Using Traveling Sprinklers To Water Efficiently

This article explains traveling sprinklers. Let’s face it: There are times when an underground sprinkler system just isn’t practical. If you’re a school with a football field, baseball field, soccer field and track the cost to install a system can be prohibitive. You also lose use of the facility during installation and have to wait for the turf to re-grow.

Have a ranch and you just need to water some areas every now and then? Want to keep the dust down on the horse pens? Multiple areas with crops on the farm and no irrigation? Neighborhood park dying from the heat?

Traveling sprinklers handle all of these with a song in their heart. Coverage ranges from a low of 54′ x 165′ to a huge 145′ x 595′ with gallons per minute from 3 to 95. That is some serious watering.

Most have hydraulic propulsion so all you add is water. One has a built in drive motor with rechargeable battery. None have MP3 players.

ABI Irrigation Micro 505

The big boy first, with a Honda 5.5 horsepower booster pump. This thing can put out 95 gpm and cover an area 131′ wide. With a hose length of 560′ that is some serious acreage on each pull. It handles supply pressure ranges of 35 to 96 psi.

Don’t have that much pressure? Check out the ABI IRRIGATION MICRO 25. It will give you 42′ wide with only 30psi with a hose length of 165′. That’s not bad at all.

What? You don’t even have 30 psi to work with? That’s no step for a stepper. Look at the KIFCO E110 ELECTRIC. It has an electric drive motor with rechargeable battery so your supply pressure requirement is smaller. At only 23 psi you get coverage 85′ wide with a 280′ hose and around 30 hours per charge. Great for low or fluctuating pressure water supplies.

Each of these can handle terrain that is slightly unlevel or rough, as you would have on a farm or ranch. But what if you have a nice, smooth area that doesn’t need the all terrain capabilities? Maybe a nice, smooth football field?

Underhill T-400 Tracker:

Now comes the Underhill T-400-Tracker. This thing puts out up to 85′ x 400′ of coverage on 85 psi and 9 to 15 gpm. Another advantage is it only weighs 58 pounds, compared to the 120 to 800 pounds of its big brothers. Running goal post to goal post helps keep the weight down.

Finally we have the Buckner traveling sprinklers, the Rain Coach and Storm Cruiser. The Storm Cruiser is the Rain Coach with a cruiser shaped protective cover. These give you a coverage of up to 145′ x 450′ using a supply pressure of 55 to 75 psi. It only weighs 56 pounds, making it easy to handle. Unlike the Tracker, it doesn’t keep its weight down by running the football field. It’s more of a hot-rod.