Not if you don’t mind changing them every 6-12 months.
You can get really cheap budget sprinklers for $1-5, but as with everything in life, you get what you pay for.
We only use Toro sprinkler bodies which have excellent seals, springs and general construction. Generally you can expect 7-10 years from a Toro which in the longer term is much better economy.
A common misconception is that retic should run for 10 minutes.
NOT SO!
You are allowed to apply 10mls of water on your watering day. This is where the confusion comes from.
10ml not 10min!
So different nozzles require different run times.
Normal Toro – 10-15 minutes
MP Rotators – 45-60 minutes
Gear drives – 20-40 minutes
(The difference is related to the spacing between the sprinklers.)
But don’t buy the 10 minutes thing!
Nope…
If your reticulation isn’t working then changing the battery will just be $9 down the drain.
The battery is not responsible for the operation of the sprinklers. It simply helps to retain the settings when the power goes off.
Your retic needs 24v if power to open the solenoids so changing a battery wont do the job.
If it’s not working then it could be any one of a number of issues – but it won’t be the battery!
So you’ve got a bare area in your lawn and you’re thinking of revitalising it with lawn seed?
What you need to find out before doing anything is why the bare area happened in the first place. Otherwise chances are the problem will simply recur.
Reasons the lawn may be bare are:
– The lawn doesn’t get enough sun.
– The lawn doesn’t get enough water.
– There are lawn beetle in it.
So before doing anything first work out what the problem is.
And then it’s to the solution. Obviously ‘lawn seed’ is not the way to fix any of the problems above.
That said I have never seen lawn seed work as a successful solution in any setting. It’s partly because the new ‘lawn’ is always sparse and partly because it rarely gets watered enough to sustain it.
New roll on lawn is always a better option, but only if it gets watered and is laid with adequate sun.
Why should you get a retic bloke in to fix your sprinklers?
Let me tell you a story of today’s DIY mishap…
Retic is just like plumbing right? Yeah that’s what I reckoned… So we needed to change over the taps and spout in our ensuite and I figured ‘it can’t be that hard – I’ll just do it myself.’
I removed the old spout, taps and shrouds without much drama and began to install the new spout. It was a tight fit – really tight – I could hardly get it on. But with some very careful manoeuvring I managed to get the spout almost perfectly in place. Almost… it was about 1mm out and Mrs Brighton Retic doesn’t like things that are ‘almost’ perfect.
I figured one more turn would see it perfect. The picture you see is what happens when you go that extra turn.
Not happy – not what I needed on my day off.
I decided to leave it in place and install the taps then head down to Bunnings later to try and get a new spout.
So I took all the old gear off and began to install the new taps. But they didn’t go on as I thought they should. They were ‘on’, but not functioning as they should have been.
I checked out the fittings and realised they were very different to the current ones and installing these was a gamble – possibly out of my skill range – no – definitely out of my skill range.
So I called my plumber to explain that amateur hour had gone south fast.
‘Yeah – you can’t install just taps and spout – you need to do a whole basin set’ he told me. Well now I know…
So I put the old taps back on, drove to Bunnings to spend another $85 on new taps and I have booked Andy the plumber to come and fit them for me.
By the time I had got to Bunnings and back it was 11.00am and I had spent 3 hours and $85 for no return. My plumber would have had it done in fast time and I would have had a professional job.
Sometimes its just worth having someone who actually knows what they are doing!
When we come to your home to fix the retic, we carry virtually every fitting imaginable – there is nothing we can’t fix on the spot. A trip to the shop is down time for us so we make sure we have everything onboard.
And then there’s the expertise factor. A handyman is probably half the cost of a retic bloke, but chances are he will take twice as long and not use quality parts. We fix everything in fast time and get you up and running both quickly and professionally.
So save yourself the repeated trips to Bunnings, the struggle to fix something that has you baffled and the loss of time off – and just call us. We will be there to get it sorted.
My sliding door rollers carked it yesterday too. I could probably fix it on my day off, or I could call Malcom at Smooth Sliding Doors and he will fix it in 15 minutes – and it will be done right.
I know what I’ll be doing!
When no sprinklers operate at all you have a few possible problems.
This morning I was working on a job like this in Quinns Rocks. The controller looked fine, but when I checked the master solenoid, the coil had just about exploded, rendering it useless.
The coil is the electrical component and operates by retracting a small steel plunger and allowing water to flow.
A new coil solved the problem and the rest of the system was fine.
So your control box has stopped working?
All of us are aware of the need to have an effective and waterwise reticulation system. But that doesn’t just happen. It requires planning and sometimes modifications to your irrigation set up.
It may also be that your irrigation controller needs reprogramming for optimal watering efficiency.
Some common problems that you may experience include:
All of these problems are solvable and just require rethinking how the system is constructed. Our policy is to never skimp on sprinklers or risk overloading a station as this will end up in more work in the long term.
If you’re doing a DIY then be sure to calculate your water flow rates before beginning, use quality sprinklers and use more rather than fewer to ensure the job is done well.
Of if you need any of these problems solving just give us a call on 0400044236.
This is one of the most common reticulation issues especially in suburbs like Butler, Carramar, Banksia Grove and Clarkson where these controllers were installed as part of the landscaping package.
The first thing you should know is that there is no fuse! And the little battery symbol with a line thru it doesn’t mean there is a problem with the battery. There is no battery.
The message means one of two things:
a) There is a fault with a solenoid
b) The controller is faulty.
We can run some tests to prove which one it is, but don’t waste your time looking for a fuse or a battery!
As a general guide if the display is flickering and intermittent the box itself will be dead, but if everything looks good then it may well be the solenoid coil.
This is the most common controller we use so for those who would like some easy to follow instructions here they are courtesy of Hunter
Part 2 – some more advanced programming: