heads aren't real impressive to watch but they do irrigate well and they are self cleaning.

Bird I'm clueless what that other shutoff is for. It kind of looks like it went to another meter at one time. Is it capped off?

 

[Bird]

Skip, when I decided to open that extra valve (and it's not capped), the whole thing turned a little bit counterclockwise before it opened. It may just be a spare part stuck in the dirt. But I just decided to wait until I talk to our water department before messing with it anymore.

 

[BTDT]

Bird, you may be going about this all wrong. Maybe it's time for the Oak Hill drive North Texas TBN get together. Put some meat on the smoker, bake some of your home made bread and put out the notice. Then, when everyone shows up, put them to work. Shouldn't take long.