Drip Irrigation

Note: The following catalog of content covered in this webinar is time stamped to allow you to follow along or skip to sections of the video that are relevant to your questions. You can also search for content on this page using the FIND command in your browser (CTRL + F in Windows, Command + F in Mac OS.)

Intro/TOC

• Types of Drip Equipment
  • Drip Emitters
  • Drip Accessories
  • Drip Classification Terminology
• Adding Drip Equipment to a Project
• How to Place Drip Equipment
• Drawing and Sizing Lateral Pipe
• Details
• Running Schedules
• Additional Capabilities

0:00 – 5:14: Intro/TOC

Pros and cons of drip irrigation (2:45)

5:15 – 19:18: Types of Drip Equipment

Drip Emitters (5:15)

Bubblers (aka flood bubblers, shrubblers, etc.)  (5:15)

Pros:

• Good for quick application of water
• Floods the planting area
• Point-sourced directly next to root zone
• Easy to manage and potentially shorten runtimes

 

Cons:

• Bubblers are fixed, so when the plan grows, it can be harder to adjust and ensure the water is applied appropriately as plant matures

 

Micro sprays (provide overhead spray but classified as drip) (6:40)

Pros:

• Great for covering broad areas
• Provide a good amount of direct spray while using less water
• Also sourced close to the plant

 

Cons:

• Small openings can be clogged easily if the system is not designed correctly and filter not installed properly
• Small pieces of equipment that can break easily, leading to geysers

 

 

Emitters (7:40)

Pros:

• Good for direct watering
• Easy to move and adjust as plant grows

 

Cons:

• Tubing can be messy, depending on plant density
• Can create trip hazards, which can in turn damage the tubing

 

In-line drip (8:45)

Pros:

• More all-in-one inclusive than other types of equipment (tubing has the emitters in it)
• Easy to lay out and create grid coverage
• Even coverage
• Easy to tie to and tee off

 

Cons:

• Low-emission: Potentially better for clay than sand

 

Remember to do your research and select the correct equipment for the soil conditions. Some of these emitter types are better for sites with soils consisting more of clay, sand, etc.

 

Drip Accessories (10:10):

Air relief/flush valves (10:14)

 

Drip kit valves (11:20)

 

Drip Classification Terminology (12:15)

• Area for Drip Emitters
• Individual emitters
• Custom emitters (to show custom flow)
• Area for Dripline
• Drip control valves / filters/ regulators
• Pipe transition points  (optional)
• Drip air relief valve
• Flush cap/valve (optional)

 

Overview of our irrigation equipment symbols master drawing (linkes below), which shows all symbol families and serves as a handy guide for the available symbols, as well as a reference point for when you want to customize them (18:00)

19:19 – 23:09: Adding Drip Equipment to a Project

Docked vs. undocked Irrigation Manager (we recommend the docked version, which allows you to keep working in your drawing while adding, editing, and placing equipment from the Irrigation Manager)

 

The available drip equipment categories (19:45)

 

Adding drip emitters / emitter areas from a specific manufacturer (20:00)

 

Clicking the More Info button to see detailed information about a piece of equipment (20:45)

 

Selecting a pressure for an added emitter (21:10)

 

Assigning specific information to an emitter (such as plant container size) (21:20)

If you’ve designed your planting plan using our software, your plants should have specific sizes set to them. The Plant Containers list in the Edit Drip Emitters dialog box will list all available plant sizes in your project. You can then select a plant size to assign to an emitter as you add it to your project.

 

Assigning specific emitter types and numbers of emitters to each available plant size (22:00)

This step helps you assign the right number of emitters to all your plant types and calculate the correct flow rate for each plant.

23:10 – 42:59: How to Place Drip Equipment

Placing a drip emitter area within an existing closed polyline (23:10)

You can also draw a drip emitter area on the fly by typing D for “Draw” when placing the area.

 

Viewing the data (including flow rate) assigned to a drip emitter area in a drawing using our View Data tool (23:30)

 

Placing an Irrigation Schedule to see a list of equipment you’ve placed (24:08)

The Irrigation Schedule will include square area of emitter areas, as well as a quantity of emitters for each container size.

 

Adding a drip emitter to a project (25:38)

It’s important to note that when you select an emitter and a nozzle size for that emitter, that nozzle size will be applied directly to that emitter, multiplied by the number of nozzles assigned to it.

 

Selecting a symbol style for an emitter (27:40)

 

Placing an emitter (28:15)

One advantage of using Areas for Drip Emitters, as opposed to individual emitters, is that you won’t need to pipe to each individual emitter if you use Areas.

 

Pressing K while placing equipment to see all the available keyboard shortcuts (28:45)

For example, the Q and E keys allow you to toggle up and down in nozzle size when placing an emitter.

 

Placing individual emitters within existing Areas for Drip Emitters (29:20)

If you place an individual emitter within a drip emitter area (for example, if you want to add extra flow to the plants in that area), the area will recognize that area and its added flow – as long as the emitter is not piped and is placed entirely within the emitter area.

 

If you want to assign these individual emitters to a different zone, just pipe them to a different valve in your drawing. They’ll be assigned and piped to that valve – even if they lie within a drip emitter area.

 

Adding and placing an Area for Dripline, selecting its row spacing, and assigning a pressure (31:11)

As with Areas for Drip Emitters, you’ll place an Area for Dripline within a closed polyline, or draw the area as you place it by pressing D.

 

The hatch pattern for the dripline will follow the direction of the line you select when placing it. This is a potentially handy tool for showing the direction in which the actual dripline should be installed, to account for the plant layout in the selected areas. You can also use this feature to denote different dripline areas by running the line in different directions in adjacent areas.

 

Using our View Data tool to see the flow and pressure of a dripline area (34:26)

 

Overview of our Schematic Irrigation tool, which allows you to set up an initial schematic plan for your irrigation system based on the general types of equipment you think you’ll use (35:45)

 

Piping valves to a Schematic Irrigation area (37:20)

Schematic areas provide a quick way to make estimates of the flow rates you’ll use in your project. Note that in our example, we piped three valves into a single Schematic area, and that area’s flow was split evenly between the three valves when we sized the lateral pipes.

 

Using our Verify Laterals tool to check for and correct piping errors (40:19)

 

Adding and placing drip control valves (aka drip kit valves) (40:55)

43:00 – 49:14: Drawing and Sizing Lateral Pipe

Placing pipe transition points (43:00)

When you pipe to a piece of equipment or a pipe transition point, you’ll see a yellow circle indicating that you’ve successfully piped to that object. As you pipe, make sure you’re seeing these yellow circles.

 

Using the Highlight Station tool to highlight piped areas and show their flow (44:19)

 

Connecting multiple areas together (44:50)

 

Adding and placing a drip indicator (47:50)

49:15 – 52:37: Details

Assigning a detail to a specific piece of equipment (49:15)

When you assign a detail to a piece of equipment, you’re creating the ability to represent that piece of equipment on a detail sheet in Paper Space, which provides more complete information on the piece of equipment for the benefit of the client, contractor, etc.

 

Updating details in your drawing (52:18)

52:38 – 53:59: Running Schedules

Our Irrigation Schedule tool includes the option to list details assigned to pieces of equipment in your project/drawing. (52:38)

54:00 – end: Additional Capabilities

Keeping drip areas separate from each other (54:00)

You can also create individual drip areas that are on their own zones with their own flow rates separate from those of other areas.

 

Creating a custom tree ring, assigning it with a flow rate, and selecting a symbol for it (54:40)

 

Placing the custom tree ring and bringing trees into your irrigation plan (57:25)

 

Turning the trees into bubblers using our Match Properties tool (59:20)

 

Running another schedule (1:00:10)

 

Question: What are the pros and cons of pipe end points vs. transition points? (1:00:40)

Answer: If you want it to have an actual symbol on the schedule that can potentially be assigned to a detail, or if the pipe will end in a drip box, use a transition point. If you don’t care about these capabilities, or if it’s a simpler connection where the pipe won’t end in a drip box, for example, a pipe end point will work just fine for your purposes. Jake prefers transition points because they can be tallied in the schedule so you can have an accurate inventory.

 

Using our Length Reference Notes tool, you can have headers and footers, on their own layers that are called out and calculated for the contractor. (1:02:20)

 

Placing a Reference Notes Schedule showing all the headers and footers (1:03:30)