Valve-in-Head (VIH) Rotors – Considerations, Piping & Sizing

• VIH Rotors Overview
• Adding and Placing VIH Rotors
• Piping to VIH Rotors (Draw Lateral Pipe Tool)
• Sizing the Pipe Connecting VIH Rotors (Size Mainline Tool)
• Other Important Considerations
• Changing the Symbols for VIH Rotors in Your Projects and Drawings
• Related Webinars

A valve-in-head (VIH) rotor is exactly what it sounds like: a rotor head that also includes a valve. This type of valve/emitter hybrid allows for a system that requires large volumes of water delivered with a high level of control. For this reason, VIH rotors are especially valuable (if not essential) in larger water applications such as athletic fields and golf courses.

 

Because they include valves, VIH rotors will require you to take a few important considerations into account when you use them in your systems. As such, our software treats them somewhat differently from normal heads. For example, you'll pipe to them using our Draw Laterals tool but size them using our Size Mainline tool.

For further information about golf course design and its specific requirements, see our Golf Course Irrigation page.

VIH Rotors Overview

Because they include valves, VIH rotors can handle pressurized pipe – a must for systems that require stations that deliver higher volumes of water. Many designers refer to these inner sections of pipe as "laterals" (even though they're constantly pressurized, and therefore are technically mainlines) and the outer mainline loop as the "feeder mainline" to differentiate between the two.

 

This pipe that connects VIH rotors to each other is, for all intents and purposes, mainline. It's constantly pressurized to allow for high volume. When installed, it's often the same pipe as that used in the outer mainline loop.

 

However, this pipe also acts like lateral pipe, in that it delivers water to heads. Stations employing VIH rotors are commonly fed by shut-off valves (AKA isolation valves) – especially in golf course design – which allows the entire station to be turned off for maintenance. This type of design makes it possible to specify a pipe class for this pipe that would typically be used as a normal lateral line (such as a cheaper PVC pipe). So really, it's the best of both worlds: a pipe that's pressurized but that is also easily replaceable.

Adding and Placing VIH Rotors

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's an example of several VIH rotors placed throughout a golf hole:

 

Piping to VIH Rotors (Draw Lateral Pipe Tool)

 

 

 

The result will be a pipe that will look like laterals in your drawing to differentiate it from the outer ("feeder") mainline, but the system will still size and treat it like mainline.

 

With Draw Laterals active, connect your VIH rotors as you would any other head. Here's our golf hole with piped rotors (note that the line representing the pipe is solid, denoting a lateral line):

 

 

 

 

One advantage of representing this pipe as lateral pipe in our system is the ability to group several VIH rotors into a station for organizational and error-checking purposes.

 

 

 

 

 

In the image below, we've completed our station of VIH rotors and piped it to two shut-off valves.

 

Note that when we use the Highlight Station tool, it highlights the station only up to the shut-off valves.

 

Sizing the Pipe Connecting VIH Rotors (Size Mainline tool)

Other Important Considerations

Because VIH rotors include valves, and because the pipe you use to connect them acts like mainline, you'll need to take a few other considerations into account:

 

 

 

• Want to use quick-coupler valves? No problem. Although lateral line usually can’t handle quick coupler valves, this one will handle it just fine because the system treats it like mainline. Just place your quick-coupler valves and pipe to them from your VIH rotor station using our Draw Lateral Pipe tool.

 

• Because VIH rotors include valves:
  • You can – and should – use our Valve Callout tool to label them. They'll receive numbers as would any other valve.
  • They'll be listed in any Valve Schedule you place in your drawing.

Changing the Symbols for VIH Rotors in Your Projects and Drawings

If you've already added a particular VIH rotor to your project – even if you've already placed it in a drawing – you may want to change its symbol to another one of our default symbols, or a version you've created. See our documentation on changing symbols for irrigation heads.

Related Webinars

• Golf Course Irrigation: We'll demonstrate some of the great tools Irrigation F/X offers to help ensure proper mainline sizing and scheduling. We'll also discuss the use of using flow zones, shut-off valves, and valve-in-head rotors. (1 hr 4 min)