Sprinklers! (Part 2)

I realized I hadn’t posted the above photo before on the blog yet and today seemed like a rather appropriate day to do so.  The sign comes from my Grandfather Bennett’s (nick-named “Benny”) garage.  A couple year back us Grandkids were given an option to have any one thing of their grandparent’s that they just really desired.  It was, of course, a time in which everyone was saying something along the lines of “well, if no one else really wants this then….” For me, the sign in the garage was definitely what I desired.

My grandpa was well known to us for making stuff out of junk.  He’d take old pipes and such and make the most amazing things (Like a playground for us grandkids).  Anyway, I felt it would be rather appropriate to tag this projects I do with the above photo since I inherited a lot of his “I can build that” attitude.

So, yesterday saw phase 3 of the project (with phase 1 being the research, planning, and presentation for approval, and phase 2 being the last post about tapping into the water line).  I called up a local (and free) business that came out and marked all the lines that were in my yard (electricity, phone, cable, etc).  With the lines properly marked, I laid out my parts and went over my plans one last time to make sure I had everything.  Here’s a picture of the parts I’m using (minus the parts I used in part 1, and 620 Ft of PVC pipe)

Convinced that I had all the connectors, couplers, glue, and controllers I needed, it was time to head out to Home Depot and rent a machine I affectionately refer to as “The Beast”

This thing took three full-grown men to lift it into the back of my dad’s truck.  My neighbor, Mr. Stroope,  and I managed to impair its decent just enough to not destroy the driveway getting it out of the truck.  It is a wonderful machine though.  Rather than having to dig every last inch of trench myself (a nightmarish task), “The Beast” would dig a perfect, 2-inch wide, variable depth trench with the dirt laid up in a pretty little line right next to it.  It was, however, a beast to pull (because you couldn’t push it, you had to pull it) and I was quiet worn out by the time I had dug all my trenches.

I had hoped to get the whole project completed in one day, and at first focused on digging the trench for one zone than laying out the piping for the zone.  I realized after the first zone was complete, however, that I was really needed to focus on getting the trenches dug completely so I wouldn’t have to worry about renting “The Beast” a second day.  Mr. Stroope was very impressed with the machine and I personally think he’ll invent some reason in the near future to let him rent and play with it himself in the near future.

At the end of the day, I had accomplished the following on the sprinkler project

1) Attached the sprinkler system to the water supply

2) Dug the trenches for all the zones

3) Laid out the pipe for half the zones.

Here’s some photos of my very own Maginot line.

Side Yard (Zone 1 and Water Supply)

Back Yard (Zone 2)

Back Yard (Most of Zone 3)

Front Yard (Zone 4)

My Anti-siphon Valves that Control the Zones

Though this project has been largely “McCormick’s Law” free, I have encountered two problems.  The first is all the Cable/Phone lines that cut straight through my backyard.  The solution is simple in theory.  You simply buy an attachment for going under sidewalks glue it onto a length of PVC pipe, hook it onto a water hose, and let the water pressure burrow your way to success.  There are two problems with it though.  The first is it has a tendency to go… askew.  Primarily, that means down, but it also means left or right.  In one of the burrows I did, I went down by about… 4 inches and too far left by 2 inches.  It may sound like nothing, but it really adds up in a project like this, especially when you have no true method of finding the errant other than blindly digging.  The other was hitting rocks, water pressure just won’t cut through rocks as quickly as I need it to.  The second issue I encountered was this:

Don’t see the issue, let’s zoom in a little.

That funny little black thing is a TV cable.  One of two cables right next to each other that Time Warner failed to mark for me.  It specifically leads to my internet.  I’ll call them up tomorrow and have them come fix it after I lay my pipe there.  Since they failed to mark it, I’m not liable for it’s destruction, fortunately.  Also fortunately, I was able to hook up to a non-damaged outlet and keep internet in the house! 

Total time of the project so far (times include mid-projects trips to Lowes/Home Depot to get missing items):

Thursday: 4 Hours to cut through old pipe and solder on new pipes)

Saturday: 12 Hours

Monday’s Tasks:

1) Finish laying out pipes (Zones 3 and 4).

2) Test system for leaks.

3) Attach Sprinklers

4) Install Controller

5) Cover up trenches

6) Install Rain Detector (might have to be delayed since it gets installed on the roof)

Sprinklers! (Part 2)