Irrigation for Beginners

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
• Resources
• Let's Start from the Beginning
  • Sheet Setup
  • Assigning a Land F/X Project
  • Setting the Scale Early
• Irrigation Design Workflow
• Toolbars in All Their Glory (And Why You Should Be Using the Ribbons)
• Irrigation Manager, Schematic Irrigation, and System Layout

0:00 – 5:33: Intro/TOC

5:34 – 7:02: Resources

• Hunter Industries, Rain Bird, and other manufacturers
  • Hunter University (online/in person)
  • Rain Bird Landscape Irrigation Design Manual/online resources
• Irrigation Association (IA)
• CAD Learning Labs
• Irrigation design courses
• IA Bookstore
• Land F/X
• Webinars (live and recorded)
• Documentation

7:03 – 10:35: Let's Start from the Beginning

Sheet Setup (7:14)

• What is it going to look like on paper?
• How big do you want your symbols to look?
• What size sheet will you be working with?
• What can fit on one sheet?
• Will you need to reposition the site so it fits better on the sheet?

Setting the Scale Early (8:34)

Real-world objects (tree symbols, etc. – change with the scale of the plan) (8:34)

Graphical objects (e.g., irrigation symbols, text, etc. – stay the same size regardless of scale) (9:28)

10:36 – end: Irrigation Design Workflow

Typical irrigation design workflow (10:36):

• Sheet setup
• Source Data discovery & Schematic Irrigation
• Equipment selection/Client approval
• Determine emission type/location
• Equipment placement
• Zoning/Circuiting
• Pipe equipment (connect the dots)
• Size zones (label pipe sizes)
• Count items for schedules

Assigning a Land F/X project (15:55)

See our Land F/X Admin and Setup webinar for further information.

Preference Sets (17:49)

Opening the Irrigation Manager (18:39)

Sheet setup and external references (Xrefs) (19:45)

Creating and scaling a viewport (20:43)

For further information on sheet setup, see our sheet setup webinars:

• Sheet Setup and Management
• Sheet Setup
• Metric Sheet Setup

Customization, Preferences, and default settings (22:45)

Toolbars in All Their Glory (And Why You Should Be Using the Ribbons) (29:41)

Our ribbon layout (29:41)

• Sheet setup tools
• Irrigation tools

Why you should be using the ribbons and not the toolbars (33:46)

Irrigation Manager, Schematic Irrigation, and System Layout (34:35)

Equipment categories, Source Data, and Pipe Data (35:31)

Placing a water source (39:25)

Initial mainline layout (40:39)

Selecting and adding heads (42:08)

Viewing manufacturer data about a specific piece of equipment (44:13)

Selecting a radius and symbol for a head (44:49)

Selecting a design pressure for a head (48:53)

Adding auxiliary equipment, valves, and drip equipment (50:40)

Area for Dripline vs. Area for Drip Emitters vs. individual drip emitters (51:13)

Schematic Irrigation (52:24)

Placing a Schematic Irrigation Schedule (56:46)

Using Layout tools (example: Match Equipment) to populate additional areas (1:00:07)

Placing equipment (1:01:09)

Keyboard commands for placing equipment (1:02:49)

Using our Match Equipment and Match Properties tools to copy and place equipment without also copying the pipe connections (1:07:48)

Using our XCOPY and XCORO tools to pipe additional sections quickly by copying and placing pipe (1:10:32)

Using our Circuiting tool to create zones (aka circuits) consisting of specific equipment types (1:13:38)

Using the Irrigation Schedule tool to determine which changes need to be made in the circuiting zones (1:18:22)

Toggling zones on and off (1:21:00)

Color coding associated with pipe connections (or the lack thereof) (1:21:38)

Using our station tools (example: Highlight Station) to ensure connections (1:24:02)

Using our Verify Laterals tool to error check the stations (1:24:51)

Placing pipe hops at intersection points (1:26:19)

Using our Verify Mainline tool to error check the mainline (1:27:10)

Sizing the lateral pipes (1:27:28)

Renumbering valves (1:31:09)

Sizing the mainline pipes (1:32:24)

Reading the Critical Analysis to determine the system's pressure needs and detect any issues with pressure (1:33:49)

Placing an Irrigation Schedule (1:34:51)

Placing a Valve Schedule (1:35:57)

Changing the drawing scale after placing equipment (and the importance of setting the correct scale and sheet setup at the beginning) (1:38:40)

Using our Move Pipe Equipment and Replace Equipment tools (1:40:41)