1500 GPM - gallons per minute

It can run higher (1800 gpm), but in the picture the pump station is flowing 1493 gallons per minute at 98 psi. The lower the pressure the more efficient. It isn't uncommon to have pumps running at 125+ psi and higher. We do not have to traverse any mountains.

The demands of water at grow-in are the greatest and what the pump station is often designed around. We've had a very gradual grow-in and do have quite a bit of flexability for our regular watering regime - which translates to a low concern for the demand on the pumps -- and the lake is pleanty big.

Installing the Pump

What is long and blue and has a head and bowls? The above photo shows the installation of one of three pumps into the wet well. The long blue item is the pump -- the motor will sit on top once installed. The round things are called the bowls and each one has an impeller inside. It gets lowered into the well up to the flange and gets bolted to the green base that sits above the hole from the pictures earlier this week. The water exits through the discharge head and passes through the filters (the red horizontal component). The filtered water then merily passes along the network of pipes until it exits through a rotor or sprinkler.

Irrigation Wet Well almost finished

Taking my cue from the survey at right (please share your opinion)... This picture was taken last winter, note the jackets. Here the crew is adding the third stage to the wet well. The lake is connected at the bottom and the pumps will sit on top of the hole and draw the water out and it is fed by the lake. Aside from the final structure being the Taj Mahal of pump houses, what I found most unique was where we had the pump station located. The picture below gives a hint.

This 24" diameter pipe is what we used to connect the lake to the pump station. Each piece is 14' long, and not all are shown. The unique part is that the pump is over 600' away from the lake -- hidden in the trees. We went to great lengths to hide everything that wasn't grass or a bunker. This link contains a picture from a previous post about our maintenance facility. The stone road passes through the two buildings and then heads to the pump station, which is near the end of the live oaks. If you look at the far left edge of the picture you will see the beginning of the lake -- 600 feet away. The cleaner unincumbered look was very much worth the effort. It is also much easier to get to the pump station from the maintenance facility, and it is on the way to the course so Don and the staff will easiliy be able to check on the pump throughout the day.

Irrigation Crew starting the Wet Well

The crew is the Irrigation Crew, and yesterday's picture was the hole dug for the wet well. The hole is this large for safety reasons, the steps keep the walls from collapsing. It is this deep because it connects the bottom of the lake with the pump station. The opening in the concrete base attaches to the pipe in the lower portion of the picture which runs to the lake. I'll share a sketch and more details tomorrow.

Please fill out the survey, it will be open for two weeks.

Where is this crew?

In honor of adding a new item to the blog -- a coming soon section -- I'm asking two questions: Where is this crew? and What would you most like to see in the future?

To the right I've listed some ideas that I will be posting for this blog -- some sooner -- some later. I'd say this picture falls under the catagory of "behind the scenes construction". Everything about this project has been interesting to me. I'd very much like some your opinions about what is interesting and what you'd like to see or learn. Please let me know what coming soon items would be of most interest and any other topics are welcome too. I added a survey above the coming soon section for easier feedback.
Cheers.

Perfect Fall Days

We finally got a great month weather wise. September has been hot and dry. We've got a lot more grass on the ground. Only a few holes left to go. I'll be busy for the next few days, I'll be posting again on Wed.

The Wind in Action

It is difficult to photograph the wind. On my first site visit I noticed a tree out in the middle of a field growing sideways away from the prevailing wind.

This week while Don was testing some sprinklers and the pump station pressure at a point far away from the Station – I took a few shots. The wind was mild as compared to an average afternoon - in the photo it is coming from the right (south east). If you look close you can see the arc of the water – it bends in the clouds.

Twofer – Setting the intake line & a few flowers

The above picture was what I was referencing when I mentioned Lupe didn’t mind getting wet. The water is cold.
I’d much rather watch flowers grow than the FedEx cup point updates... I will root for Stricker however...

Well, well, well

To wrap the irrigation system in a nice little blog bundle, I thought I’d show where the water comes from. The above photo is of the drill rig digging the water well. It is pretty deep and a pretty big pipe, and we sure didn’t need it to fill the lake – as it won’t stop raining.

I was on site today and the finish work that was completed recently is outstanding. It has the crew all very excited about the course - they won't stop hitting balls around the maintenance area. I didn't think to take a picture of them today - they were grinning from ear to ear. I'll get one for the blog next next time.

Irrigation Lift Off

I have to admit, I was more than pleased to see the first sprinklers working in action. There are an awful lot of details and a lot of work that makes the system function. Don (pictured) and I designed the system together. He has extensive experience with irrigation systems and what the end user needs and wants. It is a decoder system – no satellites to create a visual distraction on the expansive open areas. Don is standing in the approach area of 1 green. Note the extensive use of containment mounding… :) The 10th hole is on the other side of the lake. There are some very large nice live oaks in the background that 11 & 12 wrap around. The black pipes are unfinished basins.

The Taj Mahal of Pump Houses

Unfortunately I didn’t get our application in on time for the New 7 Wonders of the world contest – I think we had a shot. Our pump house is nice and cozy. Air conditioned – to keep the pumps running smooth – lots of room so no one is afraid to venture inside. If you’ve never been in a pump house – they are often scary places. Sometimes the pump house is more like a chain link fence. We got a great deal too, our builder wanted to prove their talents and used the pump house as their demonstration model.

In all seriousness, it is fantastic having an experienced superintendent – the end user – setting up the infrastructure in an efficient manner – the way it will (and wants to) be used. There are so many details that make so much sense.

Irrigation Pump Station Delivered

This picture wasn’t taken too long after the delivery. It was great to see it in the ground. Pictured are Mark – our distributor and Don Mahaffey our super super – that is construction superintendent, maintenance superintendent and project manager.

Tomorrow I'll have a great picture of the next step.

Irrigation As Built

The above illustration the irrigation system in its entirety - almost. All the data has been collected in the field using the GPS unit from yesterday’s image. The data has been post processed – [the unit collects data from several satellites as items are measured. Afterwards data can also be collected from a regional data collector to further refine the errors. The geometry of the satellites has a big part of the accuracy and using a regional beacon adds to the accuracy.]

I then compile the new measurements – recording during construction requires many individual days of measurement – to the image you see above.

There are a few more heads still out there, but thankfully not many.

Irrigation Pump Station Delivery

This picture was taken back in February when the pump station was delivered. I enjoy new large new pieces of equipment on site – both the crane and irrigation pump station. It was a large milestone for the project. The local brother crane team was quite methodical.

There are several live oaks in the picture because we wanted to hide the pump station as much as possible. It is quite far from the irrigation lake. It worked out well as it is closer to the maintenance area and easier to monitor. We do have it hooked up electronically to our control system, but Don is a believer in using your eyes also.

I'll show how much further we hid the maintenance facility later.