Dean Chafee

Conserve Water - 6 Tips For Proper Sprinkler Setup



Posted: Thursday, June 07, 2007

by
HowToFixYourStuff.com

Recently Southern Californians have been asked to reduce water consumption due to an extremely dry season. Surely there are many parts of the world in similar conditions. In order to avoid a potential future drought, action needs to be taken to conserve water. One of the most effective ways to conserve water is to properly setup your sprinkler systems.

Here are 6 tips to proper sprinkler setup:

  • Fix sprinkler heads that overshoot onto the sidewalk or you neighbors driveway. This is usually an easy fix by simply turning the sprinkler head to face the proper direction. You may also need to change the head to the proper shape to avoid over spray.

  • Don't water during heat of the day. The main reason for this is that water will vaporize and evaporate much more in heat.

  • Water in early morning hours. This reduces evaporation and is a healthy time to water for lawn and plants.

  • Reduce runoff by setting timer for two shorter periods. set periods 15 or 20 minutes apart. For example, if you currently water each of your timer zones for 10 minutes, you can reduce runoff by setting a 5 minute time, wait 15 minutes then set another 5 minute time. This allows water penetration into the soil.

  • Turn timer off on a rainy day and leave it off for two or three days after rain or set the "rain delay" feature on timer.

  • Convert some of your spray heads to a bubbler or drip system. In areas where most of the water is hitting bare dirt, a bubbler or drip is a direct hit on the plants that need water.

    • Do your part in water conservation by giving your sprinkler system a tune up.

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    For more Home Improvement tips, please visit my Home Improvement category on HowToFixYourStuff.com.

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    Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)
    » left by Ben Jones
     4 years 205 days ago.
    71 fans.
    Here in Australia we have seen a significant shift in the weather patterns and being the continent with the least amount of rainfall we can certainly vouch for the merits of water conservation. Global warming is a fact and Australia has seen the evidence first hand with 7 years of the worst droughts on recorded history. Our water catchment areas designed to cater for double our current population have been as low as 20% of capacity. With up to 95% of the country under servere drought warnings and farmers leaving the land in droves because they can't make a living it's a grim warning for the rest of the world. This is a good article but it only scratches a very dry surface. People everywhere need to become more aware of how precious water is and how important water conservation is for everyone's future. We are an incredibly wasteful society and use water for convenience and as a luxury item when in actual fact its a necessity of life! We shower with it, we flush our toilets with it, we wash our car, our dog, our dishes and our clothes with it. No I'm not saying go without showers for weeks on end (Brad Pitt!), I'm simply suggesting we should make sure the dish washer is full before we hit "start", that we should reduce our showers, even by a minute each makes a huge difference, that we should install rainwater tanks, use grey water to water our lawns and gardens (building requirements should mean that all new homes are built with these installed) and so on and on. It's only a matter of time before everyone becomes aware of how precious water is, better to conserve it now than the 13th hour, when it's far too late.
    » left by robert melaccio sr
     3 years 302 days ago.
    Yes, very helpful tips especially we who live in low water table area's like Florida and the deep south. Perhaps you could write to the type of heads to use the different components of a system which would be helpful for those looking to install or repair a system? RTM
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