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Heads at driveway-roadside corner

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WalkGood

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Everyone see heads along a driveway get squashed, especially when there is no block or curb to define the different height levels of grass and driveway.

Worse spot I see is the corner of the grass where the driveway meets the road. Often heads are squashed more than 4 inches below the sod surface, bad drivers anytime or during the winter months when snow/slush hides the edge and the ground is mushy. Or the threads on the bottom of the head are driven/snapped into the head body.

Around here many driveways have no block along the edge. And the area where the driveway meets the road, the entrance is not square. Often splayed wide the last 3 feet or so, a fake apron. Again, no curbs delineate the grass area from the road. Heads get run over often. Or the snowplows scrape the lawn edges, taking out some heads

Yeah, more service work for all.

But what if it is your own yard or someone wants you to specifically solve that problem. By not using curbs or blocks at the driveway edges.

Somewhere here recently someone mentioned putting 6" round heavy duty PVC pipe around the heads. Like a turret. Won't stop a snow plow. Someone else mentioned "throwing the water into the corner" from 2 angles.

So, what do you do for this?
 
#2 ·
In areas that this is prone to happen, I usually just use a half concrete block buried with the rotor positioned inside of it and sitting just lower than the top of the block. Once the grass fills in, it's not something that you would notice.
 
#3 ·
WalkGood said:
Somewhere here recently someone mentioned putting 6" round heavy duty PVC pipe around the heads. Like a turret. ?
Click to expand...
I am the "somewhere here recently someone". Our ABS sleeves work well,
notched at the bottom for impact & pea gravel liner. Spot the sleeve & head
a little lower than grade & use a 6" for turf & 12" hi-pop for plantings. Blasting into corners will be discussed at the annual forum meeting Wet
Boots sponsors every winter in Cabo.:)
 
#5 ·
Cabo? More like at the Howard Johnson's restaurant in Lake Placid. One thing that made throwing water into corners a bit easier was the old adjustable-trajectory Safe-T-Lawn heads. Kind of nice when you can restrict the overthrow to just a foot or two.
 
#6 ·
we tried some hunter 6 ft vans for a small tight area....this is on a well pushing 25 GPM....

im still not impressed..aslo not impressed with the toro 570 6 Q nozzles...

I hate tight areas!!!landscrapers should make it easy for us irritators...
Anyone ever mixed micro sprays with full sprays???
Just a question!

::prepares for a bombardment about precip rates::
 
#8 ·
CAPT Stream Rotar said:
we tried some hunter 6 ft vans for a small tight area....this is on a well pushing 25 GPM....

im still not impressed..aslo not impressed with the toro 570 6 Q nozzles...

I hate tight areas!!!landscrapers should make it easy for us irritators...
Anyone ever mixed micro sprays with full sprays???
Just a question!

::prepares for a bombardment about precip rates::
Click to expand...
Yes-I've mixed the Hunter micros with fulls. wasn't happy about it but nothing else was working and these did.
 
#10 ·
Mike Leary said:
I am the "somewhere here recently someone". Our ABS sleeves work well, notched at the bottom for impact & pea gravel liner. Spot the sleeve & head a little lower than grade...
Click to expand...
Peter is planning a pre-emptive strike in the Pungent Sound area that will consist of special ops irrigators sneaking in under cover of darkness and glueing caps on your ABS. Then when the local defenders are out taking care of the problem the main forces will just waltz right in on the local adult brew shop and set up house. :) :laugh:
 
#12 ·
WalkGood said:
Seriously, what is wrong with having 2 rotary heads on each "leg" of a corner spraying water in a 180* half circle, with both spraying into the corner area?
Click to expand...
The way a sprinkler throws water, regardless what any manufacturer tries to tell you, is that more water is put down by the head and then progressively lessens over the radius until the last drops of the sprinkler's reach is usually known as "trace amounts". This is verified by any manufacturer's precipitation curve (actually a triangle) on any given sprinkler head they make.

The idea of head-to-head coverage starts with this principle so that each sprinkler is dependent on the sprinkler(s) next to it, each zone is dependent on the zone(s) next to it and each system (unless a totally confined system) is dependent on the system(s) next to it. When you combine the water from all neighboring sprinklers that water a particular area then the precipitation triangle becomes a rectangle where theoretically all area within the boundaries is getting matched precipitation.

All zone designs start with the corners because under most circumstances a sprinkler head is required there. Head placement can be fudged a little but too big of a gap creates problems. In the case of the problematic driveway corner you'll sacrifice precipitation for a bit of greenery and heads not being in the line of fire. The further you move the heads from the corner the less precipitation you will have in that corner until you reach a point that grass die-out will conform to the line created by enough precipitation to sustain growth, usually in a rounded or scalloped fashion. Heads spaced too far apart also subject the area to greater problems from prevailing wind which can make coverage spotty at best. Put the heads closer to the corner and you'll have more precipitation but you will also be watering the street and driveway.

Your choice and mileage will vary. :)
 
#13 ·
If you're not drinking the 'Head-to-Head Koolaid' then you can do just fine tossing water into corners. The practice works better with low spray angles and larger water droplets, so the sprinklers used will make a difference. The original example of a driveway entrance is where the technique makes the most sense, especially when a rounded corner and masonry lamp bases make it impossible for a head to endure snowplows, and to have anything much to water, if the lamp base (or other decorative obstacle) is close enough to block most of a corner head's spray.
 
#15 ·
One thing that occurs to me, is that overspraying and general water sloppiness was a lot more acceptable to customers when the sprinkler heads were impacts. Probably because they rotated quicker, and didn't spend several seconds overthrowing in one particular spot.
 
#17 ·
I think it's human nature. An impact by the street, on a corner, would have to toss a lot of water onto the pavement, in order for all of the grass next to the curb to get the watering needed. Replace the impact with a gear drive, and the same once-acceptable overthrow is suddenly objectionable.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
I'm just trying to learn here, so please keep that in mind. :)

PurpHaze said:
The way a sprinkler throws water, regardless what any manufacturer tries to tell you, is that more water is put down by the head and then progressively lessens over the radius until the last drops of the sprinkler's reach is usually known as "trace amounts". This is verified by any manufacturer's precipitation curve (actually a triangle) on any given sprinkler head they make.
Click to expand...
Many times I see a rotary head (like a Hunter PGP) where MORE water is put down at it's furthest throw (not the last trace drops, but just before) than right near the head. I see a brown area starting 10 inches from the head then radiating outward til it greens up at the long throw. Maybe because the original installer didn't turn down the nozzle hex screw any if at all.

PurpHaze said:
The idea of head-to-head coverage starts with this principle so that each sprinkler is dependent on the sprinkler(s) next to it, each zone is dependent on the zone(s) next to it and each system (unless a totally confined system) is dependent on the system(s) next to it. When you combine the water from all neighboring sprinklers that water a particular area then the precipitation triangle becomes a rectangle where theoretically all area within the boundaries is getting matched precipitation.
Click to expand...
I was thinking (maybe mistakenly) that head to head meant the water spray limit of a head actually sprays on the one next to it???
 
#19 ·
WalkGood said:
I'm just trying to learn here, so please keep that in mind. :)
Click to expand...
I never take a serious question lightly and you're asking some good ones. :)

Many times I see a rotary head (like a Hunter PGP) where MORE water is put down at it's furthest throw (not the last trace drops, but just before) than right near the head. I see a brown area starting 10 inches from the head then radiating outward til it greens up at the long throw. Maybe because the original installer didn't turn down the nozzle hex screw any if at all.
Click to expand...
There could be many factors involved including the actual sprinkler design. Could be why Hunter has come up with different nozzles now for the PGP. However, having seen the precipitation charts of various manufacturer's sprinklers/nozzles and then actually getting to see the testing facilities and actual tests being run on different sprinklers/nozzles I can only assume that it might be an optical illusion in some cases as to what we see and what is actually occurring.

Sure, in the test rooms there is absolutely no air movement and the entire floor/bench area is wet giving the illusion of plenty of water throughout the head's radius. But to watch the actual water droplets get caught in catch vessels and register on a computer screen is a whole new experience.

I do know that Hunter has stated it's redesigned its spray nozzles a bit to allow for more water along the edges because (1) contractors would like to push the spacings a little beyond beyond head-to-head and (2) to allow installers to push the heads further off sidewalks/buildings without losing this edge too much.

I was thinking (maybe mistakenly) that head to head meant the water spray limit of a head actually sprays on the one next to it???
Click to expand...
That's the basics. But some forget that this means all sprinkler heads in a given area. They'll often make some spacings HTH and then push other spacings further out which can, in some cases depending a lot on prevailing wind direction/strength, really create problem areas in a zone or system.
 
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