Want to install a sprinkler system to water your home's lawn? It will help to know all of the major components that come together for it to work.

Controller 

The controller unit of your sprinkler system is essentially the brain of the whole operation. This is what tells the individual valves to either open or close. This is also where you can set timers so that you can water the lawn when you want it to be watered, rather than have to turn the system on and off manually.

Pipes

Water needs to travel through pipes to reach all of the different sprinkler heads. However, the pipe used for a sprinkler system is different from the copper plumbing in your home. A sprinkler system uses pipes made out of polyethylene or PVC material. Both types of material perform well outdoors, where the pipes will face various weather conditions.

Backflow Preventer

Every sprinkler system is going to have a backflow preventer. The purpose of this part is simple; it does not allow water within the sprinkler system to flow back into your home's main water supply. If it's doing its job, your water will continue to be clean and safe for drinking.

Valves

There are several types of valves that can be used for a sprinkler system. When you have a more modern sprinkler system that can run on a timer, it is going to use an electric valve. It does require running an electrical line to the valves so that they can be controlled. 

If you have a manual sprinkler system, you'll be using gate or ball valves. These are two types of valves that work by either having a gate that lowers to block the flow of the water or a ball that rotates to let water through.

Sprinkler Heads

Once the valves are opened, the flow of water creates water pressure that causes a sprinkler head to pop up out of the ground. There are several types of sprinkler heads to choose from.

Shrub sprinkler heads come out as a tall pole, which is designed to raise above the level of the plants you are watering. They spray a mist that consistently waters the plants, and never outputs enough water pressure to damage them. 

Rotary sprinklers use a more powerful stream to give you wide ground coverage, and they rotate while they are in use to cover large portions of your lawn. If the rotary sprinkler heads are missing parts of your lawn, you can use a shrub sprinkler head to fill in the gap in water coverage.

Contact a sprinkler service to learn more about lawn sprinkler systems

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