Base Line BaseStation 3200 User Manual
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BaseStation 3200 Advanced Irrigation Controller ManualPage 9Understanding Soak CyclingWhen you set up your irrigation programs, remember that the rate at which the irrigation application devicesapply water might be very different than the rate at which the soil in your landscape can take up that water.Soak cycling breaks the total run time into shorter water “cycles” with “soak” periods in between to allow time forwater to soak into the soil.Precipitation Rates vs. Infiltration RatesThe precipitation rate, which is the rate at which sprinkler heads or drip emitters apply water to the soil, is typicallymeasured in inches, like rainfall.Many soils only allow water infiltration at a rate of .25 inch per hour or less, whereas most head types put down.50 inch per hour or more (much more in the case of some spray heads).Also remember that head spacing and overlap directly influence the total precipitation rate for any specific zone.Precipitation Rates for Common Sprinkler TypesSpray Heads 1.00 inch to greater than 5.00 inches per hourGear Driven Rotors 0.25 inch to 0.65 inch per hourMulti-stream Rotors 0.40 inch to 0.60 inch per hourDrip Emitters Depends on area covered, rarely exceeds infiltration rateEstimated Infiltration Rates for Common Soil TypesCourse Sand 0.75 inch to 1.00 inch per hourFine Sand 0.50 inch to 0.75 inch per hourFind Sandy Loam 0.35 inch to 0.50 inch per hourSilt Loam 0.15 inch to 0.40 inch per hourClay Loam 0.10 inch to 0.20 inch per hourAs you can see from the tables above, most sprinkler heads have higher precipitation rates than the infiltrationrate of most soils.When the irrigation schedule puts down more water than the soil can take up, the excess water will typically runoff to the lowest point, leaving some areas of the landscape, or even the entire irrigated landscape, underwatered. Standing water also evaporates at a fairly high rate, especially in the heat of the summer months, furtherreducing irrigation efficiency.Even on a perfectly designed system, it is important to match the water application rate to the infiltration rate ofyour soil. You can achieve this balance by breaking a total run time for any zone into multiple “cycles” (timed waterapplications) and “soaks” (timed wait periods for the water applied in the last cycle to infiltrate into the soil beforeapplying more water).The BaseStation 3200 has built-in support for soak cycling and has intelligent watering algorithms that apply cyclesin the optimal order to maximize water penetration and minimize evaporation loss.Note: Soak Cycling is required on all soil moisture based zones or scheduling groups in order to ensure that theapplied irrigation water is reaching the moisture sensor.As a rule-of-thumb, Baseline recommends that you break the total run time for any zone into at least 3 cycles, andconfigure the soak time between cycles to be at least twice the length of the cycle time. |
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