Free Sprinkler Planner for Australian & NZ Gardens
Trace your block from satellite view, drop the heads head-to-head, split the zones to the flow your tap actually gives — and get a parts list in metres. Built for planning in spring, before the summer watering rules bite.
Planned in spring, watered all summer
In Australia and New Zealand the time to design an irrigation system is September to November: the lawn is growing, the soil is soft enough to trench, and the hot months when a dry patch turns brown in a week are still ahead. Planning in December means digging in the heat and fixing the mistakes under a watering ban.
Most free sprinkler planners are built for the US: feet, gallons per minute, PSI, and parts lists from American catalogues. This one opens in metres and litres per minute, and the drawing is stored unit-neutral, so nothing gets lost in conversion. Draw the block on a satellite map or walk the boundary with your phone, and the planner places the heads, shows the coverage and counts the pipe, valves and fittings off your own drawing.
No graph paper, no four-day wait
The usual route to a garden irrigation design here is a paper one: draw the block to scale on graph paper, at 1:100, time a bucket at the tap, and send it all to an irrigation shop, which sends back a design and a parts quote a few days later. It works, and the bucket test is worth doing either way. But the scale drawing is the slow part, and the design comes back built around the parts that shop sells.
Here the satellite view is the scale drawing. Trace the block and the planner lays out the pop-ups, rotors and zones while you watch: move a head, see the dry corner appear, try again, all in a few seconds instead of a few days. The parts list is brand-neutral, so you can take it to Bunnings, to a local irrigation supplier or to Amazon and compare prices.
In Western Australia the whole thing is called reticulation: pop-ups or rotors on buried poly pipe, a valve per zone and a controller. Same system, same planner, same metric units.
Sprinkler spacing chart in metres
The rule that decides whether a garden system works is head-to-head coverage: the spray from each head reaches the next one, so on a square grid the spacing equals the throw radius. A triangular grid spaces the same heads about 13% farther apart for equal coverage, which saves heads on an open lawn.
| Head / nozzle | Throw radius | Square grid | Triangular grid | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short pop-up spray | 2.5 m | 2.5 m | 2.8 m | Nature strips, narrow side passages |
| Pop-up spray | 3 m | 3 m | 3.4 m | Small front lawns, beds |
| Pop-up spray | 3.7 m | 3.7 m | 4.2 m | Most suburban lawns |
| Long spray / MP Rotator | 4.5 m | 4.5 m | 5.1 m | Open lawn, clay or slopes |
| Short-range rotor | 7.5 m | 7.5 m | 8.5 m | Larger backyards |
| Standard rotor | 10.5 m | 10.5 m | 12 m | Acreage, sports-size lawns |
How many heads on one zone, in litres per minute
Add up the flow of every head on a zone and keep the total at or below 80% of the flow your tap actually delivers. The margin covers friction loss in the pipe and the pressure drop when the house uses water at the same time.
Bucket test: open the outdoor tap fully into a 10-litre bucket, with nothing else running in the house, and time the fill. L/min = 600 ÷ seconds, so a 20-second fill is 30 L/min. Then screw a pressure gauge onto the same tap and read the static pressure. Step by step: how to measure water pressure, and how to turn it into a zone count.
| Measured flow | Usable (80%) | 4.5 m half-circle sprays ≈7 L/min each | Standard rotors ≈12 L/min each |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 L/min | 16 L/min | 2 | 1 |
| 30 L/min | 24 L/min | 3 | 2 |
| 40 L/min | 32 L/min | 4 | 2 |
| 60 L/min | 48 L/min | 6 | 4 |
Nozzle flow varies by brand and by the pressure at the head, so check the right-hand columns against your own nozzle chart. Pressure targets: about 200 kPa at a spray nozzle, 250-300 kPa for rotors, 50-150 kPa for drip behind a regulator. Australian homes read at most 500 kPa at the tap, the limit set by AS/NZS 3500.1, and many read well under that because of the pressure-limiting valve at the meter.
Before you dig: what is DIY and what is not
The mains connection needs a licensed plumber
Connecting an irrigation system to the mains, and fitting the backflow prevention device that stops garden water being drawn back into the drinking supply, is licensed plumbing work in every Australian state and territory. In Victoria and NSW the system downstream of it (pipe, valves, heads) can be laid by the owner. A hose-tap system with a tap timer needs no plumber at all.
Size the system to the watering window
Most utilities have permanent rules about when you can water. Sydney Water's Water Wise Guidelines, for example, allow garden watering before 10am and after 4pm. Multiply the zones by the run time per zone: if the total does not fit in the morning window, you need fewer, larger zones or a higher-flow supply, and that is a design decision, not a controller setting.
New Zealand: backflow and council rules
The Building Code (G12/AS1) requires backflow protection where garden water could flow back into the supply, and your water supplier enforces it. In a dry summer councils can restrict sprinklers and fixed irrigation altogether, so check yours before buying the hardware.
What to buy on Amazon Australia
These product links are affiliate links: if you buy on Amazon through them it costs you nothing extra, but it helps us keep SprinklerMap alive as a project and create new useful content.
| Product | Description | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| Tap pressure gauge (kPa scale) | Screws onto the garden tap and reads static pressure. Get one with a kPa or bar scale so you can compare it straight against the 500 kPa limit and the nozzle charts. | Amazon |
| Hunter Pro-Spray pop-up spray body | Fixed spray head for lawn strips, nature strips and small areas up to about 4.5 m. Pairs with the nozzle that sets the throw and the arc. | Amazon |
| Hunter MP Rotator nozzles | Rotating streams instead of a fan of water: a lower application rate that heavy clay and slopes can actually absorb before it runs off. | Amazon |
| Hunter PGP Ultra rotor | Gear-drive rotor for open lawns, roughly 6 to 15 m of throw. Never on the same zone as spray heads: the two apply water at very different rates. | Amazon |
| Holman 19 mm poly pipe and fittings | Low-density poly is what most Australian garden systems are built from. 19 mm for the runs between heads, 13 mm only for short tails. | Amazon |
| Hunter X-Core controller | One station per zone, with a sensor input for a rain switch. Program it so the whole system finishes inside your utility's watering hours. | Amazon |
| Holman drip irrigation kit | For beds and hedges on their own valve. Drip runs at 50-150 kPa, so it needs the pressure regulator and filter that come in the kit. | Amazon |
In New Zealand? Amazon Australia ships some of these items to NZ: check the delivery note on each listing.
Frequently asked questions
Does the planner work in metric?
Yes, it opens in metric: every distance and throw radius in metres, flow in litres per minute, pipe listed by the metre. Nothing to switch. If you are working from a US nozzle chart, one tap converts the whole project to feet and GPM and back again without changing the design.
Can I install a garden irrigation system myself in Australia?
Partly. Connecting irrigation to the mains and fitting the backflow prevention device is licensed plumbing work in every state and territory. In Victoria and New South Wales the pipe, valves and heads downstream of that connection do not need a plumbing licence; check your own state's plumbing regulator before you start. Running everything off a hose tap with a tap timer stays a DIY job.
What water pressure should I design for?
Measure it, then design on the number you read. AS/NZS 3500.1 caps static pressure at outlets at 500 kPa, so many homes have a pressure-limiting valve at the meter and read somewhere under that. Spray heads want about 200 kPa at the nozzle, rotors 250-300 kPa, drip 50-150 kPa behind a regulator.
When should I water under the water rules?
It depends on your water utility. Sydney Water's permanent Water Wise Guidelines allow garden watering before 10am and after 4pm; most other utilities have similar permanent rules, and stricter stages in a drought. Plan the zones so the whole system finishes inside the allowed window.
Does it work for New Zealand gardens?
Yes, the same planner and the same metric units. The rules differ: backflow protection is required under the Building Code (G12/AS1) and enforced by the local water supplier, and councils can ban sprinklers and fixed irrigation in a dry summer, as Auckland did in 2020. Check your council before you buy.
Can I plan drip irrigation with it?
Not drip lines: the planner places sprays and rotors and calculates their coverage. For garden beds, leave them out of the sprinkler zones on the plan, give them their own valve, and lay the drip line by hand.
Is this a reticulation planner?
Yes. Reticulation is what Western Australia, Perth in particular, calls a fixed garden irrigation system: pop-ups or rotors on buried poly pipe, a valve per zone and a controller. That is exactly what the planner lays out, in metres, with the parts list to match.
Do I still need to draw my garden to scale on paper?
No. The satellite view is already to scale: trace the outline of the block, or walk the boundary with your phone in GPS mode, and every measurement comes from that. Type in a side length only where you have measured it more precisely with a tape.
Is it really free?
Yes. Drawing, placing heads, coverage simulation and the parts list need no account. Automatic placement and the PDF export ask for a free Google or Microsoft sign-in, because they are the functions that cost the most to compute, not a paid tier.
Plan your garden sprinklers now
Free, no account needed to draw. Metres, L/min and kPa. Start in seconds.