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New Popup Sprinkler System for QT’s Early Learning Centre in Mareeba

QT”s Early Learning Centre in Mareeba provides childcare and early learning for the young children of Mareeba. In early 2021, Think Water Mareeba became aware that the childcare centre needed a popup sprinkler system through one of Think Waters consultants whose child attended the Early Learning Centre. Wanting to give something back to the community, the team at Think Water decided to undertake the project as a community service.

The brief was, “Keep the grass green!”

Stephen from Think Water led the project, first doing a site inspection to scope the project and then a quote to present to the Think Water bosses. Approval was readily granted and preparations began.

The project had four main stages:

  1. Site inspection
  2. Design phase and preparation of a quote
  3. Sourcing of donated products from preferred suppliers
  4. Installation

Think Water approached their preferred suppliers to donate the materials needed for the project. HR products, an Australian owned company and preferred supplier donated Sprinkler Bodies, Fittings and Controllers. Think Water donated their labour and worked in cooperation with the workforce from the centre to provide the remaining labour.

Two areas at the centre needed to be irrigated. In the front of the centre, a full popup sprinkler system was installed. The system design was a manual system connected to mains pressure water supply, so a pump was not required. The installation used quality products from Think Water suppliers. The low-density poly piping was supplied by Vinidex. The solenoid valves, valve box and X-Core Controller were supplied by Hunter.

The popup sprinkler bodies used were PGP04 Ultra Hunter bodies. These bodies are quite innovative as the nozzle is built into the body. The sprinkler heads were MP rotator sprinklers supplied by Hunter which have the advantage of improved water efficiency. The nozzles on the popup sprinklers are fully adjustable, ranging from 0-360degrees. The nozzle sizes are fully interchangeable adding further versatility.

The backyard of the centre presented a bit of a challenge as there were large areas of concrete which made digging trenches for a popup sprinkler system not feasible. More traditional methods of irrigation were put in place in the backyard with the addition of a Bluetooth timer. The Bluetooth timer supplied by Hunter is battery operated and connects via an app to a mobile phone. This allowed staff to set the timer from their phone to suit the schedule of the centre. While this solution worked particularly well, the staff did have trouble stopping the children from playing with the timer.

The Early Learning Centre was very happy with the project and expressed their thanks. And Yes the Grass is Green!

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