Too much water in a small space

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daniel501

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So I'm a sprinkler system newbie.

I moved into a new house in the suburbs with an automatic spinkler system -- never had one before.

There's a long space between my house and the house next door, where there's about 6ft from my house to the privacy fence, and a relatively narrow space in the neighbor's yard as well. I have three sprinkler heads along that side wall, covering the strip in question. These 3 heads are part of my zone 5, which also includes about half of my back yard.

The neighbor also has an automatic sprinkler system.

The land slopes downward away from the houses, as it should, and the low point, elevation-wise, happens to be on my side of the fence.

It's like a swamp back there in the strip between the houses. Always muddy, practically standing water at times. (For what it's worth, I don't think there's a leak -- it was dry during the winter when the sprinklers were off.)

What should I do about it?

I don't want to turn off zone 5, because the rest of my back yard does need the water. But clearly, between me and the neighbor, the strip between the houses is getting over-watered.

Suggestions?
 

Gary Swart

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I can think of 4 possibilities. 1. Reduce the watering time and/or frequency. 2. Change the size or type of the nozzles in the wet area. 3. Cap or turn off one of the sprinklers. 4. Run an additional zone for just that area.
 

daniel501

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Gary said: "I can think of 4 possibilities. 1. Reduce the watering time and/or frequency. 2. Change the size or type of the nozzles in the wet area. 3. Cap or turn off one of the sprinklers. 4. Run an additional zone for just that area."

Thanks.

1. Won't do. The rest of zone 5 (half of the backyard) needs its water.

2. Hold that thought...

3. Ditto.

4. Too much work to run a new line. I'm not that ambitious, and it seems like overkill if #2 or #3 will work.

So that leaves us with 2 and 3. Please tell me more. 2. What size/type of nozzle should I be looking at? 3. How do I cap or turn off a nozzle?

I've been eyeballing the system. It looks like there's a Weathermatic LX something that holds the actual popup head, which is a Hunter something.

Thanks for your help.
 

Verdeboy

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Some sprinkler nozzles have a little screw that tightens against a plastic filter to adjust the flow. If you tighten the screw all the way, you can turn off the flow altogether. You can also unscrew any redundant sprinkler head and just screw in a cap in its place.

Another possibility: If that area becomes a swamp after it rains, you might want to consider putting in a French drain.
 
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Jimbo

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daniel501 said:
4. Too much work to run a new line. I'm not that ambitious, and it seems like overkill if #2 or #3 will work.

.

Nobody said doing the right thing would be easy! The easy thing is to plant some lilies in the bog and enjoy!

However, sprinkler heads are (a) easily adjusted and (b) easily replaced with a different type. Take one of your sprinklers to a good landscape supply, or even to a home store (sometimes you get lucky and find the one guy who know's something). They will help you adjust yours, change the nozzle, or select a new low precip. rate head. How about also asking the neighbor to reduce his input to the bog?
 

daniel501

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So tell me something about these heads... How do they come out?

Do they unscrew? do they just pull up? I'm afraid to start twisting and pulling until I know how it all goes together. Wouldn't want to break something.

And is nozzle adjustment (on adjustable nozzles) done while they're popped up with the water spraying, or do you do it when the water is off? (and turn it back on, readjust, repeat, et cetera)

So I'm assessing what's out there. Weirdly enough, I seem to have a mixture of equipment. Most of the heads appear to be Weather-matic LX. At least one of the heads is Hunter, and the nozzles themselves appear to be a mixture of Hunter and Rainbird. This is on a new house. Is that unusual?

I'm supposing this is all industry standard equipment and it's mix 'n match interchangeable?
 

Verdeboy

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daniel501 said:
So tell me something about these heads... How do they come out?

Do they unscrew? do they just pull up? I'm afraid to start twisting and pulling until I know how it all goes together. Wouldn't want to break something.

And is nozzle adjustment (on adjustable nozzles) done while they're popped up with the water spraying, or do you do it when the water is off? (and turn it back on, readjust, repeat, et cetera)

So I'm assessing what's out there. Weirdly enough, I seem to have a mixture of equipment. Most of the heads appear to be Weather-matic LX. At least one of the heads is Hunter, and the nozzles themselves appear to be a mixture of Hunter and Rainbird. This is on a new house. Is that unusual?

I'm supposing this is all industry standard equipment and it's mix 'n match interchangeable?

Nozzles can be adjusted with the water going, but the water should be off if you are changing out a nozzle or a head. You can use a screwdriver or a pocket knife to help get it started. Then grab it with your fingers and pull it up the rest of the way.

Sprayers, or "misters" have only one adjustment. Rotators have several adjustments you can make.

All heads either unscrew at the bottom or the side. You must do some digging to get to the water line that it is attached to. In many cases, there is a nipple that connects the sprinkler head to the fitting that is attached to the water line.

Most nozzles are not interchangeable. I prefer Rainbird products. But that's just my individual preference.

Since you seem to have no experience at all with this, it is best to just plunge into it and then ask a particular question if you get into trouble.

Even if you broke everything you touched, you can fix it for a few bucks.
 
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