Water Water Water

Posted on 11th March 2013 in Controllers, General, Installations, Turf

Any time lay lawn we will set your retic control box for you, but after that its up to you to make sure it is actually working.

Different controllers respond differently to power outages and occasionally controllers can ‘die’, leaving you with no water. A recent turf installation we did in Brighton came close to tragedy.

The house was uninhabited and the person responsible for it lived in the country. After laying the turf we set the control box and left, only to discover two weeks later that the control box had faulted and the lawn hadn’t been watered as needed. It was close to dead and was going to need some intense watering to bring it back to life.

At last inspection it seemed that the lawn had a chance of making it, which is very fortunate. A dead lawn doesn’t just cost money to replace. It costs to remove and tip, so in the end the exercise costs even more than double.

So please please please – check that your lawn is getting watered as it should be. And if its not then call us straight away so we can help you sort it out!

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Why Are My Sprinklers Just Dribbling?

Posted on 18th January 2013 in solenoids, What's Going on There?

wiring a solenoid perth reticulation

I went to look at a job this week where the sprinklers were working, but barely so.

Each station would dribble a small amount of water, but there was nowhere near enough to run the system. What was going on?…

I guess the logical cause had to be the master solenoid being stuck and thereby reducing pressure all round. However I have changed these over before only to see no change in the performance so I was cautious, even moreso because the master was buried 600ml deep, encased in bricks and covered in rocks and rubble. Not fun to get to!

The first check is always to make sure the water meter is fully on and operating properly – which it was. Then to begin digging…

When I finally uncovered the MV I discovered it was a jar top Richdel, and that was encouraging because often you can just screw the stop off, replace the guts and be done.

So I unscrewed the top section and removed it. The diaphragm was stuck to the lower section of the solenoid body and as I peeled it away the centre spindle came with it.

That hasn’t happened before and I didn’t like where this was going…

My hunch was that the diaphragm was no longer opening sufficiently to let water thru and with the spindle now removed it was never going to work properly.

I screwed it all back together with a new diaphragm to see what would happen. Nothing changed.

So I cut the main pipe just after the MV to see what kind of water flow was coming thru. It was lousy, obviously restricted, so the only option was to dig it all up and replace it. A little while later a new master valve proved to be the answer and one very happy homeowner had his sprinklers operating again.

Most retic is a logical process of elimination, as well as the occasional bit of trial and error!

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Roam Remote Control

Posted on 25th November 2012 in Controllers, In My Own Backyard, Installations

 

I managed to get a hold of one of these babies for home the other day. On a quarter acre block it’s a bit of a pain running back and forth to test the stations so a remote comes in handy – and its even better when you need to change a nozzle.

Now its no longer a case of unscrew, flush, test while running back to the control box each time. Now you can operate the controller while standing next to the sprinkler. Much easier!

The remote allows you to operate your stations for a run time that you choose. Its really simple to install and use.

For some reason my first attempt at installation resulted in some bizarre error messages and strange behaviour by the system. The controller worked fine without the remote attached, however when I wired it up I discovered that 3 stations were coming on at once. There was power (23v) coming from pump, the actual terminal in use and two others.

It was a mysterious problem and I thought the controller was at fault, but I disconnected the remote wires and reconnected… and then all worked fine. I’m not sure what the issue was but its sorted now.

 

 

 

 

 

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How to Avoid Bore Stains

Posted on 26th September 2012 in bore, Installations

I drove past a school on the weekend that was painted blue, but had large red arcs around the paintwork – the result of sprinklers running off a bore.

If you have a bore and you are worried about staining then the answer is to try and design a garden and lawn that can minimise the results of bore water on them.

Some simple suggestions:

  • Use either miniscape dripline or adjustable staked drippers in garden beds rather than sprays. Both of these methods target the plants and drop water in the areas needed rather than risking overspray.
  • Have gardens close to the house and lawn further away, thus minimising the risk of water on walls.
  • Use MP Rotator nozzles rather than regular Toro. They will spray bigger droplets and get blown around less.

A little planning can allow you to have all the benefits of a bore without any of the nasties.

Of course there are some suburbs where bore staining is worse than others. If you live in Greenwood then you are in for a heap of colour on your walls, whereas where we are in Yanchep there is minimal staining. If you aren’t sure what to expect then just look around you at other houses with bores and see what they look like.

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Can I Repair My Retic Control Box

Posted on 5th July 2012 in Controllers, What's Going on There?

The short answer is probably ‘yes’. You can repair anything if you want to, but it isn’t good economics.

The last time I checked the cost of repairing a control panel for a retic box it was around $150.00 at an electronics specialist. Then there is the removal and replacement – allow another $150.00 and you are already close to replacement cost, but with no warranty.

So in short – like most things these days a retic control box is a disposable item, so my advice is to get one with a decent warranty.

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Laying Sir Walter Turf in Sorrento

Posted on 13th June 2012 in Installations

This is a before and after post so you can see the massive difference new turf can make to a property. We levelled the ground, fixed up the retic and laid the turf.

 

 

 

 

 

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Reticulation in Jindowie with Poor Water Pressure

Posted on 31st May 2012 in Local Knowledge, Never Seen That One Before, solenoids

 

This morning I laid the main retic line for a client in Jindowie (a part of Yanchep). I’ve written before about water pressure issues in this part of the world and today we hit the same problem again.

I use Richdel solenoids 99% of the time, but today they wouldn’t seal. They need a certain amount of backpressure and the water being what it is up here I just couldn’t get them to work.

I changed them for Hunter PGVs and they worked fine. I’m not sure why Hunters will operate with the lower pressure, but they seem to be the answer when the Richdels fail.

Lucky I had 4 onboard to subsititute!

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Laying Kikuyu Turf

Posted on 31st May 2012 in Installations, Turf

Its been over 5 years of running this business and only yesterday I laid kikuyu turf for the first time. Kikuyu is a cooch variety and is typically used in parks or for commercial applications.

It is hard wearing and sturdy. It has a broader leaf than wintergreen and yesterday’s batch felt quite spongy, although I don’t know if that is typical.

We can supply and lay kikuyu at the same price as Wintergreen if it is your preference.

 

 

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Village Green Turf

Posted on 25th May 2012 in Installing

 

I had a request yesterday for ‘Village Green Turf’, a variety I have heard of but never used before. I did some research and discovered that it is a form of kikuyu but one that has some improved features. See the chart below for its strengths and then refer to the brochure here for more info. We can supply and lay Village Green Turf for you – just call now for a free measure and quote.

 

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How to Install Sprinklers by The Kerb

Posted on 13th May 2012 in Installations, Installing, Products, sprinklers

 

The first time I did some DIY retic I tried to install my kerbside sprinklers by digging along the line of the kerb.

Big mistake!

After 10 minutes I had all but given up. You see the soil along the kerb is actually roadbase. It is hard and rocky and not easy digging. If you want to install sprinklers along the kerb then dig a trench one metre away from the kerb and parallel to it and then ‘t’ off to the point where you need sprinklers. You will still need to do some hard digging but it will save you a lot of effort and you will do the job right.

The other tip with kerbside sprinklers is to make sure they are well below kerb height – because they will get driven over. If you’re lucky they won’t get damaged, but if they are even sticking up a little bit then expect to replace them regularly.

I get calls from one client a few times each summer to replace the same sprinkler. Personally I reckon it would be easier just to sink the sprinkler a bit lower…

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