FAQ

No, actually spray heads are the last nozzle we will use, because we are not trying to flood the yard with water. We are trying to give the soil even distribution of precipitation. With spray heads they put water down so fast, the soil can not absorb and it just runs off on top of the soil creating marshy spots and puddles, becoming a waste of water not even absorbing into the soil, even on a sand base soil it delivers to fast. Also if the installer didn’t properly take pressure readings and friction loss the heads mist into the air. Also with any wind these types of heads do not cover the ground well. We only use these in specific situations. A good irrigation tech can fix water run off a few ways, first should be able to change timer settings to fix this problem without installing all new heads. Hopefully your valve has flow control as well.

In Montana we grow fescues, ryes, and blue grasses mostly. These are what we consider a cool season grass. You will notice it looks so great during mid to late spring, then all of a sudden its starting to get brown spots. We tell our clients with a properly designed irrigation system we can solve this problem with the proper watering schedule as well. Growing cool season grass in a hot climate does not work well without proper watering.

This is common and can be caused for a few reasons, it’s best to go to your irrigation back flow device and turn the ball valves horizontal, that will shut water supply to the valves off and call a professional irrigation company. This will save you a headache in trouble shooting. Let us take care of it probably within no more then 5 minutes.

Some parts of the system are important to take care of when temps start dropping below 32 at night, here is a step by step what to do to save your system from old man winter. Turn the water off to the irrigation, not the house just the irrigation. Then go to your back flow prevention device there Should be a plug, like in my pictures or video in the gallery. Unthread that plug leave it off, the back flow will drain water out. After that look in your valve boxes see if there is a ball valve on the end of the manifold like in my winterization video, open this ball valve then leave it open, go to your control clock run a manual cycle this will help drain enough water from causing expensive freeze breaks. Then hopefully we are there to winterize soon.

The irrigation industry is very advanced, however I would be lying if I personally said they were all the same. There are two leading the industry, that would be Rainbird & Hunter. Krain also makes some great products. These three manufactures all make amazing products and you can’t go wrong, as long as your design is proper. Without a proper design and installation it doesn’t matter if you have the best product in your yard it won’t do the job you’re looking for.

The first things to consider is water volume, static pressure, service line size and water meter size or well pump specs. These are all very important. Without knowing these measurements the system will not work properly. We can not just guess how many heads we put on your system. These measurements allow for proper head spacing, pipe sizing, valve sizing and zoning. After we figure out your workable flow rate and pressure we are going to look at your yard or proposed irrigated area, we will look at soil type, slopes and micro climates we don’t want half a zone in a shady area the other half in a all day sunny area, that will lead to dry or marshy spots. (Common mistake by inexperienced installers)

This varies, it all depends on the zones precipitation rates, slopes,soil and climate. This is also seasonal.

We are trying to either germinate or let the sod take to the native soil. This will require the IRRIGATION TECH OR INSTALLER to set your irrigation times. We only want to give the areas enough precipitation to start the germination process. I don’t know how many times I’ve come to a new sod install or hydro seed and the company installing sod or seed completely input the wrong times to establish their product. I see seed being washed away, sod soaked and a river runs threw it. This causes a slough of problems. They mean well however they do not know the wells precipitation rates in the sprinkler system, they set it to what they think has worked in the past. Leave this up to the irrigation professional.

We use prefabricated PVC material. This will be your longest lasting, easiest to service if say a valve went bad. This will keep your service charge minimum compared to hard steel fittings that rust.

This depends on the city code. In the Flathead Valley you will need a high hazard PVB, unless you can not elevate 12” higher than your highest head. Then we would consider a RPZ back flow device.

This is simple copper and nothing else.