Irrigation Head Spacing Issue

[frankis843]

I have 42' x 48' rectangle that has heads on all corners and one in the middle of each side, all shooting towards the middle. Heads cover roughly 27'. Everything I have found says head to head coverage is what you need. In a large area like mine, it seems as if a middle head is missing from the layout. I get a bit of spray overlap in the middle of the yard, but nowhere near head to head coverage. The middle area looks more dry compared to the rest of the yard and I feel like it is missing one 360 degree head in the middle of the yard.

I got together with the installer yesterday and he was not agreeing with my theory that head to head coverage is needed. He claimed there is another method called "row coverage". Google has never heard of this term.

The installers recommendation is to just run the two zones covering the area for a longer time period. I feel like he just doesn't want to add another head and is looking for the easy way out.

Any thoughts?

 

[WorthFlorida]

As things are written, irrigation coverage tries to be a science but it really isn't. All you are doing is dumping water on the ground. The trick is to minimize runoff and I prefer overlapping the coverage with rotary sprinklers, not with pop ups. Head to head coverage is not a requirement. Depending on the spray pattern, exposure to the sun, wind and topography impacts where and how many heads are needed. The more heads you have you need more flow and pressure. If the system cannot handle the additional load then smaller zones are needed. All the planning in the world and there always seems to be dry spots. Some of it has to do with the wind and sometimes the way the ground slopes.

Your issue is really how is the contract written? If you agreed on a certain number of sprinkler heads not much more that can be done. The price rides on the amount of pipe and the number of sprinklers. If you had a verbal, you don't have much to stand on. It's not the end of the world, you can pay some else to add more sprinklers.