pvc irrigation ?
bob carwell
garden ?
I have tried various sprinklers and last year even tried the smaller
diameter black plastic hose drip irrigation system with the little
plastic flow regulating drippers spaced along the hose.
The hose kinks, the drippers clog and fall out, etc. Also the
regular drip irrigation hoses are cost prohibitive since a 50 ft. hose
is $25 or so whereas an equivalent length of pvc pipe is $10. And I
have about 300 linear feet of garden and don't want to spend $150 for
drip irrigation hoses or the drip irrigation systems with the
regulators (that are also about $1 a piece).
Is there some clever thing to do to pvc every 4 feet or so to
simulate these drip irrigation systems with the drippers, like simply
drilling a 1/32 hole periodically and loosely taping over it to avoid
the erosion effect and running the system shorter periods of time.
Or is there some regulating dripper made for pvc layouts instead of
those little ones for the black plastic hose system ?
Or maybe drilling the periodic holes in the pvc and putting a
pressure reducer at the faucet ?
Bottom line is pvc is so inexpensive and has so many inexpensive
T's and valves to make it very easy and cheap to build a pvc layout
for my garden. The only problem is how to deliver the water to each
plant.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Bob
TakeThisOut
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TAKETHISOUT budysbackagain(@)THAT TOO a-oh-ell dot com
Dwayne
soaker hoses and run them on top of my raised rows and plant my goodies next
to the soaker hose. It works very well, waters evenly, and is a lot more
economic than any other method I know.
Putting a lot of holes in your PVC will just lower the water pressure so you
don't get much water to the plants, and then it wont be evenly. I have used
your idea to water trees, but found that if the water pump isn't really
strong, you will get water out of the first 20 holes, and cant even get it
to the end of the pipe. If you have a very strong pump, it will work
alright for trees, but will dig holes in the dirt if you use it for other
plants.
Have fun. Dwayne
"TakeThisOut" <budysba...@aol.com.net.gov> wrote in message
news:20030327213312...@mb-cu.aol.com...
zxcvbob
When I lived in Central Texas, I made a drip irrigation system using a
manifold that I made of 3/4" PVC rigid conduit, and plastic irrigation
tape. I drilled a hole every couple of feet in the manifold, tapped it,
and screwed in nylon hose thread adapters so I could attach the drip
tape (you could also attach soaker hose this way.) I used a cheap fixed
pressure regulator (about 15 or 20 PSI) to feed the garden hose that ran
to the manifold. Then a filter, and a valve that I used to regulate the
manifold pressure to about 9 PSI. I drilled a hole in a coupling and
screwed in a water pressure gauge. The whole thing was really cheap,
and it worked great.
The key pieces were the filter and the pressure regulator.
I used conduit instead of water pipe because the conduit is UV stablized
so the sunlight won't rot it. It cost about the same as schedule 40
water pipe.
The irrigation tape was thin black plastic tubing about 5/8" diameter
with drip emmiters drilled in it every 18 inches. It came in big rolls,
and was cheap enough to throw it away after a few seasons. I don't
remember where I bought it -- some irrigation supply place out in West
Texas, I think. That was a long time ago, and before the Internet. It
should be easy to find now.
Maybe this will give you some ideas.
Best regards,
Bob
bob carwell
> Your drippers are probably clogging up because you need a filter.
>
> When I lived in Central Texas, I made a drip irrigation system using a
> manifold that I made of 3/4" PVC rigid conduit, and plastic irrigation
> tape. I drilled a hole every couple of feet in the manifold, tapped it,
> and screwed in nylon hose thread adapters so I could attach the drip
> tape (you could also attach soaker hose this way.) I used a cheap fixed
> pressure regulator (about 15 or 20 PSI) to feed the garden hose that ran
> to the manifold. Then a filter, and a valve that I used to regulate the
> manifold pressure to about 9 PSI. I drilled a hole in a coupling and
> screwed in a water pressure gauge. The whole thing was really cheap,
> and it worked great.
>
> The key pieces were the filter and the pressure regulator.
>
> I used conduit instead of water pipe because the conduit is UV stablized
> so the sunlight won't rot it. It cost about the same as schedule 40
> water pipe.
>
Thank you all for taking the time to reply and for your
helpful
suggestions. I was not using "soaker hose" because of the expense (I
think I was referring to it as drip irrigation hose, but I know what
you're talking about- its the black stuff that looks like garden hose
that sweats). It's the stuff that was running about $25 a roll and to
cover my whole garden would be $150 or
so which is why I was wondering about cheap PVC in the first place.
It sounds like some combination of conduit and spaced soaker pieces
might be the ticket.
Thanks again and happy gardening !
Bob
zxcvbob
I wasn't talking about that soaker hose stuff. I bought maybe a 1500
foot roll of commercial irrigation tape, and a box of fittings for it.
It was not very expensive, and the stuff works a lot better than soaker
hoses. If I recall correctly, (it was a long time ago) my garden has
about eight or ten 150 foot rows, and I ran the whole thing at once from
one garden hose.
Warren
> I was not using "soaker hose" because of the expense (I
> think I was referring to it as drip irrigation hose, but I know what
> you're talking about- its the black stuff that looks like garden hose
> that sweats). It's the stuff that was running about $25 a roll
Earlier this year (they're sold out now) Costco had 100' soaker hoses
for $13. Home Depot still has 75' hoses for $13, and 50' hoses for $10.
--
Warren H.
==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Dr. Rev. Chuck, M.D. P.A.
>
> That is what I do. I use the PVC to get the water to the garden, but attach
> soaker hoses and run them on top of my raised rows and plant my goodies next
> to the soaker hose. It works very well, waters evenly, and is a lot more
> economic than any other method I know.
>
> Putting a lot of holes in your PVC will just lower the water pressure so you
> don't get much water to the plants, and then it wont be evenly. I have used
> your idea to water trees, but found that if the water pump isn't really
> strong, you will get water out of the first 20 holes, and cant even get it
> to the end of the pipe. If you have a very strong pump, it will work
> alright for trees, but will dig holes in the dirt if you use it for other
> plants.
System I'll be trying this year (3 rows) will use 25 foot lengths of black
sponge soaker hose branched off a garden hose manifold, each junction made
with a cheap wye-valve. If one branch lacks pressure, it can (hopefully) be
brought up by reducing flow to the other branches.
zxcvbob
Dwayne wrote:
>
> Putting a lot of holes in your PVC will just lower the water pressure so you
> don't get much water to the plants, and then it wont be evenly. I have used
> your idea to water trees, but found that if the water pump isn't really
> strong, you will get water out of the first 20 holes, and cant even get it
> to the end of the pipe. If you have a very strong pump, it will work
> alright for trees, but will dig holes in the dirt if you use it for other
> plants.
Oh no, here we go again. Whenever the discussion reaches this juncture,
the thread takes on a life of its own, and the arguments go on and on for
weeks.
Your problem was, you were operating at too high a pressure instead of too
low. At very low pressure, the flow rate approaches zero, the amount of
water lost at each emmiter becomes insignificant, and the amount of water
dripping out of each hole from end-to-end of the pipe is approximately
equal.
Best regards,
Bob
Warren
>
> System I'll be trying this year (3 rows) will use 25 foot lengths of
black
> sponge soaker hose branched off a garden hose manifold, each junction
made
> with a cheap wye-valve. If one branch lacks pressure, it can
(hopefully) be
> brought up by reducing flow to the other branches.
Shouldn't be a problem. If you look at the head end of the soaker hose
you'll likely notice a small piece of plastic with a small hole in it to
regulate the water pressure in the hose. If you don't have enough water
pressure to power 3 of these, you'd know it!
If you hook two of these hoses in series, it may be a good idea to
remove that pressure regulator from the top of the second hose. But if
you pick-up your hoses, and put them away for the winter, make sure you
remember which hose that is.
dr-...@wi.rr.xx.com
did was dry fit PVC and drill a hole for the water to drip not forcefully shoot out
of the hole. it works great. when she has sold enough plants she can take a 10'
section off, cap the end and water the rest.
I use soaker hoses made from recycled tires, also on very low pressure. Ingrid
zxcvbob <zxc...@charter.net> wrote:
>Your problem was, you were operating at too high a pressure instead of too
>low. At very low pressure, the flow rate approaches zero, the amount of
>water lost at each emmiter becomes insignificant, and the amount of water
>dripping out of each hole from end-to-end of the pipe is approximately
>equal.
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TakeThisOut
I just picked up a 2-pack of 2x 50' hoses as BJs wholesale for 10.00.
Cosco has it too but it's 1 single 80' hose for 12.99.