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View Full Version : What course do I need for irrigation installations?



brodie
06-01-2013, 11:49 AM
I'm looking at moving to offer irrigation installation and servicing to my clients. Over this last year it has been requested by more and more of our current clients.

The question now is what courses do we need to get to professionally;


Install residential and commercial systems
Service and maintain existing systems


If you have any recommendations for training organisations that would be appreciated as well.

Thanks

PaulG
06-01-2013, 12:43 PM
Somewhere to start would be at an RTO or TAFE with the Level-2 subjects Irrigation AHCIRG202A, 203A, 206A.

Here, they run it over two days.

brodie
06-01-2013, 01:53 PM
Thanks for your response PaulG.

I had a quick look on the TAFE NSW website but couldn't find any courses relating to irrigation that are currently running.

Ill give the course code you provided a go and see what I can find.

What did you mean by "they run it over two days"? Do you mean two days a week for a year or two days total?

Stripes
06-01-2013, 05:26 PM
Not sure if it has changed or not, but previously you had to be qualified in a plumbing field or horticulture field to be able to enrol in the irrigation course. It used to just be called Urban Irrigation and was run at night twice a week for one semester. To obtain your license you had to complete the course and then have three years experience under a licensed plumber (or licensed irrigation tec). I would say to try and subbie the jobs out for a while and work with the installer so you can learn some stuff. Knowing how to do it properly takes a fair bit of time to learn. I cringe when I think back to the systems I first installed!

There is some training stuff on Hunter's website also which might help you out.You jut enrol and complete the little courses as you have the time.

http://training.hunterindustries.com/course/index.php

If you have any questions about irrigation stuff out on the job feel free to call me too.

PaulG
07-01-2013, 12:30 AM
The one I mentioned is just an intro course run over two days (total) back to back during a semester.

Wyadra
07-01-2013, 08:04 AM
Ryde tafe started up their course again last year. It is 1 semester. You can install the system, but you will need a plumber or someone qualified to connect the system to mains water. If they want irrigation, they probably have rain water tanks, so you should be ok most of the time. I wouldn't worry about commercial until you know what you are doing.

BeetleJuice
07-01-2013, 10:56 AM
Not a lot involved in it.Drawing up a scaled plan and reading water pressures using the appropriate test gauges.I never had any issues connecting to the mains on the owners side of the meter.
We have advertised tap repair and sewerage cleaning contractors running around the place and none of them are qualified plumbers.Most of us were self taught back in the 80’s
If you need a set of test gauges PM me for price and postage.
Do keep in mind this is only seasonal work.

Fred's mowing
07-01-2013, 12:35 PM
If your doing it on a professional level it can be involved.
First thing that springs to mind is back flow, which is a legal issue.
Dont let me discourage you though.
If u think you can make a go of it, look further into it.
We used to do quite a bit of irrigation instalations & repaires b4 the drought.
We then did alot of conversions.
We since have decided to focus on other areas.
Good luck.
Cheers Fred.

SM MOWING
07-01-2013, 04:19 PM
Ask a stupid question...... Do you need a licence to install or maintain a irrigation system if its installed AFTER the water meter (ie the inlet to the system is from a pre existing tap outlet).

DavidS
11-01-2013, 08:07 PM
As far as I am aware as long as your attach a backflow valve at the tap you do not need to be licensed to install a irrigation system.

4 Gardens
12-01-2013, 05:20 AM
As far as I am aware as long as your attach a backflow valve at the tap you do not need to be licensed to install a irrigation system.

When I did my Cert 3 hort, irrigation was one of the subjects, we were told that a licensed plumber had to install the back flow prevention, and we could do after that. This is in the ACT.