16
May
2007
You certainly don’t need one of these little gadgets to connect your sprinkler heads, but for little bit of extra money this will save you some time. Before I found one of these poly-pipe saddles the procedure for me to add a sprinkler head to my underground line was a little longer.
Without this I would cut the line with my pipe cutter, insert a barbed “T”, connect a a short length of poly-pipe or funny pipe, and then connect that to an adapter threaded into my sprinkler head.
The saddle avoids you having to cut the pipe and insert the T, and depending on your pipe placement might avoid you having to have the short piece of pipe in between. You simply slip this saddle right over your poly pipe, snap it together and then screw the spike down into the pipe through the saddle until it punctures the pipe and lets the water through. With this particular model from Toro, you end up with a 1/2″ female threaded end to connect your sprinkler head, another line or whatever else your hooking up. Nice and easy.
Posted: Adapters, Handy Tools
11
May
2007
Last year I wrote about the Sidewalk Sleever to tunnel under sidewalks and other above ground obstructions that you can’t trench through, and if you’re doing a lot of tunneling or even have 2 or 3 tough spots then the Sidewalk Sleever might be the ticket.
For most of the jobs I’ve done I only need to go under a sidewalk, and often there is dirt that was brought and sometimes even sand below the cement which makes for fairly easy tunneling. In these cases I’ve been able to get by with a spray nozzle tunneling kit that’s essentially a one-time use deal for under $5.
The tunneling kit consists of two plastic parts that glue onto either end of you PVC pipe. One piece is a hose bib that can thread onto your standard garden hose. The other is a nozzle that concentrates the spray into a narrow sharp stream.
Glue the two pieces onto either end of your PVC pipe and hook your garden hose to the hose bib end. Now you just dig a whole on either side of the sidewalk where you want to go under, turn on the water and start pushing the pipe through letting the nozzle do most of the work for you. Usually I’ll end up doing a fair amount of pushing and jabbing to get the pipe all the way under, or sometimes start again from the other side to get all the way through if you get stuck going one way.
Once you have the pipe through, shut off the water, cut off the nozzle and hose bib from the tunneling kit with your handy PVC pipe cutter and you’re in business. The kit is usually often referred to as a “Walkway Tunnel Kit” if you’re looking for one. The one I’ve used is made by Orbit.
Posted: Handy Tools, Tunneling
14
December
2006
This may not look like much, and if you have never used one you may wonder why I am writing a post about a hose clamp, but this little thing can save you a lot of time and trouble.
A one ear hose clamp is named due to the shape of the clamp, looking like it could be a head with only one ear. The ear is so that you can use a crimping tool, which looks somewhat like a pair of pliers, to grab on to that ear and crimp the clamp down tight around an irrigation hose. This hose clamp works great and can be used instead of the threaded screw type of clamp on most irrigation lines. They are less expensive, easier and faster than the traditional hose clamp. The downside is that they aren’t quite as strong, and are a one-time use only.
If you are clamping any connections for water lines that are under really high pressure or lines that have active water pressure in them all the time, such as water lines that are before your valves, I would use the traditional clamp and sometimes two of them to ensure that my fittings don’t leak. For everything else I use these one ear hose clamps to save myself time and money.
Posted: Handy Tools, Tips and Tricks
30
September
2006
This is another one of those tools that pays for themselves in a relatively short amount of time, even with one job. A trenching shovel can be a very handy tool when installing your sprinkler system, even if you are using a trencher or pipe puller to put most of the line in.
A 4″ trenching shovel is a pretty good size, and works great for digging trenches for your sprinkler line, but for me it works even better to clean out the trenches. Once you get them initially dug, there always going to be bunch of loose dirt and clumps in the bottom of your trench, and a regular shovel is too wide. Also using your hands to clean it out works real well, but then you are bent over the whole time. The trenching shovel fits right in the trench really nicely and makes it fast and easy to clean out the trench before you lay your line in it.
You can usually get these at about any sprinkler supply store or a sprinkler supply store online. Sometimes you might find a trenching shovel at the general hardware store, but not too often, and that may be why most people have never heard of or seen a shovel shaped like this.
The trenching shovel is not something that you would use very often aside from trenching, of course, but it will be well worth your money and time to have one.
Posted: Handy Tools
23
September
2006
One thing that a lot of people do not think about in advance is protecting the wires for your automatic sprinkler system valves. When installing and running a sprinkler system, you are obviously dealing with a lot of water. Also, by putting valve boxes underground with wires to the valves, there is a good chance that at some point during the year that valve box could get very wet or even be flooded. If you do not protect the wires that are running your automatic valves, you will get a short and blow a fuse, and then your sprinklers will not run because the timer has stopped.
When installing your valves and attaching wiring to your controller, you will want to use some form of grease cap. A grease cap allows you to take the bare wire connection that you have made, and “bury” it inside the grease cap, and then secure it. This makes a waterproof seal around any bare wires so they are not exposed, and still allows you to take the wires out again without having to cut them if you needed to. After having grease on the wires it will be messy, but you can do it.
Whenever making wire connections in an area that may be exposed to water, always remember to use a grease cap for the connection to avoid a short.
Posted: Handy Tools, Tips and Tricks
11
September
2006
Tunneling under sidewalks and similar obstructions can be an big obstacle, even for experienced irrigation installers. The first time I was faced with this task, I did not have the the Sidewalk Sleever, but I wish I did. There are alternative ways to get this job done, but I would suggest that if you have to tunnel under something more than once to consider getting one of these tools, because if you’re anything like me after the first time you are going to wish you had it!
The Sidewalk Sleever is used for 1 or 2 inch PVC pipe, and tools go from 60″ to 96″ long for the 1″ diameter pipe, and 60″ only for the 2″ diameter pipe.
To use, you measure your PVC pipe as directed with the tool so that it fits between the “boring” end and the “stop” end. You will need to dig a hole on either side of the sidewalk or obstruction so that you can tunnel the Sidewalk Sleever through level. You then insert the tool through your PVC pipe and line it up to go under your obstruction. You can then use a sledge hammer to pound your PVC pipe right under the sidewalk, and once you are through just remove the tool from inside the pipe and you are set.
You’ll want to be carefull to have the tool level when you start to avoid it going to deep on the other end, or aiming up too high and taking a chance at cracking your sidewalk from beneath.
The makers of the Sidewalk Sleever boast that most tunneling jobs can be done in 60 seconds. The method I have used involved a lot of water, and lot of time and a lot of work, so I have to say that this tool looks like it’s worth it!
Sidewalk Sleever Site [SidewalkSleever.com]
Posted: Handy Tools, Tunneling, Tips and Tricks
6
September
2006
This is kind of a big tool. Probably one of the bigger ones you will ever use installing sprinklers. This is a vibratory plow, or sometimes called a “pipe puller”. You can usually rent them at different places that rent similar equipment, and common ones are made by Ditch Witch and Toro, among others. The rental places will call them a “Vibratory Plow”, but everyone else I talk to calls them a “pipe puller”. If you think those names are funny, Toro’s machine that the vibratory plow attaches to is called the “Dingo”.
It’s main use is to pull poly pipe through the ground without having to dig a trench. This is very handy if you are installing a sprinkler system in a yard that already has grass, or you just don’t want to dig a big trench with a shovel or a trencher.The way it works is that it appears to go backwards. The blade that you see sticking out is behind the machine. Behind the blade will usually be a short chain with a small device that will connect the to the flexible poly pipe.
This is only for use with flexible poly pipe, not the stiff white PVC pipe.
The little connector often looks like either a small threaded cone that goes inside the poly pipe to hold it on, or is a metal mesh cylinder that the poly pipe goes into. Both get tighter as the pipe pulls.
The vibratory plow will vibrate and go down a foot or two into the ground, pulling the pipe underground behind it. You can go varied distances depending on the pipe your are pulling and the type of ground you are going to. You’ll have to experiment some, but if you go too far the pipe will strech and break, and you’ll end up digging to find it and re-attach or start over.
This works very well becuause it only makes a small cut in the ground, which is much smaller than a trencher or digging with a shovel. If you lose traction the wheels can damage your grass a little too, but still not as much as a trencher would.
If you plan where you need the pipe before hand, and you have an average size yard, you can plan on renting the vibratory plow / pipe puller for just a day.
Posted: Handy Tools
3
September
2006
This may not look like much, or seem that important. It didn’t to me until I started installing my sprinkler heads and needed to start cutting a lot of poly pipe. It even meant more when I installed a system with PVC pipe and needed to do a lot of cutting with that.
This PVC Cutter
is one of the handiest tools to have with you when installing a sprinkler system. It has an incredibly sharp (replaceable) blade, and has a ratcheting grip. It will open wide enough to cut a one inch pipe, and cuts through PVC pipe like butter. The one pictured here is pretty common, but I most often seem them look very similar and in red if you are at the store looking for it.
Before finding this I planned on just using a little saw to cut through all the PVC pipe, but boy did this save some time. The ratchet functionality lets you easily cut through the PVC pipe with great ease. The advantages to this little tools are:
- There are no little shavings to mess up your gluing like you would get from sawing.
- it requires very little effor to cut through the pipe.
- It is much faster than sawing.
- It’s much less dangerous then trying to cut with a regular open knife.
This tool will also cut through poly pipe with ease without crushing is as long as the blade stays sharp. This PVC cutting tool is a must have for any sprinkler installation job.
Posted: Handy Tools
