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Post by laurazone5 on Apr 4, 2022 15:49:57 GMT
Does anyone have a drip irrigation system from rain barrels?
I have questions!!!
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Post by fixitguy on Apr 4, 2022 16:51:33 GMT
laurazone5 , I bought a soaker hose for this purpose. The new style soaker hoses need water pressure to work correctly. A good alternative would be to take a cheap hose and punch some holes in it with a leather punch, or a small hand punch. A hollow 1/8 metal rod, or even a good-sized nail would work. Just rest the hose on a scrap piece of wood to use as a backer for the punch/nail. You will have to buy a cap for the dead ended side of the hose also
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Post by ceresone on Apr 4, 2022 20:40:17 GMT
go to drip works.com, they will have all the info you need
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Post by ceresone on Apr 6, 2022 1:51:29 GMT
new catalog came today, different than my older one. in it is a drip system set up from a water barrel. i m sure they could help you set it up, they helped me set up my system, even my timer that i programmed to water from 5 am to 7 am every third day, i didnt even use it last year tho
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Post by BrewDaddy on Apr 6, 2022 1:57:42 GMT
laurazone5I am no expert on this for sure.... But when I was looking at an off grid setup, this was the same plan I had. Rain barrels w/ drip irrigation. I think it all comes down to what is called head pressure, the size of the hose and the size of the holes. Surely, if you had a barrel, and a hose, and no cap on the end, it would drain out. So I would think a hose of either a wide enough size, or bigger holes, would do the trick. I'd try it like suggested with an old hose and holes drilled into it, and of that doesn't work, try bigger holes. You can dial it in I'm sure. bd
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Post by farmrbrown on Apr 6, 2022 2:34:34 GMT
I've used one before in my vegetable gardens to make sure it got watered during dry hot spells using a soaker hose as others described, snaked up and down thru the rows. Instead of a timer, I just screwed a standard spigot into the 55 gal plastic barrel in the small threaded hole and rolled it until that end was at the low point. Then opened the larger plug a little at the top (180 degrees from the small hole) so it could 'breathe' and allow the water to flow out under pressure. It only took a few hours a day leaving the spigot on to do the job. If you let it run 24/7 that 55 gallons will be gone in a few days, lol. I was surprised how much water it supplied.  |
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Post by fixitguy on Apr 6, 2022 3:12:02 GMT
One clarification on the soaker hoses. I went to menards and home depot looking for one. The people in the garden dept never heard of such a thing.
I ordered one from Amazon. These new hoses are some sort of permeable rubber, and have no noticable holes. Hence, the reason for some household water pressure.
I know they use to make a old style hose with holes in it, as we had one when I was a kid.
The good thing about making your own, you can start the holes at the start of the garden, and not water the grass in between the barrel and the area the water is meant for.
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Post by fixitguy on Apr 6, 2022 4:26:26 GMT
If you really wanted to go full O.C.D on a drip. Buy the smallest diameter PVC pipe the store sells.
Run the lengths of the PVC pipe in your rows with holes spaced out to what you planted, with a main manifold connected to a hose from the barrel.
If you gravity feed from a rain barrel, there would be no need to glue the pvc pipes as they fit snug enough.
That would make it simple to break down and store in the off season and customize for the rows each year.
I wouldn't put over five ten foot runs per rain barrel thou. If you could elevate the pipe just above the soil, that would keep from the holes becoming plugged up.
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Post by Tim Horton on Apr 6, 2022 5:54:50 GMT
One year my dad got a whole bunch of pepper plants on sale for little of nothing... Supposedly they were to be sweet bell peppeer... Turns out they were cyenne peppers.. Anyway... That year he set up a drip system of sorts... He put a valve near the bottom of a 55 gallon plastic barrel... In the barrel he put a burlap bag, in the bag he would half fill an old pillow case with fresh cow pies from a dairy barn and tie it off.. He filled the barrel 3/4 with water, swish around the pillow case and slow drain it with a small hose and little ditches between plants.. With this manure tea he grew many hot peppers... He canned them like you would pickled green beans standing in pint jars and in a sweet brine... We had jars of peppers for years that would almost set the Charmin on fire...  |
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Post by Billy G on Apr 6, 2022 10:54:44 GMT
Mosquito Dunks aren't a bad idea, rain barrel screens always seem to shift just enough.
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Post by Cabin Fever on Apr 6, 2022 13:05:28 GMT
Let's say your rain barrel is four feet tall and is sitting on the ground. When the barrel is filled to the top, the water pressure coming out the hose will be at only 1.7 psi. When the barrel is half empty, the water pressure will be less than 1 psi.
Now, the size of the hole in a homemade soaker hose will determine how far the water will travel down the hose (in a low pressure system.) Let's say you're using a 1/2" inside diameter hose. That hose will have a cross-sectional area of about 0.2 square inches. A 1/8" hole will have a cross-sectional area of 0.012 square inches. So, it would take seventeen 1/8" holes to equal the 1/2" cross-sectional area of the hose. In other words, if you drill eighteen 1/8" holes in a 1/2" hose, no water would reach the 18th hole. If the drilled holes were 6" apart, you would need a hose that was no longer than 9 feet.
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Post by fixitguy on Apr 6, 2022 17:57:37 GMT
Cabin Fever, I figured we would flush out the engineer in the group. LOL
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Post by Cabin Fever on Apr 6, 2022 18:26:56 GMT
Cabin Fever , I figured we would flush out the engineer in the group. LOL Not an engineer, just a lowly soil scientist. I did, however, work with a lot of engineers.  |
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Post by BrewDaddy on Apr 6, 2022 18:54:45 GMT
Cabin Fever , I figured we would flush out the engineer in the group. LOL No kidding! I saved that Ted Talk off for later so I never have to do all that math..... Well done Cabin Fever. bd |
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Post by Cabin Fever on Apr 6, 2022 20:55:16 GMT
This all started when one of the wastewater engineer that I had a class from did a little experiment in his backyard.
As some of you know, drainfield trenches can be 40 to 50 feet long, sometimes longer. These trenches have perforated disgtribution pipe running for the full length of the trench. What this instructor did was set a 50-gallon drum filled with water on his porch. He ran a 1.5" pipe from the barrel down to the ground where he had a 10-foot section of perforated drainfield distribution pipe sitting on a couple of sawhorses. This pipe is typically 4" in diameter, and has two rows of 1/2" holes along its length. The two rows of perforations (ie, 1/2" holes) are spaced every 5". The rows of perforations are placed downward at 5 and 7 o'clock.
He opened the valve on the barrel to simulate the drainage of water from a bathtub. The water rushed down to the perforated pipe.
Guess what he found? All the water drained out of the distribution pipe in the first few holes in the first two feet of pipe. His conclusion was the use of distribution pipe down the entire length of a drainfield trench is not needed. Only a 3-foot section, at most, is needed. The wastewater will find its way to the end of the trench by travelling through the trench rock and over the trench bottom.
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