Last week we shared all about how to plan for installing your own sprinklers. We left off with mapping your sprinkler system. Planning is a VERY important step if you are going to be installing sprinklers, so don’t skip it.
If you missed last week’s post, go check it out first before finishing this one about how to install sprinklers, definitely go back and check it out.
Last week we talked about:
- why you should install an in-ground sprinkler system vs an above-ground one
- what a zone is
- how to figure out your home’s PSI and GPM
- how to map your irrigation system and zones.
Today, we’re moving on to the 2nd part of this series and talking all about the actual installation of sprinklers and sharing more details on the sprinkler manifold. This is your guide on how to install sprinklers. Let’s jump right in!
This How To Install Sprinklers post contains affiliate links, but nothing that I wouldn’t wholeheartedly recommend anyway! Read my full disclosure here.
How to install sprinklers
Step 1. Buy your supplies
Here’s a basic list of the major items that you’ll need to install sprinklers.
- Timer & Sprinkler Wire – The sprinkler wire powers the control of the system and the timer. Once you figure out the number of zones you need, you will buy a timer and the correct amount of sprinkler wire to meet those specific needs. Not sure how to figure out the number of zones you need?… head on back to Part 1 in this series to figure it out.
- Pro Tip – Don’t buy a cheap timer, spend your money on a good timer. Be sure it has the ability to apply a watering schedule, different zone settings, odd vs even days, rainy days, etc.
- Sprinkler Valve – This turns the water on and off. You’ll need one sprinkler valve per zone you have on your lawn.
- Manifold – You can buy premade manifolds or make your own (we’ll talk more about that later).
- Tubing – You can use either flexible tubing or PVC tubing. We opted for Schedule 40 PVC.
- Swing Pipe – This is to connect the sprinkler heads to your tubing.
- Backflow Preventer – Remember last week when I said you need to check with your city to check for rules and regulations? One thing that our city required was a blackflow preventer, which prevents irrigation water from flowing back into your house’s drinking water supply.
- Sprinkler Heads – Refer back to Part 1 if you need help figuring out what kind & how many sprinkler heads you need.
Step 2. Build A Sprinkler Valve Manifold
First of all, let’s go back to the basics here.
What is a valve manifold for sprinkler system?
A valve manifold for a sprinkler system is where the water supply is divided into the zones (each attached to its own valve) that your sprinkler system will have, so each zone runs independently. The manifold box is also where you install valves to put on a sprinkler timer.
What does each part do?
- The sprinkler valve turns the water on and off. You’ll need one sprinkler valve per zone you have on your lawn. We had 4.
- The manifold is where the water from the main supply line gets diverted to separate zones using sprinkler valves.
A valve manifold will usually have a water supply coming in and a few branches where valves are attached. As you’ll see in the picture below we decided to add unions on both sides of the valve to make replacing the valves easier if they break.
Why should you make a DIY own sprinkler manifold?
For some silly reason that we cannot begin to understand, the major manufacturers of the valves do not put unions (which is a twist-off) on both sides of the valve manifolds.
This means that if your valves break later down the road, you will not be able to remove them easily to replace them.
Let’s just assume Murphy’s law here…your valves will break eventually sooner or later. You will have to cut pipe later and it is not going to be easy to replace your valves if you don’t have unions easily replace the valves.
Here’s a picture of the manifold Logan built. This was right after we put it in, so after this, you’d want to wash it all off and put a gravel bed there for drainage. I labeled where the unions are.
step 3. Dig trenches for sprinkler lines.
Digging is, obviously, the most time-consuming part of the whole sprinkler install. To make things a little easier for yourselves, you can also rent a trencher (aka ditch witch).
We, unfortunately, couldn’t do this because we have a septic system in our backyard and we were worried about ruining any septic pipes.
We also have a lot of lava rocks in the soil of Central Oregon and our backyard had a lot of debris in the soil, so we didn’t want to ruin a machine that was rented.
So it was digging…
…and digging…
…and digging…
How deep should you bury sprinkler lines?
This is a very good question if you are learning how to install sprinklers.
We chose to bury our sprinklers about 8 inches down. We will need to winterize our sprinkler system every winter.
Depending on where you live, you may be able to avoid having to winterize if you bury the lines below the freezing line in your area. The freezing line in Bend is over 2 feet, so there’s no way we were going to do all the digging 2 feet down! We already had enough digging on our hands.
Step 4. Set your irrigation wire
Refer back to your irrigation plan (check out Part 1 if you need help planning) to see where your timer will be. You will need to run the sprinkler wire from the valve box to the timer.
If you can plan your digging right, you may be lucky to run the wire for your timer in some of the same trenches as the pipes. Be sure that you are placing the wire underneath the sprinkler tubing though, so you don’t ruin the wire.
Pro Tip: Put the wire in its own PVC pipe. This way it will be protected when you’re digging later. If anything does ever happen (like a broken wire), you will be able to pull a new wire through the PVC to the timer.
Step 5. Lay out & glue your pipes
Once your digging is done, it’s important to lay out all of your pipes near the trenches and start gluing! You definitely want to apply the glue heavily. Buy more than you think you will need!
Here’s a quick video that does a great job showing you how to glue PVC pipe & fittings.
Step 6. Place your sprinklers
While you are working on installing your sprinklers, it’s great to use flags to map out where the sprinklers belong. You will then use swing pipe to connect the PVC pipe with the sprinkler head.
Your PVC should be within 2 feet of the sprinkler head. Once you’re done laying in the pipe and the sprinklers heads, don’t backfill all of the dirt in your trenches quite yet. Just put enough to secure the sprinkler heads.
Step 7. Clean sprinklers & check for leaks
To clean your sprinklers, you need:
- Pull the popup sprinkler up manually
- Thread off sprinkler tips
- Go to the supply and turn on the water (but not full blast)
- Let it run a couple of minutes while you check everything. Make sure that every sprinkler head has water coming out. Check all tubing for any leaks. This also clears out any dirt or glue from your tubing and heads.
Before you start backfilling the sprinkler trenches, set and test your timer as well.
Step 8. Backfill trenches
If you don’t have any leaks, you’re good to go! Go ahead and put your sprinkler tips back on and backfill all of your trenches.
Can you install your own sprinklers?
Well, you’re at the tail end of my little series on how to install sprinklers and you may be asking yourself this question. Can we really do this? The answer is yes. Yes, you can DIY your sprinklers. There are SO many resources out there for you to learn how to install sprinklers. You can educate yourself, put in the sweat equity (aka digging for DAYS), and come away with a sprinkler system that you set and forget.
Here are the facts…If you install your own sprinklers:
- You will save thousands of dollars.
- You will learn something new.
- You will probably feel overwhelmed at some point during the process (or the whole process, haha). Hopefully, my guide on how to install sprinklers will help ease some of that anxiety.
- You will step away and be able to say “I did that”.
But installing your own sprinklers is not for everyone. This level of DIY may be way over your head and that’s ok. Your specific irrigation needs may be very complicated and call for a professional. Maybe you even think we’re crazy for doing something like this ourselves, truth be told I thought we were pretty crazy too.
Whatever you decide, make an educated and informed decision that works for YOU.
I was wondering what made you choose the pvc pipe over the other option?
We chose the Schedule 40 PVC option (over flexible) was a personal preference and more common in our region. Here’s a great article on the types of pipes to help you choose what is best for you. https://www.irrigationtutorials.com/sprinkler-system-lateral-pipes/
Thank you for explaining that a valve manifold box is where the water supply is divided into the zones that your sprinkler system will have, so each zone will run independently, this is also where you can put on a sprinkler timer. My dad has been telling me to install a valve manifold box for our sprinkler system. Knowing its benefits now, I should tell father to go for it and ensure to hire a contractor to get the job done.