If you have automatic sprinklers and no major watering restrictions you should be able to get enough moisture on the ground from the sprinklers to not need soakers. At least in a "normal" weather year like this one.
Try this trick with your programing. The 5 minute rule. With our soil, anything more than 5 - 7 minutes will run off. So if you want to get 10 minutes of water you run two consecutive cycles, 15 minutes of water on a section, you do it in 5 minute increments, running three consecutive cycles. This technique helps to prevent wasteful runoff and helps to promote deeper watering.
I try to do it proactively. I use one cycle twice a week, 3 to 8 minutes for fixed head sprayers, from spring through maybe the end of June (depends a bit on temperatures), then go ahead and add a second cycle. Then around the end of July I might add a third cycle - although this year I did not since we got some rain and the temperatures have been somewhat milder than normal. Then around the middle to end of September I go back to one cycle. Always twice a week.
There is some flexibility to the station times. But the main goal is to stay AHEAD of the heat and maintain consistent moisture levels. Soaker hoses are fine, but I think they are a pain and hard to regulate. For foundation health, the main thing you are trying to do is maintain consistent moisture all the way around the foundation all year round. If you do choose to use soakers, put them all the way around and run them until you see some runoff - after that you are only wasting water - anywhere to 5 - 20 minutes depending on soil, slope, vegatation, etc.
[This message has been edited by Absolute (edited 9/1/2009 7:56a).]
[This message has been edited by Absolute (edited 9/1/2009 7:58a).]
