How is the automatic watering of the lawn arranged and how to install it?

In a country mansion, a private house and even on a summer cottage intended exclusively for relaxing with family or friends, green lawns have become an indispensable attribute of a decorative design concept, a fashionable design trend. For the owner of the land property, it is also a visual demonstration of well-groomed, caring attitude to the appearance, a pleasant addition to buildings and trees.

Sowing grass on a lawn surface is now not particularly difficult. If you have small allocated funds, you can not even engage in planting a grass mixture, but import ready-made canvases with grown grass. The challenge is not sowing the turf or maintaining an even layer, but getting enough water to keep the turf provided with enough water.

This problem needs to be taken care of in advance, even at the stage of preparation of the allocated area. Automatic irrigation is provided by laying pipes and simulating irrigation by natural precipitation. It is not cheap, but it costs less if done before the lawn is planted.

The drip system of automatic lawn irrigation is much easier to implement, although some people believe that the effect of the sprinkler is more significant, and the grass turns out to be greener and thicker.

Arrangement of any type requires the purchase of the necessary equipment, and even the most budgetary one pours into a lump sum. Wealthy people prefer to entrust the installation of the system to professionals. But if the landowner has certain skills and free time, he can independently take up the installation of the system and save a little, giving free rein to his creativity.

Both types of irrigation systems have disadvantages and advantages. They determine the choice made in favor of a sprinkler or drip irrigation system. The optimal result is obtained only by observing certain conditions and time of day (taking into account the season and air temperature). For the system to work correctly, additional components are needed - those who complain about poor performance usually do not take into account all the recommendations or save on their purchase.

It is carried out using sprinklers (sprinklers) or sprinklers. Manufacturers and developers offer consumers variable devices based on different principles of action, aimed at covering a certain area, lawn of unusual configuration, large, medium or small.

• Static droplets have a fixed direction and angle - this is convenient for a small lawn located in the sun. Although they are successfully applied on the edges of the lawn or along fences, green grass paths.

• Rotary ones are powered by an internal turbine and provide jet spray. The impulse has a built-in ratchet mechanism that rotates the stream of water. Both rotary and ratchet ones are convenient on round or square lawns, with their help uniform, step-by-step irrigation of the entire sown area is ensured.

• Oscillating designed for rectangular areas up to 16x30 meters.

This is only the widest differentiation based on the principle of taking into account the shape of the irrigated surface.

It is possible to saturate all areas with moisture, even problematic ones, by using sprinklers of different radii with individual pressure regulators. Arrangement schemes are used variable, since the sprinkler system operates from a water source and a pump, and the device is determined not only by the pressure, but also by the area of ​​the site and the required degree of irrigation.

It is used not only to obtain even and green grass, the main area of ​​application is summer cottages, where the composition of the planted plants is diverse, and there should be no excess or shortage of water. The simplicity of the device does not mean that careful design is not required - it is carried out taking into account the relief originality, location and type of the central source of water supply, climatic features of the area.

The water supply level can be adjusted according to the season, weather (heat or heavy rainfall). The safety and duration of operation depend on the materials from which the conductive system is made. If electronics and timers are used, successful watering ensures the quality of the installation and the commissioning process.

The components of the system depend on the subject of preference, although some of them are found in one and another type. In the drip system, the following equipment is certainly present:

• spray attachments and connecting pipes;
• a source of centralized or general water supply and a compressor;
• the set must include a filtering device that protects the sprayers from clogging;
• valves that activate the system and shut off if necessary, safety valves that protect against surges.

Much depends on whether you are using static, rotary, impulse, or combination sprinklers.

With a large lawn area, a professional system is installed, its equipment requires stage-by-stage and variable complexity of work, taking into account all aspects of the choice when buying.

First, a diagram is drawn up, which takes into account the main source of water: well, artesian well or central water supply, the power and throughput of the pumping station is determined. The device must be designed for the required amount of irrigation, and therefore the area of ​​the lawn during the period of greatest demand. Its location should also be taken into account - in the shade or in the sun.

Automation, alternately starting the selected groups, can reduce both the pump power and the flow of water coming from the water supply. Even the determination of the diameter of each pipe must be based on calculations. Accessories will be added if the lawn is located on freezing soil - a drainage well and a drain valve for winter storage will be required. The purchased system comes with detailed instructions. Self-arrangement implies the possibility of using nozzles, fittings and pipes for a pipeline made of HDPE plastic, rubber, and even simple irrigation hoses.

With your own hands, without much financial and time costs, calculations and difficulties, you can make a small system for drip irrigation in the country. The most primitive and simple method is to connect several hoses to water barrels, tanks or even old bathtubs.One end communicates with the reservoir, the other is located on the lawn or garden beds.

Installation of a more technological type will require the definition of irrigation lines, adapter, plug and filter (without it, you will have to constantly clean up clogged sprinklers).

The step-by-step instruction for the automatic system makes it possible to choose the best option - large-sized with a large lawn area, multifunctional, smart and rational.

1. The principle on which the irrigation system works is the same - it is important to calculate how much pressure is required for supply, to provide a reservoir where water will flow for accumulation.
2. The correct calculation will allow you to avoid excessive and insufficient irrigation, excessive consumption of water resources. The safety valve is needed to avoid pressure drops for any of the possible reasons.
3. Before making purchases, and even more so starting the installation of a sprinkler system, calculate the maximum and optimal throughput of each branch, the required diameter of the pipes - the main, supply, in the branches.
4. Then they decide how many sprinklers to use, what type of sprinkler will be ideal for a particular area (for this, the area and radius of action are taken into account).
5. After marking the lawn (with paint or pegs with twine), neat trenches are dug for pipes, which it is important to correctly assemble and certainly equip each of the branches made with a drainage device.
6. Automation is the hardest part of the build. For solenoid valves, special protective boxes are required, and installation near the pump, in a place where their maintenance will not be inconvenient.
7. Even a simple connection of pipelines to a manifold assembly can create certain difficulties for an inexperienced builder. Before attaching the sprinkler, you need to check the operation of each segment, investigate whether there is the necessary tightness.

Most sources, even those telling about the independent equipment of an automatic irrigation system, recommend using the services of specialists to carry out test commissioning, to correctly configure electronic or automatic mechanisms.

After everything has been checked and the sprinklers are installed, another check is carried out. - this time to determine if the spraying is being carried out correctly.

A simple system for a small area will provide minimal difficulties in maintenance and troubleshooting. The smarter the automatic device, the more potential problems. The owners are trying to use a significant number of technological devices: sensors for wind, rain, soil moisture, sometimes even a whole weather station. Here the well-known rule begins to work - the more components there are in the mechanism, the more likely a breakdown is.

In simple devices with a tank and hoses, there can also be a blockage or a hose rupture, but this can be easily dealt with with your own hands. Breakdown of an electronic circuit, an important relay, a breakdown of sealing - no one is immune from this, even when buying an expensive system from a trusted manufacturer. So you need to carry out periodic preventive maintenance, inviting a specialist to check and inspect.

How to install automatic irrigation, see below.