Designing an Irrigation System
The Irrigation mode gives you a dedicated toolbar with eight tools for laying out a complete irrigation plan — from water source through valves to sprinkler heads.
Irrigation DesignThe irrigation sections of the Water tab give you everything needed to lay out a full irrigation system on your 2D plan. Starting from a water source, you draw supply and lateral pipes, split the system into independently controlled zones with valves, and place sprinkler heads with visible coverage circles to confirm head-to-head overlap. Supply-side hardware — backflow preventer, pressure regulator, and filter — and a controller, manifold, and hose bib are all available so you can document an installer-ready irrigation schematic without leaving the canvas.
Add protective components on the supply line
Place zone valves
Use the Place Valve tool to add zone valves on the plan. Set the valve type to 'zone' in the Inspector. Zone valves divide the system into independently controllable circuits — one per irrigation zone. Place each valve where the supply pipe branches toward a watering area.
Draw supply and lateral pipes
Select the Draw Pipe tool. Click to place the first waypoint, continue clicking to add bends, and double-click or press Enter to finish the pipe run. Draw a supply pipe from the water source to each valve, then lateral pipes from each valve out to the sprinkler heads in that zone. Use Place Junction to branch a pipe without a valve.
Place sprinklers and check coverage
Use the Place Sprinkler tool to add spray heads, rotors, or drip emitters along the lateral pipes. As you place each sprinkler, a coverage circle appears on the canvas showing the watered radius. Adjust radiusM and arcDeg in the Inspector so coverage circles overlap slightly for head-to-head coverage without large gaps.
Group zones and review the plan
Select all components belonging to one zone valve and use the Inspector to assign a zone label. Zone grouping allows you to communicate controller scheduling to the client — for example, Zone 1 runs lawn rotors for 20 minutes, Zone 2 runs drip emitters for 60 minutes. Use the Annotate tool to add labels for zone IDs, pipe sizes, and flow rates.
Place sprinkler heads and check coverage
Under Emitters & Heads, click Sprinkler and click to place heads along each lateral. Select a head and open the Spray Coverage section in the Inspector to set the Spray Radius (0.5–15 m) and Spray Arc (15–360°, with 90°/180°/270°/360° quick presets) so adjacent coverage circles overlap slightly — head-to-head coverage that avoids dry spots. The Show Coverage Area toggle shows or hides the selected head's circle.
Overlap coverage circles for even distribution. Rotor heads are typically spaced at their full radius distance apart.
Add supply-side hardware where needed
Under Sources & Supply, place a Backflow preventer, Regulator, and Filter along the supply line. Each is a dedicated object with its own Inspector fields — for example, the regulator records input and output pressure (kPa) and flow (L/min), and the filter records type, mesh, and flow capacity.
Document the controller and manifold
Under Control, place a Controller to record station count, program slots, and sensor inputs, and a Manifold where several zones branch from one service point. These objects communicate the intended control hardware to the installer.
Reposition and reshape objects
Use the Select tool to move any placed object — drag a valve, sprinkler, or source to a new position. To reshape a pipe run, select it and drag its node handles. The Inspector updates to reflect the selected object's current properties.
Follow the flow of water as you build: place the source first, then supply pipes, then valves, then lateral pipes, and finally sprinkler heads. Working in this order makes it easy to spot a pipe run that never reaches its intended heads.
The Water tab is a schematic planning and documentation tool — it does not model real hydraulic pressure or flow rates. Always size pipes, valves, and emitters against manufacturer specifications, and validate the final design with a qualified irrigation professional before installation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why don't I see a coverage circle on my sprinkler?
Select the sprinkler head and open the Spray Coverage section in the Inspector. Confirm the Spray Radius is greater than zero and that Show Coverage Area is enabled — the coverage circle is toggled per head.
Can I draw curved or diagonal pipes?
Yes — add extra click points along the route while drawing. Each click adds a bend point, so clicking along a curve traces it with short straight segments. To fine-tune, select the pipe and drag its node handles.
How do I add a backflow preventer or filter?
Both have dedicated objects in the Water tab under Sources & Supply — Backflow and Filter. Place them on the supply line and set their specification fields in the Inspector. There is no need to substitute an annotation.
How do I assign sprinklers and pipes to a specific zone?
Zones are represented visually by the valve that feeds each group of heads — everything downstream of a zone valve belongs to that zone. The pipe topology shown on the plan communicates the zone boundaries.
Can I see the total pipe length for the whole system?
Select an individual pipe run and its length appears in the Inspector. To see totals across all objects, open the Cost view, which sums pipe lengths and component counts across the full drawing for takeoff purposes.