FAQ:
How long have you personally been in the irrigation industry?
I have been installing irrigation, night-lighting and drainage full-time since 1987.
Over the last 30+ years, I have personally installed irrigation systems with as many as 1400 zones and as little as just one zone.
I have professional installing and troubleshooting experience both on golf courses and residential properties. I have been factory-trained by several major irrigation manufacturers in servicing and installation methods.
What brand irrigation equipment do you install or service?
I prefer installing RainBird irrigation equipment. After working on and dealing with many different irrigation manufacturers over the last 20 years, I have found that RainBird is the simply the best. Of course this is my personal opinion, and someone else might disagree. I have had many manufacturers call me up asking me to "try” their product, stating theirs' is better, but after doing field tests, (eg: even water coverage, reliability, ease of repair, user friendliness) they just do NOT hit the mark. Of course if you have a preference, I would consider installing another manufacturer's brand sprinklers and valves.
In servicing irrigation systems, I am specially trained on every major manufacturer brand. (Eg: Rainbird, Toro, Hunter, Nelson, Weathermatic, & Irritrol)
Okay, you asked for it… What is my second favorite brand irrigation manufacturer? Hunter.
Do you trench or vibratory plow piping in and why?
I prefer to trench. There are several very good reasons why I prefer trenching over that of vibratory plowing in pipe. To understand the reasons, you need to know the differences in each piece of equipment. A trencher is a machine that has an attachment that looks like a very large chain saw. This trencher can cut a trench through the earth up to 4 feet deep and 6 inches wide all while cleaning rocks, roots and other debris out of the trench with the dirt.
A vibratory plow has an attachment on the back of it that vibrates a 12” blade and the Chinese finger that grips pipes or wires. To start, you first dig a small hole to sink the blade with the Chinese finger bolted to the end of the blade and the pipe inserted and grabbed by the Chinese finger. The machine runs forward vibrating and pulling the blade. The blade has a large bullet welded on the bottom of the blade. As the machine travels forward, it cuts through sod and dirt, leaving a very small slice through the ground. Deep in the ground, the bullet creates a tunnel from which the Chinese finger pulls the pipe through. After the pipe is plowed in, you can tamp the slit shut, and ideally, you can should hardly see the pipe installation. This method works very nicely in sandy soil rock-free moist soil.
In our area, there are many factors that prevent me from recommending using a vibratory plow. Here a few reasons: First, and most important, if there are any rocks that the plow comes across or through that the pipe is laid on, that rock will eventually rub through the plastic and will cause a leak. This happens because every time that zone pipe is pressurized, the pipe moves very slightly due to force of the flow of the water though the pipe then causing the PVC lines to eventually fail. The PVC pipe is pulled through the tunnel that the bullet on the plow blade makes, all while the pipe is also dragged past any sharp rocks possibly scarring the pipe deep enough to cause future structural failure. This force of pulling pipe can also damage pipe glue joints from the excess ground frictions against the pipe walls. Many contractors may even try to use rolls of 1” black Poly pipe. This is better because there are no glue joints, but is worse because the pipe is only rated at 160psi max and the plastic is softer. This allows for easier scarring during installation and is typically limited to only 12 GPM (gallons per minute) flow rates, where typical irrigation flow rates per zone are usually between 15 GPM and 18GPM. Most contractors that plow pipe in will use a poorer grade 100PSI POLY pipe, which doubles likelihood of installation damage.
These pipe are much more difficult in repairing. Also, if any problems were to occur. all poly pipe joints are attached via insertion coupling and held together with stainless steel hose clamps. A maximum of two pipes can be installed at once with a vibratory plow.
A trencher can allow as many pipes installed in a single trench limited only by how deep you trench. With a vibratory plow, if unknown utilities (eg: drainage pipes, invisible pet containment wires, etc.) were to be cut, you would not know they were damaged and once you realized they where, it would be very time consuming to find and then repair damaged utilities. With a trencher, all trenches can be inspected for any damaged unknown utilities and immediately repaired. The main types of unknown utilities that are not marked by the state locate company are drainage systems installed by the home builder. Trenches can be inspected for left behind rocks, cleaned and padded with clean rock free soil, giving the pipe a soft layer of dirt to lay on and be covered with.
The other main reason I recommend not using a trencher and why I stopped personally using them is because of a 'float' affect problem. The soil down here in this area tends to have multi-layers of hard and soft dirt. What has happened to me in the past is the blade will be down in the ground all the way, but the pipe floats up to a soft layer of dirt, and ends up only being a few inches below ground. When you trench, there is no doubt how deep the pipe will be because you see it before it is backfilled.
Many contractors that plow pipe in will only give a one-year warranty on their work because of the high likelihood that there will be system problems with pipe installation.
We give a five-year warranty on all of our new system installs. That tells you how confident we are in our craftsmanship.
The main draw back to trenching is the likelihood that trenches will settle out. We typically eliminate this problem by using a gas compactor that tamps the dirt back at over 2500 pounds per square foot.
If you have a special preference for the vibratory plow to be used, we will accommodate you on this; However, we will have to limit your system warranty for the irrigation system piping to only one year.
How long have you personally been in the irrigation industry?
I have been installing irrigation, night-lighting and drainage full-time since 1987.
Over the last 30+ years, I have personally installed irrigation systems with as many as 1400 zones and as little as just one zone.
I have professional installing and troubleshooting experience both on golf courses and residential properties. I have been factory-trained by several major irrigation manufacturers in servicing and installation methods.
What brand irrigation equipment do you install or service?
I prefer installing RainBird irrigation equipment. After working on and dealing with many different irrigation manufacturers over the last 20 years, I have found that RainBird is the simply the best. Of course this is my personal opinion, and someone else might disagree. I have had many manufacturers call me up asking me to "try” their product, stating theirs' is better, but after doing field tests, (eg: even water coverage, reliability, ease of repair, user friendliness) they just do NOT hit the mark. Of course if you have a preference, I would consider installing another manufacturer's brand sprinklers and valves.
In servicing irrigation systems, I am specially trained on every major manufacturer brand. (Eg: Rainbird, Toro, Hunter, Nelson, Weathermatic, & Irritrol)
Okay, you asked for it… What is my second favorite brand irrigation manufacturer? Hunter.
Do you trench or vibratory plow piping in and why?
I prefer to trench. There are several very good reasons why I prefer trenching over that of vibratory plowing in pipe. To understand the reasons, you need to know the differences in each piece of equipment. A trencher is a machine that has an attachment that looks like a very large chain saw. This trencher can cut a trench through the earth up to 4 feet deep and 6 inches wide all while cleaning rocks, roots and other debris out of the trench with the dirt.
A vibratory plow has an attachment on the back of it that vibrates a 12” blade and the Chinese finger that grips pipes or wires. To start, you first dig a small hole to sink the blade with the Chinese finger bolted to the end of the blade and the pipe inserted and grabbed by the Chinese finger. The machine runs forward vibrating and pulling the blade. The blade has a large bullet welded on the bottom of the blade. As the machine travels forward, it cuts through sod and dirt, leaving a very small slice through the ground. Deep in the ground, the bullet creates a tunnel from which the Chinese finger pulls the pipe through. After the pipe is plowed in, you can tamp the slit shut, and ideally, you can should hardly see the pipe installation. This method works very nicely in sandy soil rock-free moist soil.
In our area, there are many factors that prevent me from recommending using a vibratory plow. Here a few reasons: First, and most important, if there are any rocks that the plow comes across or through that the pipe is laid on, that rock will eventually rub through the plastic and will cause a leak. This happens because every time that zone pipe is pressurized, the pipe moves very slightly due to force of the flow of the water though the pipe then causing the PVC lines to eventually fail. The PVC pipe is pulled through the tunnel that the bullet on the plow blade makes, all while the pipe is also dragged past any sharp rocks possibly scarring the pipe deep enough to cause future structural failure. This force of pulling pipe can also damage pipe glue joints from the excess ground frictions against the pipe walls. Many contractors may even try to use rolls of 1” black Poly pipe. This is better because there are no glue joints, but is worse because the pipe is only rated at 160psi max and the plastic is softer. This allows for easier scarring during installation and is typically limited to only 12 GPM (gallons per minute) flow rates, where typical irrigation flow rates per zone are usually between 15 GPM and 18GPM. Most contractors that plow pipe in will use a poorer grade 100PSI POLY pipe, which doubles likelihood of installation damage.
These pipe are much more difficult in repairing. Also, if any problems were to occur. all poly pipe joints are attached via insertion coupling and held together with stainless steel hose clamps. A maximum of two pipes can be installed at once with a vibratory plow.
A trencher can allow as many pipes installed in a single trench limited only by how deep you trench. With a vibratory plow, if unknown utilities (eg: drainage pipes, invisible pet containment wires, etc.) were to be cut, you would not know they were damaged and once you realized they where, it would be very time consuming to find and then repair damaged utilities. With a trencher, all trenches can be inspected for any damaged unknown utilities and immediately repaired. The main types of unknown utilities that are not marked by the state locate company are drainage systems installed by the home builder. Trenches can be inspected for left behind rocks, cleaned and padded with clean rock free soil, giving the pipe a soft layer of dirt to lay on and be covered with.
The other main reason I recommend not using a trencher and why I stopped personally using them is because of a 'float' affect problem. The soil down here in this area tends to have multi-layers of hard and soft dirt. What has happened to me in the past is the blade will be down in the ground all the way, but the pipe floats up to a soft layer of dirt, and ends up only being a few inches below ground. When you trench, there is no doubt how deep the pipe will be because you see it before it is backfilled.
Many contractors that plow pipe in will only give a one-year warranty on their work because of the high likelihood that there will be system problems with pipe installation.
We give a five-year warranty on all of our new system installs. That tells you how confident we are in our craftsmanship.
The main draw back to trenching is the likelihood that trenches will settle out. We typically eliminate this problem by using a gas compactor that tamps the dirt back at over 2500 pounds per square foot.
If you have a special preference for the vibratory plow to be used, we will accommodate you on this; However, we will have to limit your system warranty for the irrigation system piping to only one year.
