Well, I’ve been quietly watching this little tutorial and it’s comment section for a couple of years now, so I guess I’ll toss in my 2 cents worth. This type of irrigation system is called a "supplemental irrigation system". As designed it is very inefficient and will waste massive amounts of water. However in some cases this is not an issue. There are many places in the world where water is still very cheap and abundant so I can understand why someone wouldn’t care about wasting it.

Note that Brandon’s yard is very level. This allows the water to flood over the surface of the ground and helps a lot to make up for the poor sprinkler head coverage that results from spacing the sprinklers way too far apart. If his yard was sloped he would have a lot of dead grass. It’s easy to see from his diagram of the sprinkler coverage that there are a lot of areas that the sprinklers do not even spray water onto. Running the sprinklers for long periods of time allows the water to flood the yard and water these areas.

I once installed a similar system using shallow pipe and cheap low quality materials at a rental house I was living in. Why spend lots of money on someone else’s house? I did use more sprinklers and spaced them much closer together for better water coverage. So there is a time and place for amost everything.

On the backflow preventer issue. The backflow preventer loop Brandon uses will not work and is a waste of pipe. This type of loop works with steam and drainage/sewer systems, but not with pressurized water (for the loop to work the contents of the pipe must be mostly air with just a little water, in sprinkler systems the pipe contains mostly water with a little air). In a sprinkler system pipe the water will simply syphon back through the loop if there is a flow reversal.

Here’s a better way to do the backflow prevention; add a hose bib anti-siphon device (backflow preventer) on the hose bib (or "spigot"). You can buy one at any hardware store. That will give you a true backflow preventer for just a few dollars. No need to do it wrong or spend a lot of money either!

Well, I don’t want to get into any arguements here, I just hope I have shead some light on the issues being debated. For some people Brandon’s design and methods will be just what they need. The important thing is to know what you are getting into before you start buying parts and installing them. Do a little research and examine your needs.

Regards,
Jess Stryker
Irrigation Consultant
www.IrrigationTutorials.com