How Many Sprinkler Heads Can Be Used in One Zone of Your Lawn?

Are you tired of manually watering your lawn? Are you looking for the best residential garden irrigation services in Brampton to install a new sprinkler system? An in-ground sprinkler system can fulfill your needs.

But do you know how many sprinkler heads you need to install per zone of your lawn? If you install too many, the pressure may drop; too few and you won’t be able to water your plants properly.

Having the correct number of sprinkler heads can mean the difference between a barren lawn and a lush one. But getting the right number can be tricky.

In this post, we will help you determine how many sprinkler heads you can put in per zone.

How Many Sprinkler Heads Should You Have Per Zone?

Sprinklers are a highly useful and effective tool for keeping your lawn properly watered. To determine the number of sprinkler heads you can use per zone, you need to know how much water you have available for irrigation. By measuring the zone of the lawn, water pressure, and maximum flow rate, you can figure out the amount of water each zone can handle for optimum output.

Let’s read further to find out how to calculate them.

1. Measure the Water Pressure

To determine the number of sprinkler heads you will need per zone, you first have to determine your water pressure. This is of course the measure of the force needed to get the water through the plumbing system. Your sprinklers distribute water based on the available pressure. In general, sprinkler systems are designed to operate at pressures of around 30 psi (pounds per square inch). But you’ll need to know the specific requirements of your system.

If you want to measure the water pressure by yourself, you can follow the steps below:

• Turn off every faucet in your home.
• Attach a pressure gauge to the faucet closest to your water meter.
• Turn on the faucet and read the pressure on the gauge, which is measured in psi.

If you face any difficulty, call your lawn watering company. They will help you find the water pressure. Under no circumstances use a sprinkler head that has a psi range that is under or over that of your water system.

2. Measure the Flow Rate

Flow rate is the amount of water a system distributes over a specific time. If you want to measure the flow rate in your house, follow these steps:

• Check if all other taps and faucets inside and outside your house are closed.
• Turn on a faucet and leave a five-gallon container under it.
• Start a timer to get the exact time it takes to fill it up.
• Stop the timer when the container is full.
• Calculate the water flow rate using the following formula:

Gallons (bucket size) / Time (Seconds)  x 60 = GPM (gallons per minute)

For example, it took 20 seconds to fill the 5-gallon container. Then your flow rate will be 5/20 x 60 gallons per minute = 15 GPM.

The amount of water the sprinkler heads can use depends on their water pressure. Combine that and the flow rate of your system to have the per zone limit. For example, say your plumbing system has a flow rate of 10 GPM and pressure of 30 PSI and your sprinkler has a flow rate of 2.5 GPM at 30 PSI. This would mean you could use four sprinkler heads per zone.

So, compare the GPM and PSI readings to get the maximum possible number of sprinkler heads.

3. Zoning the Lawn

Calculate your zones to determine the number of sprinkler heads. Unless you have a very small yard, you will need more than one zone of sprinklers to irrigate your lawn efficiently.

Considering that all plants in your garden have different requirements for water, establishing irrigation zones will help you program the sprinkler system accordingly and provide efficient coverage.

You can start by dividing the yard according to different types of plants, including their watering needs. For example, grass should be watered differently as it requires more frequent watering than shrubs or trees.

You also need to consider the circumference of the spray from your sprinkler head. Halve the sprinklers’ spray circumference and that will be the distance between two sprinkler heads. With that information, map out the sprinkler heads all over the yard. Get as many sprinklers as it takes to cover every plant’s watering needs.

Now, sum up the total gallons per minute (GPM) of all the sprinkler heads at the available pounds per square inch. Then divide that number by your system’s flow rate. That is how many zones you should have.

Remember not to exceed the capacity of the zone. If the calculation comes out even, put one sprinkler fewer. The water flow in your house is not restricted, whereas that to the sprinkler is. So, if you measure 12 GPM and have sprinklers that use 2 GPM, instead of 6, install 5. If you have any difficulty doing these calculations, contact irrigation service experts to install sprinkler heads correctly.