Lawn Sprinkler Spray Control

One of the problems I always have with watering my lawn during the summer is that there is a sidewalk running between the part of the lawn next the street and the part next to the house, there is a driveway on the side, there is a walkway up to the front door, and there are narrow areas in both back and sides. These areas are difficult to water without spraying a lot of water on the sidewalks, and the sides of the house. This is a waste of water and it also causes the grass along the edges of these obstacles to be over-watered in order for the grass in between to get enough.

This instructable gives an very cheap, very easy fix to this problem by allowing you to direct the spray in whatever pattern you like. You will need the following materials:

1. a small length of PEX tubing of the kind used in modern plumbing. probably 6 inches in length is enough depending on how you decide to implement this instructable. The cost for this tubing is negligible. I just used a piece of scrap that I had left over from plumbing a sink in my house.
2. a lawn sprinkler which has aluminum tubes with a series of spray nozzles. I show this with the type shown in the picture but the same technique will work on any similar type.
3. cutting tools to cut the pex.
4. about 5 minutes of free time.

Cut the PEX Into Lengths

I used a PEX cutting tool to cut several lengths of tubing, as shown in the picture, so that I can cover various numbers of nozzles depending on how I want to guide the spray.

Cut the Tube Along the Side

I then used tin snips to cut the PEX along one side so that it can be opened slightly. You will probably notice that the PEX is curved in one direction. It is best to make the cut along the inside of the curve so that the resulting piece follows the curvature of the sprinkler tube more closely.

Open the Slice

Now use some pliers to bend open the tube so that it is easier to fit onto the sprinkler.

Install the Tubes on the Sprinkler

Now you can fit the tubes on to the sprinkler and slide them back and forth to whatever position you like in order to cover various sets of spray nozzles.

When the water is flowing it will try to follow the easiest route and if you have plastic pex over a given nozzle it increases the pressure at that nozzle and so less water will flow there. You will still have a small about of water escaping beneath the covered nozzles but the bulk of the flow will go through the exposed nozzles instead.

In fact, you will notice that, after you cover several of the nozzles, the remaining ones will spray further. This makes it clear that more water is flowing to them.

Conclusion

I have used my modified sprinkler to water in tight areas between houses while minimizing the amount of spray hitting the walls, I have used it to water grass on both sides of sidewalks and driveways without wasting water in the middle on the concrete, etc.

I hope you find this a quick, cheap, and useful way to mold your sprinkler spray to water in a more efficient manner.

Have a great summer!