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A siphon basin during installation. Note that the piping leaves the drainage pit at an elevation higher than the depth at which the water will be collected in the bottom of the basin. |
The Turf Drain Siphon System is the first drainage system in which you can install drainage without the need to grade pipe. Piping can go over mounding or into an ungraded trench. It has an application in flat coastal properties where there is a need to take the water a long distance with little elevation change. Any property where grading pipe may be difficult, such as rocky property or a course with lots of underground obstructions, can benefit from a Turf Drain Siphon System.
At Brays Island there are 9 individual Siphon Systems installed on the course. Each is separately controlled by a small, landscape style irrigation timer. It can be set to run on a set schedule however takes a significant amount of time to change the schedule or to run manually like we do after a rain event. We have also discovered that the irrigation timers are very prone to fail.
With this in mind, during the irrigation renovation we are installing Rain Bird IC controlled valves to operate the Siphon System. This will allow us to control the Siphon System with the Rain Bird irrigation controller. With this improved control of the drainage, we can have better control of the course. For example, we can run the system before an approaching storm to clear out the basins and lines, then based on the rainfall amounts adjust the schedule to dry the areas of the course as quickly as possible. This is not to say that everyone can expect a tremendous difference in course conditions after a storm but we feel that every little bit helps in restoring normal access to the course.
