The problem with using a small air compressor, is when the water clears the first head, most of the small amount of air you are able to push starts to exit the zone. Then you don't have enough CFM to keep pushing the water out the far heads. The compressors that the pros use is pushing 100+ CFM. At 40-80 psi normally. Large volume, lower pressure. Will a $100 compressor get water out of the pipes? Sure, just not as much. As long as most the water leaves the heads, and the mains and laterals are not completely full, you will probably be fine. If you are shopping, get something with a larger tank if you can, if you have only got the budget and room for a small one, well that is fine too. Just fill the system in bursts. Hook up a valve on your hose before the sprinkler. Release all the stored air, once you are down to 10 lbs of pressure,shut the valve. Let the system pump back up and then release the air again. Another option, is to connect an additional air tank in line with the above setup. It will give you more cubic feet of compressed air available. Something like this. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=40057 You could then use a smaller compressor, store up a bunch of air to release all at once.

Lucas, Here are some calcs to ponder. You would need to water your grass 1,200 to 1,800 gallons per week to keep your grass hydrated (2,000 sf). You would need about 500 gallons per week for the planting section(2,000 sf). Here is the breakdown: Grass assume 1 to 1.5" per week x 2,000 sf = 170 to 250 cf of water. 200 cf x 7.481 gallons/cf =1,500 gallons per week. Plants assume 2,000 sf @ 2 sf per plant = 1,000 plants. 1,000 plants @ 0.5 gallon per plant per week =500 gallons/wk. 4 Barrels @ 55 gal/bbl = 220 gallons. 2,000 gal/wk divided by 220 gal/bl = filling the barrels 9 time each week. Do you get enough rain to fill your barrels 9 time each week. Do you enough rain water to fill 38 barrels each week. Do you know what your Mom's water usage for landscaping is per month. Place a irrigation water meter in your landscaping system and measure the quantity for a month or even a week and multiply by four. I know this is not what you expected but this is reality unless some can show me I am in error. 4 barrels or 220 gallons would irrigate a garden about 800 sf only(good size garden). Check with your local experts about how much water per week your garden needs to survive and plug that into my calcs. A submersible pump would work fine. Aloha

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

Chandra, everything looks so nice. Some problems you may have is due mainly to excess pressure. If you are reading 140 PSI on your gauge you have hooked in to the line ahead of your regulator. Where I live the regulator is supposed to be just down stream of your meter. Here the main line pressure is 150 PSI. I have mine regulated down to about 40 to 45 pounds, (my son across the highway runs 150 pounds on his outside faucet to get greater flow to water the garden and fill the pool). In my opinion that is a mistake because it is too easy to burst hoses. I would like to adjust my pressure up to about 65 pounds but don't want the added risk of blowing a line in the house. The gauge not coming back to zero may because some gauges have a release button on them to let pressure bleed back to zero, although I have never seen one on a water pressure gauge. I would advise you go get a water pressure gauge if you don't have one. They cost between $5.00 and $10.00 at Lowe's of Home Depot. I used an Air pressure gauge for years but I like the water pressure gauge better. The threads are not the same on a water hose and a pipe. The water hose has a 3/4" 11.5 threads per inch water hose thread on it. All 3/4" plumbing will have a 3/4" 14 threads per inch pipe thread. I have many hose threads attached to pipe threads, but I doubt you can make it work because of the high pressure you are running. You can try to put an extra washer in the fitting and see if it will seal. (all hose fittings seal against a washer, all pipe threads seal because the threads are cut on a taper). Some very high pressure applications use a special thread, but nothing like that is used in a home. If you don't get the threads to seal, you can buy adapters. The plastic adapter cost about $1.50 each, the brass adapters cost about $3.50 each. If it would help you I could go out to the shop and take a picture of each. I have to keep them here because I have to drive 50 miles to get the plastic ones, the brass adapters can be bought about anywhere. If I can help in any way just let me know, just be careful about running too much pressure, you may damage some of your equipment. Larry