New tool Tuesday's
- Thread starter wallyhts
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- Apr 24, 2008
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Except if you have a rocky yard like mine.
Lol ya then it's time for some diesel power
Rock is the worst
Mine is Rock and Roots. I am lucky I got my wire burried, but its only about 2 inches under the grass.
Same here, I have tried all kinds of tricks like that over the years. The area I live in is all rocks. Only a few yards that weren't and those were the one where the owner had then dig down a couple of feet with a track hoe and then truck in softer rock free top soil.
Having a landscaping company that installs low voltage lighting, irrigation systems and various other outdoor plumbing and electrical needs I can attest that in some cases a tool like this can be valuable. However in this video its important to notice that the irrigation system is running, and as easily as the trenching spade went in had been running for a while (as in probably a regular watering schedule). They dont like dry dirt, and as mentioned before rocks, tree roots and anything hard makes this tool useless. When doing drip systems in flower gardens i usually run a sprinkler for several hours the day before an install to use these though for half inch water lines you have to get rather aggressive when spreading the trench. I dont know how useful this would be for an average person but we have 2 and have used them and they do save a ton of time if you can use it. They are also useful for installing edging around flower gardens, both the steel and plastic. Just my 2 cents from someone who uses these.
Nice. $140, not so nice. My spade does just fine.
And yeah, they probably should have cut that part out.
Anyone else wonder if he went thru an irrigation line after the water cut off?
And yeah, they probably should have cut that part out.
Anyone else wonder if he went thru an irrigation line after the water cut off?
- Apr 24, 2008
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Perhaps I've hit many irrigation lines. You don't know until the system kicks on. They use the cheapest crap pipe you can buy pain to fix.
Not our company, only use schedule 40 pvc pipe, and valves on a manifold with unions for years of reliable service. Also give the customer a diagram with accurate measurements of where all of the pipe runs are and which set of pipes are for each zone.
- Apr 24, 2008
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wow that's awesome that sure would help the homeowner down the road...I'm sure you have seen some of that crap others use? You can look at it and it will break.
Do you guys plow it or tench it in? What depth do you normal do?
Always trench and minimum 12" for the zones and minimum 26" for water feed. We have a jetter to go under sidewalks. dont have a long enought jetter attachment to go under driveways though but its never come up. usually we drop the wire for the solenoids in the trench, but occasionally a customer doesnt want that cause they think it will cost too much so we try to use the tool used in this video to put the low voltage wire in. we guarantee the systems for 12 months and all service on the system is included in the first year including the first winterizing and startup the following year. We also reseed the trench and add fill as the trench settles. We have to trench here so the city can inspect to ensure we are below UBC recommendations and make sure that the pressure vacuum breaker is installed at the proper height.
Your right though the tubing you can get at home depot for irrigation is a joke. Ive seen 2 year old systems that the tubing was squeezed in half by tree roots or what ever someone may stick in the ground, in one instance someone put a sign in the yard for some politician and it punctured the tubing resulting in the yard becoming a swamp. All of our systems are geared to last and be serviceable. The only part i think is kinda chintzy is the cutoff risers but I dont make em. We use those so that over time if the lawn gets thicker because the grass clippings turn to dirt you can raise the heads to match the surface.
Your right though the tubing you can get at home depot for irrigation is a joke. Ive seen 2 year old systems that the tubing was squeezed in half by tree roots or what ever someone may stick in the ground, in one instance someone put a sign in the yard for some politician and it punctured the tubing resulting in the yard becoming a swamp. All of our systems are geared to last and be serviceable. The only part i think is kinda chintzy is the cutoff risers but I dont make em. We use those so that over time if the lawn gets thicker because the grass clippings turn to dirt you can raise the heads to match the surface.
I've used one of these, but my yard is sandy loam to start with, so soft: http://www.homedepot.com/p/QEP-14-in-Wide-Floor-Surface-Scraper-20900Q/100147899
A flat spade works well also. Neither of these cost $140. I'd never spend that much, even if I was doing it commercially (I'd buy a power trencher in that case).
A flat spade works well also. Neither of these cost $140. I'd never spend that much, even if I was doing it commercially (I'd buy a power trencher in that case).
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