Irrigation planner for gardens
Plan your garden irrigation online before you install it.
Rainplot calculates a sprinkler system or irrigation system for your garden: the pressure at each sprinkler, the water each part of the lawn gets, the zones, the pipes and the price of the parts.
A free account is all you need. The tutorial works even without one.
With the makers' own dataHunter · Rain Bird · Gardena · VYR · Grundfos · DAB · Pedrollo
- Garden
- 3,360 m²
- Sprinklers
- 18
- Zones
- 3
- Water source
- pump, DAB Jet 300 M
- Water per watering
- too littletargettoo much
Steps
How it works
Six steps. The images are recordings from the app.
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01Draw
Design your irrigation plan
Draw your garden on the aerial photo of your address, which is to scale. Leave the patio, paths and borders out as cut-outs.
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02Sprinklers
Place sprinklers
Pick brand, model and nozzle: pop-up sprays and rotors from Rain Bird, Hunter and others. With each sprinkler you add, the app works out the precipitation map again.
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03Fine-tune
Adjust the sprinkler's arc
Turn a sprinkler's arc and the water moves with it, live.
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04Planner
Zones and pipes from the planner
The planner splits the sprinklers into zones and draws the pipes, valves and manifold to suit your tap or pump.
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05Pressure
Pressure at each sprinkler
The pump curve shows each zone's operating point, and the tables the pressure at every sprinkler.
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06Order
Shopping list
Every part with quantity and price, from sprinkler to elbow. Buy it wherever you like.
01–04: the tutorial's demo garden. 05, 06 and the top of the page: a real 3,360 m² garden.
Features
More features
Functions that the tutorial does not cover.
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Drawing
Import a drawing
Lay a garden design or site plan (PNG, JPG or PDF) over the map. Make it transparent, scale and rotate it until it fits, and draw the garden on it. No aerial photo needed: the drawing also works on the white map.
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Zones
One zone at a time
Show only one zone and see what it waters while it runs, then the whole programme.
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Obstacles
Trees cast a rain shadow
Draw a tree, post or fence. Water doesn't get behind it, and the map shows where.
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Measure
Point at any spot
Measure precipitation: the water per watering at that spot, against your target.
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Pump
Pump too small? See which ones work
For each zone, what it needs at the source, and the pumps that deliver it. Choose one and it's all worked out again.
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Fittings
See the fittings on the map
Tees, elbows and adapters on the map, where the shopping list puts them. Pipes that share a trench lie side by side.
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PDF
The whole plan as a PDF
Map, precipitation map, run times, every sprinkler and pipe, and the shopping list.
Zones, measuring, pump, fittings and PDF: a real 3,360 m² garden. Obstacles: a garden on the white map.
Calculations
What Rainplot calculates
For each design you see:
- Pressure at every sprinkler
- bar
- Flow per zone
- L/min
- Water per hour and per watering
- mm
- Uniformity
- CU · DU
- Dry patches
- m²
- Pressure loss in pipes and fittings
- bar
- Run time per zone
- min
- Price per part and in total
- €
Worked out with the makers' tables and pump curves. Rainplot sells nothing itself.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How many pop-up sprinklers can go on one zone?
That depends on your tap or pump, the pipes and the sprinklers. Rainplot works out the pressure at every sprinkler, and the planner forms the zones so that each sprinkler gets enough.
Is my mains pressure enough, or do I need a pump?
Put your tap or pump on the map. Rainplot works with the tap's pressure or the pump curve, and with the pressure loss in pipes and fittings. For each zone you see whether it's enough.
Will every patch of lawn get water?
The precipitation map colours every spot by how much water it gets. Dry patches show at once, with the uniformity and the dry share as figures.
Do I have to measure my garden?
No. The aerial photo of your address is to scale. No good photo? Draw on a white map or put your own plan underneath.
Which brands are in it?
Sprinklers and nozzles from Hunter, Rain Bird, Gardena and VYR, and pumps from Grundfos, DAB, Pedrollo and others, with the makers' data. Rainplot sells nothing itself.
Which pop-up sprinklers can I use?
Pop-up sprays and rotors from Rain Bird, Hunter and others, such as the Rain Bird 1800 and 5000 and the Hunter Pro-Spray and PGP, each with its matching nozzles. Rainplot works with the makers' tables.
Can I design my own sprinkler system?
Yes. You design your irrigation plan online on an aerial photo of your garden: sprinklers, zones and pipes. Rainplot calculates the pressure and the water per square metre, so you see whether your sprinkler system works before you buy anything.
Can I install my sprinkler system myself?
Yes, that's what Rainplot is for. You get a PDF plan with every sprinkler, pipe and fitting, and a shopping list with quantities and prices. The digging and connecting is up to you.
PE or PVC pipe?
Both. Choose PE or PVC pipe; Rainplot works out the pressure loss in every pipe and fitting.
How long should each zone run?
Choose how many millimetres of water you want per watering; Rainplot works out each zone's run time.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes, though drawing is nicest on a computer or tablet.