I prefer to trench. There are several very good reasons why I prefer trenching over that of vibratory plowing in piping. To understanding the reasons you need to know the differences in each piece of equipment. A trenchers is a machine that has an attachment that looks like a very large chain saw. This trencher can cut a trench through the earth up to 4 feet deep and 6 inches wide all while cleaning rocks, roots and other debris out of the trench with the dirt.
A vibratory plow has an attachment on the back of it that vibrates a 12” blade and the Chinese finger that grips pipes or wires. To start, you first dig a small hole to sink the blade with the Chinese finger bolted to the end of the blade and the pipe inserted and grabbed by the Chinese finger. The machine runs forward vibrating and pulling the blade. The blade has a large bullet welded on the bottom of the blade. As the machine travels forward, it cut through sod and dirt, leaving a very small slice through the ground, and deep in the ground the bullet creates a tunnel from which the Chinese finger pulls the pipe through. After the pipe is plowed in, you can tamp the slit shut, and ideally you can should hardly see the pipe installation. This method works very nicely in sandy soil rock free moist soil.
In our area there are many factors that prevent me from recommending using a vibratory plow. Here a few reasons: First, and most important, if there are any rocks that the plow comes across or through the pipe is laid on rock that eventually will rub through the plastic and will cause a leak. This happens because every time that zone pipe is pressurized the pipe moves very slightly due to force of the flow of the water though the pipe then causing the PVC lines to eventually fail. The PVC pipe is pulled through the tunnel that the bullet on the plow blade makes all while the pipe is also dragged past any sharp rocks possibly scarring the pipe deep enough to cause future structural failure. This force of pulling pipe can also damage pipe glue joints from the excess ground frictions against the pipe walls. Many contractors may even try to use rolls of 1” black Poly pipe, this is better because there are no glue joints, but is worse because the pipe is only rated at 160psi max and the plastic is softer which allows for easier scarring during installation. Typical limited to only 12 GPM (gallons per minute) flow rates where typical irrigation flow rates per zone are usually between 15 GPM and 18GPM. Must contractors that plow pipe in will use a poorer grade 100PSI POLY pipe which doubles likelyhood of installation damage.
These pipe are much more difficult in repairing also if any problems were to occur. All poly pipe joints are attached via insertion coupling and held together with stainless steel hose clamps. A maximum of two pipes can be installed at once with a vibratory plow.

A trencher can allow as many pipes installed in a single trench limited only by how deep you trench.

With a vibratory plow, if unknown utilities (eg: drainage pipes, invisible pet containment wires) where to be cut you would not know they where damaged and once you realized they where, it would be very time consuming to find and then repair damaged utilities.

With a trencher, all trenches can be inspected for any damaged unknown utilities and immediately repaired. Main type of unknown utilities that are not marked by the state locate company are drainage systems installed by the home builder. 

Trenches can be inspected for left behind rocks, cleaned and padded with clean rock free soil, giving the pipe a soft layer of dirt to lay on and be covered with.
The other main reason I recommend not using a trenchers is another reason why I stop personally using them, and that is what a tabbed the 'float' affect problem. The soil down here in this area tends to have multi layers of hard and soft dirt. What has happened to me in the past is the blade will be down in the ground all the way, but the pipe floats up to a soft layer of dirt, and ends up only being a few inches below ground. When you trench, there is no doubt how deep the pipe will be , because you see it before it is backfilled.

Many contractors that plow pipe in will only give a one-year warranty on their work because of the high likelihood that there will be system problems with pipe installation.
We give a five-year warranty on all our new system installs, that tells you how confident we are in or craftsmanship.
The main draw back to trenching is the likelihood that trenches will settle out. We typically eliminate this problem by using a gas compactor that tamps the dirt back at over 2500 Pounds per square foot.
If you have a special preference that you want a vibratory plow to be used we will accommodate you on this and we will have to limit your system warranty for the irrigation system piping to only one year.



Last Updated: September 18, 2007

Irrigation Done Right

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Frequently Asked Questions:

Q5: What forms of payment do you take?

Q2: What brand irrigation equipment do you install or service?  

Q3: Do you trench or vibratory plow piping in? and Why?
Q6: What makes your company different from other contractors?

I prefer installing RainBird irrigation equipment. After working on and dealing with many different irrigation manufacturers over the last 20 years, I have found that RainBird is the simply the Best. Of course this is my personal opinion, and someone else might disagree. I have had many manufacturers call me up asking me to 'Try” their product, stating theirs' is better, but after doing field tests, eg: even water coverage, reliability, ease of repair, user friendliness, they just do NOT hit the mark. Of course if you have a preference I would consider installing another manufacturer's brand sprinklers and valves if you insisted.
 In servicing irrigation systems, I am specially trained on every major manufacturer brand. Eg:(Rainbird, Toro, Hunter, Nelson, Weathermatic, & Irritrol)
Okay, you asked for it… What is my second favorite brand irrigation manufacturer? Hunter.

We prefer payments be made via checks through a  personal or business checking accounts.

*NOTE* Due to popular demand for people wanting to use credit cards for getting instant cash back and frequent flier reward miles from there credit card company, we will will also take credit card payments if requested in advance prior to having services provided. There will be a small 3 % service fee that will be added to bill to use your credit card.

We include a five-year warranty , most companies only include a one-year warranty.

1)We manifold all our valves in a single location in a bed or natural area to prevent lawn equipment damage due to lawn aerators. Other companies run a mainline pipe around the entire yard tapping each zone valve in a different spot in the grass area in the yard. The top of the boxes of the valves in the grass areas installed the lawn will eventually be grown over with grass. In the fall when the yard is to be aerated if you forget to mark the valve locations that were improperly installed in the lawn areas or you can not find the valves because the grass grew over them, there is a high risk that the aerator may damaged the valves causing a very costly irrigation repair. This is why we choose to put all the valves together in the foundation bed areas. Installation in this manner will avoid many repairs.  
2) We install a rain sensor on all our newly installed irrigation systems, this is not a costly option.
 3) We use only top name brand commerical sprinkler parts. We do not use general market residential products found at your local hardware store.
4) We Install a master valve on our newly installed irrigation systems.

Q1: How long have you personally been in the irrigation industry?

I have been installing irrigation, night-lighting and drainage full-time since 1987.
Over the last 20 years I have personally installed irrigation systems with as many as 1400 zones
and as little as just one zone.
I have professional installing and troubleshooting experience both on Golf Courses and Residential Properties. 
I have been factory trained by several major irrigation manufacturers in servicing and installation  methods.

Q7: What type of yearly maintenance is typical for irrigation systems?

Typical yearly maintenance involves:
1) Winterizing of irrigation system backflow preventer sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas if the backflow preventer is installed aboveground. You will see a large fiberglass box installed most commonly on the opposite side of the garage up against one of the foundation walls.
                     
2) Doing a "spring start-up" around Easter which involves re-assembling the backflow preventer, checking system for leaks via installing a pressure gauge on the discharge side of the backflow preventer discharge onto the gascock valve. After system has been fully pressurized and all zones are checked to be off, the irrigation system's main water shut-off valve is turned off. The pressure gauge should be checked for ten minutes, and should have zero PSI loss. If PSI loss is detected, then there is a water leak somewhere on the system. Properly installed systems will always have zero PSI pressure loss.
The next step to the spring start-up is to check that all sprinklers are not clogged and arcs are set correctly. The final step is to adjust start-times, run-times and 'days to run' of the irrigation controller/timer.
3) The backflow is required by the state of North Carolina to be tested yearly. This may be avoided under certain circumstances due to "grandfather laws" on older irrigation systems. If this is required it is a separate fee of $40.00 payable to the inspector.
4) Finally, some of our clients request that a summer tune-up be performed in the middle of summer to checked that everything is still operating correctly, which includes all steps in the spring start-up procedure except the re-assembling of the backflow. We will also reset controller for summer watering which includes increasing day run times from spring setting of Monday-Wednesday-Friday, to a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday setting.

Q4: What is warranty on your work and material?

*We include a five-year part and labor warranty on craftsmanship on PVC piping, PVC fittings, and irrigation wiring.
*We include a three-year warranty on all sprinklers excluding seasonal adjustments and damaged due to lawn equipment.
(Flag your sprinkler heads before lawn aerating!)
*We include a three-year warranty on electric valves.
*We include a one year warranty on irrigation controller and rain sensor.