City water pressure

A small centrifugal pump, controlled by the sprinkler system timer should work. You have plenty of NPSH (net positive suction head) to supply the pump. Unless you can find a pump that supplies the correct boost, you will need a control valve or diverter valve.

The alternative is to add more heads. Might be cheaper than the pump/plumbing/relays/wiring/upkeep.

Good luck.

Pumps to serve your purpose are available. you need to contact your local supplier for a quotation.

Alternatives may be

Wait for a period of minimum use when the pressure at your place will be higher. This could be automated by installing a pressure switch to activate the irrigation cycle.

You could also consider replacing the emitters with lower pressure ones. Unfortunately this will require more sprinklers at a closer spacing. The irrigation designers can also assist.

You could also visit www.gwis.co.za and download a demo version and redesign / alter your system to stretch your limited pressure.

I wish I had a local supplier. We are a little remote here in Southern Idaho. I have tried all of the above. Adding more stations and more heads is out of the question as everything is completely landscaped. It took several years to get this weed patch looking the way I wanted it. Now I have to dig it up, no way. I'll gladly pay for the extra power.

Thanks,

to alleviate low pressure problems in parts of the city and to replace old lines. My pressure now has dropped from 55 PSI to 32 PSI

Be careful. They probably "up sized" the pipes, and the next step will be to increase the size (HP) of the pumps. When that happens, you could get over-pressure. That will actually do damage to your piping (and not just the sprinkler system). Whatever you do to fix the low-pressure problem, I would suggest adding a pressure regulator to the system.

I used to be on the bottom end of an 1 1/2 inch line. I was the last one at the bottom of the hill and had to use a pressure reducer. I have removed the pressure reducer to no avail. Now I am in the middle of a ten inch line supplying a large portion of the city. Water pressure to the house is okay. I have a pressure regulator where it comes into the house.

thanks,

Blacksmith,

Down here in Oz, we water later in the evening for two main reasons: -

1) Gives the water time to soak into the soil before the sun gets it.

2) More water available to run impact or self powered sprinklers

Also as an FYI, there are pumps available which can detect insufficient water pressure and only engage when the pressure is low, saving power.

I'll see if I can find a model & make when I get home tonight.

Regards,
Sapper

Thanks for the reply, Here in Southern Idaho we are restricted to watering for four hours in the morning and four hours in the late evening. 0600 to 1000 and 1800 to 2200 hours.Therefore everyone else is watering. Watering at night doesn't help besides that just invites fungus problems as it is cool here at night and the grass and plants don't readily dry out.

Thanks again,

What was the water flow used to irrigate when you have pressure.

Or what are the sprinkle rated flow at your previous pressure.

To avoid future increasing pressure , you can make a small underground tank and take water from it, by a pump . Of course the tank shall have a level closing valve.

have you estimated the total water in gallons per hour you will need during those 4 hours?

With all people watering to that schedule, it is normal for pressure to drop, so no matter how you such, the pumps might not be well enough fed.

It might be feasible to setup a holding tank or a small pool to accumulate water over night and then once your time starts, turn on the pumps and draw from the line and the tank. The tank can be an open tank and not a pressure vessel.

I cheat at my place. I have a tank to store the water in and I pump it from there to anywhere I need it at the pressure I need it.

In the vegetable garden I have a header tank to provide the right flow rate for what ever seasonal vegetables are growing. An old bicycle provides the direct mechanical pumping to fill the header tank if I want to burn some calories rather than just turning the pump on.

The gravity feed is useful on hot days to let a trickle of water onto root systems of plants that would otherwise suffer a setback.

BAB

Do you have pictures?

Hi Blacksmith

I would first contact the supplier of the controller / timer and state the required flow (number and size of emitters) and your shortfall of pressure.

Rain Bird for example should have a pump for you off the shelf.

Feel free to visit www.Gwis.co.za and at least spec the best pump for you.

Beware that more people may install boosters, further increasing the flow and reducing the pressure. You need to have surplus capacity.

A holding tank may help a bit to.

Have you checked the water pressure in the house? Has it changed since the new mains were installed? You may need to adjust the house water pressure. There should be a regulator with back flow preventer near your meter. You can buy a simple pressure gauge at most hardware stores that attaches to your outside faucets or with an adaptor to any faucet in the house. Most houses seem to function best around 60 lbs. any higher than that and you'll notice o rings and washers will wear out faster than normal. But with a sprinkler system on you may need to push the house pressure up a little to compensate. Check the house pressure with & without the sprinkler running and adjust to something you can live with.

Just a thought,you say house pressure is ok,but you lack for irrigation,It could be as simple as crud in a strainer,and or in your sprinker heads,Often wen work is done on water mains,built up dirt breaks free and get into things,Most likely you have checked,but just a thought,much cheaper fix.

Yup, checked it all. Even replaced all nozzles with lower pressure nozzles. It helped some to rotate but the coverage is bad. I wish I could have been here when they hooked me up to the new system. I was deployed with the Air Force at that time. Any dirt in the system would have been flushed out during the winter as a hydrant close to the meter was used all winter to water horses.

Don't understand something. Where are you measuring the pressures (i.e. 55 and 32 psig) That seems to be a very large decay in pressure when the sprinklers are running, indicating the line supplying the system is either too small, or obstructed with something. It IS possible construction debris (a piece of gravel or concrete) has lodged in the supply line.

Blacksmith,

You've gotten lots of feedback and discussion about the issue, but in regard to your initial question, booster pumps for irrigation are pretty common. It's a bit harder to buy off the internet, since you can't see them or talk to a knowledgeable salesman (easily), but with some research and maybe a couple of Emails, you should be able to pick something that will meet your needs. You'll likely get a better price online too. Here's a Google that had lots of hits:

Sprinkler Booster Pump

Hope that helps,

Tom

Adding a centrifugal pump is the easy way to go. I the city mains won't supply enough water for it add a tank in front of it or only feeds as many legs of the system as will supply and rotate them. You will probably need a controller to mange that.

If you live in county with thunder storms make sure the controls are properly installed or every near by lighting strike may fry it. Unless properly isolated and grounded the wiring acts as transformer that converts the magnetic field from the lighting into high voltage and the irrigation system as ground and your controller can act as fuse between the two. That's not what you want.

If your local climate grass and plants will allow it the fellow from Oz is right about watering at night. It can save up 30 or 40% of the lost to evaporation on a windy day and get a more even pattern. As the fellow form Grant's Pass noted it does cause mildew and fungus problems on some plants. If you are new to night watering check closely for problems the first few times you try it and after you water on humid days.

Go back a talk to the people that installed it for ideas and talk to your County Extension Agent and the State Extension people , I think your in Idaho. http://www.extension.uidaho.edu/find.asp If I am wrong a Google search for:

yourstate county extension agents

seems to work in every state I tried. If not, this always seems to work.

"yourstate state" agricultural extension services

Even for New York that was covered in noise from other services. You will want horticulture or landscaping in most states but the expertise is decentralized and made up of people in many areas with different skills so don't be surprised if you end up talking to some one In Agronomy, Ag Engineering, Landscaping or what ever. If your state can't help with your specific problem a near by state might. If you feel you are running into a dead end say so and ask where you might get help. An example is here in Oklahoma we don't have much experience yet with drip Irrigation but the Lubbock Experiment Station at Texas A & M has a great deal and they don't mind sharing with people out of state as part of their mission is to bring modern technology to people and they are having problems finding a receptive audience.

Remember this is summer and they will be out in the field, at meetings and on vacation. So it may take a few day to find the people you need.

In the mean time get out the hose.

gc

It just has to be the cities fault. Or at least their problem to fix. You had normal pressure and after the upgrade you had lower pressure, and the city did an overhaul to fix the complaint from others about lower pressure? What's wrong with this story?

Had this problem at a business I had, some of my pipes were plugged with mud after the story you have just told. They had to fix it. Don't take NO for an answer.

Could be something (a partial blockage) that only lowers the pressure when you have high flows in the sprinkler sysem that may not occur with the flows in the house......

the sarcsm is free.......

Hi The wrench , a good tip.

I did not realize it could be so.

But it happens often.

Maybe a cogled filter at the meter

Are you absolutely sure that you don't have a clogged screen in the PRV? Whe you first open a valve does the water start out with high pressure and then slow down quickly? I have seen this happen to many PRV's after the city has worked on the lines.

Morn: Mr. Blacksmith - in regards to your problem, my sister lives in Boise, near the airport and recently had her water lines to her home "replaced" by the city water company. In their infinite wisdom, the city failed to clean the lines before hooking up to the residences. Therefore, the lines from the city to the home and irrigation were filled with crap. Probably all you need to do is flush the lines from you home and irrigation back to the source. I cleaned hers in about two hours using my air compressor and small hose, unclogging filters. I cannot guarantee that it will not return, but the city said it would cost too much to notify the people on the line of what they were going to do, so guess what. A plumbing company wanted $400 to replace her lines when all they needed was a good cleanout. No special pump required. See if that doesn't work before going to the expense and trouble of installing a booster pump.

If all else fails, you might have to divide the sprinkler system into smaller zones, each controlled by a valve. How about an accumulator, the type with the pressurized rubber bladder inside.

Hello,

Suggest contact Rain for Rent, they will have the best advantage for your situation

600 West 134 South Hwy 27
Paul, ID 83347
Phone: 208-438-5065
FAX: 208-438-5570

Checking for blockages has been suggested by others and is a good first step.

Next would be to install a tank and booster.

If you can isolate the irrigation system from the rest of the house, it may also be feasible to connect the house gutters to your tank, reducing the need to draw from the city supply.

Depending on your climate and local pollution sources it is often not a good idea to connect rainwater directly to the house and Local Authorities (capitalized to reflect their sense of their own importance plus their ability to be a nuisance and an obstacle to sensible solutions) sometimes get a little touchy about use of rainwater tanks. They usually are happy to have it used for irrigation.

In addition, some areas of the garden may be able to use grey water to further reduce your dependence on supply water.