Your current sprinkler system may or may not have an inline filter and pressure regulator. If not, you should be sure to install these as part of your conversion to drip. A 150 mesh filter and a 15 to 25 psi pressure regulator are recommended for drip systems. You can buy each component individually or as a filter/pressure regulator combination unit. Your conversion kit should include these components

Hi tdscpa, Thanks for your suggestions. I had checked out the rainbird and other websites but I did not see explanations on having the manifold at the water faucet with the lateral lines going 25 feet underground verses having the main line going 25 feet under ground with the manifold in the irrigation area. But see my comments below. Hi homr, Thanks for taking the time to key in all that information. Especially explaining the pressure loss problems. But it looks like my whole plan will have to be revised due to what I learned. See my comments below. REVISED PLAN: Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I really appreciate it. I talked to a city tech and he gave me a link to city ordinances which deal with irrigation systems. From what I read, it appears that the backflow preventer (BP) has to be installed in the main line prior to any branching. This means the BP will have to be installed near the front corner of our property where the main line first enters our property. This will require longer runs from the BP to the irrigation areas in the front and back yards. I'll have to check with a licensed plumber with experience in irrigation systems confirm whether the BP has to be installed before any branching. But it looks like I have even bigger problems if the BP has to be installed at the front corner of our property: 1. If the BP has to be installed at the front corner of our property, the main line will have to go across our concrete driveway and entry sidewalk to get to our front yard. IÂm reluctant to cut our concrete driveway and entry sidewalk to do this. 2. The path from the BP at the front corner to the back yard is all concrete. That side of the house has concrete from the house to the hollow tile perimeter wall. A DIFFERENT QUESTION: Any licensed plumbers reading this? Is there a universal code that says all main lines have to be buried in the ground? Or is it "generally" permissible to run a main line above ground? (Like attached to our hollow tile perimeter wall above the concrete sidewalk?) Assuming I can get the main line from the BP at the front corner to the back yard, I will have to run the line around the house (buried under ground) to get it to the front yard without having to do item-1. (The other side of the house does not have concrete.) Sorry for the long post. I guess there is no such thing as a simple drip irrigation system if it is to be done right, Sky

Ewww, thanks for the tip, because that is exactly what I was going to try, bathroom silicone. Although I'm starting to see a workaround. The tubing kit came with connectors that attach to a hose, which I was having a hard time figuring out how to use at first. But the spout fits almost snugly into the tip that is made to attach to the tubing. Since I have a version that connects to the end of a hose and caps it, and a version that connects to both a hose and the tubing, I find that both these parts attach to each other. So I can connect the spout to the end cap version, unscrew the cap, connect that to the hose/tube connector, and attach the tube. This probably doesn't make all that much sense without pics, though, huh? I'll try and put some up once my brain is less tired. The thing that would make this perfect is if the spout could attach just a smidge more snugly without requiring silicone. This way, when it is time to refill, I can turn off the spout, detach the connector so that the whole assembly can remain in place, and just take the container down for refilling. Maybe I will take the spout and the connector to the hardware store to see if I can find a bit of tubing that can serve as an intermediary, as the connector is designed to lock over tubing to be secure. Right now the spout fits within the connector, not over the connector, and therefore cannot be locked into place. Or see if I still have a spare hose clamp around somewhere. I know I got some to repair a dishwasher leak, I just don't know if I got extras. Thanks for the ideas. One of these is bound to work!

Brian, A larger line doesn't give you more pressure, only more volume. Your faucet coming out of your house is probably a 1/2" line operating at 60 PSI which is pretty common. Plastic pressure regulators aren't needed, IMHO, as you can effectively regulate the pressure with the faucet handle. Just another plastic part to degrade and fail in the hot sun. If you're setting up sprayers, go ahead and crack the sprayer adjustment enough so when you blow through it, some air escapes, then hook everything up and crank the faucet half way open and see how they're covering. The only advantage to high pressure is that the line pressurizes completely sooner than later. As an example, on one run I have eight sprayers, and about two dozen 1-10 gal emitters, and I run full pressure on the faucet, which is coming through a 3/4" galvanized nipple from a 1" PVC water line. The only time you run out of pressure is when you have a lot of large sprayers operating at max output, then they'll drop the pressure downstream quite a bit. Don't forget a vacuum breaker.