I have 2 acres and a well. There's no way I can water it with
sprinklers and hoses, so I don't try. I take alot of pride in caring
for my lawn, so the drought is especially painful because there's
nothing I can do about it.

I've had quotes for irrigation before, and they come in at about
$9,000. Plus, I've been told that I will definitely need a more
powerful well pump, and possibly a bigger well tank also.

Can someone tell me what exactly the well tank is for? I used to
think it was a reservoir, but now I'm not sure exactly what it's for
and why I'd need a bigger one. I can't find an explanantion with
Google.

I'm pretty intimidated by such a project, but I'll never be able to
pay that much, so I might as well look into it.

How difficult was the design aspect? What problems did you run into?
What brand of products should I look at?

My father-in-law is a home builder and has a plumber on his staff.
How much indoor plumbing needs to be done?

My next door neighbor has the same size lot, and he says his system
uses 9500 gallons per watering.

Oh, two more important questions. What size is your lawn, and how
much did it cost you to do it yourself?

I'd suggest you obtain a book from Amazon.com the following book: Ortho's
All About Sprinklers and Drip Systems (Ortho's All About Gardening). It
helped me install my irrigation system on 1 1/2 acres after obtain the
proper permits and supplies. I rented the ditch digger after laying out the
zones I needed + control boxes. The hardest part was using the ditch digger
but that was simplified by some earlier preparation (stakes, string and
laying out my lines). The book will help you determine your needed
supplies, plans, potential problems, etc.. Of course, the first thing to do
is determine what pressure your water supply is capable of producing in
order to sustain the system at needed pressure w/out jeopardizing your home
water supply (thus, the need of a water "well"). However, if you don't have
a week or two off, don't have the knowledge or skills necessary to do the
job, health, etc., then paying professionals to do it right the first time
will be worth mistakes and headaches later on. Get the book first (any home
improvement store should have it) and go from there. The book's cheaper
right now before you pay for a project of this size. Good luck.

I'd suggest you obtain a book from Amazon.com the following book: Ortho's
All About Sprinklers and Drip Systems

Thanks alot. I'll check this out.

Also do a search on brand name equipment like "Hunter" or "Toro" or
"RainBird".
These manufactuer websites have great info on how to put a system together.
Pretty simple stuff after you get past a few basic concepts.

http://www.hunterindustries.com/Reso...ign_guide.html

http://www.toro.com/sprinklers/index.html

http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/index.htm

Good Luck

wrote in message
...
I have 2 acres and a well. There's no way I can water it with
sprinklers and hoses, so I don't try. I take alot of pride in caring
for my lawn, so the drought is especially painful because there's
nothing I can do about it.

I've had quotes for irrigation before, and they come in at about
$9,000. Plus, I've been told that I will definitely need a more
powerful well pump, and possibly a bigger well tank also.

Can someone tell me what exactly the well tank is for? I used to
think it was a reservoir, but now I'm not sure exactly what it's for
and why I'd need a bigger one. I can't find an explanantion with
Google.

I'm pretty intimidated by such a project, but I'll never be able to
pay that much, so I might as well look into it.

How difficult was the design aspect? What problems did you run into?
What brand of products should I look at?

My father-in-law is a home builder and has a plumber on his staff.
How much indoor plumbing needs to be done?

My next door neighbor has the same size lot, and he says his system
uses 9500 gallons per watering.

http://www.hunterindustries.com/Reso...ign_guide.html

http://www.toro.com/sprinklers/index.html

http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/index.htm



That sounds like the way to go. Let them design it and give me the
shopping list!

My neighbor got a quote for irrigation. $7000, $3000 of that is
labor. My lot is twice the size, so that's major savings.

Anyone have any insight on which brands to consider, or more
importantly, not consider?

I know the local landscape services use Toro parts. My neighbor's
heads are Nelson. Menard's sells Rainbird, which concerns me a
little, because Menard's sells pretty much bottom-middle line of
everything. They don't sell top-of-the line of anything.

We don't have Lowe's, Home Depot, or any big home store chain.