Worked out the cheapest, most compact and most simple automatic watering system for me. Uses 3 buckets, one float valve, simple barbed fittings and clear 1/2" tubing. There are no penetrations below water level and no alterations to planters. Top bucket only holds 5 gal, so you can hook up to larger tank if you desire. Use only clear tubing to detect any air bubbles. I am going to use Hudson valve to feed top bucket when away from home. Used 3 Lowe's buckets. Top Bucket - no alterations Bucket 2 - Cut off top below the expanded "ring" for spacer to lift top bucket up additional 2 3/4". Discard bottom. Bottom Bucket Installed 1/2" US Plastics #23136 float valve slightly above desired water level. Installed barbed elbow on float inlet. Installed clear 1/2" tubing from elbow over the top of top bucket to reach bottom. (Siphon action feeds float valve on bottom bucket) Ran 1/2" tubing from bottom of bottom bucket through side (above water level) to barbed connector. Ran 1/2" tubing from the barbed connector to barbed "Tee" at top fill pipe of first container. Ran 1/2" tubing from "Tee" to bottom of fill tube. Tubing runs from bottom bucket to "Tee" on first container, to "Tee" on second container, to "Tee" on 3rd, etc. (Last container doesn't have "Tee", tubing runs directly from last "Tee" to bottom of container fill tube. Primed siphon of container tubing by holding end of tube in bottom bucket to garden hose. Put top bucket into bottom bucket and fill. Primed siphon of top bucket to float valve. Note: Fill planting containers first, as the siphon action to the float valve only supports a small but adequate flow rate.

Bless your heart, Wendy! My sister went through much the same thing with her ex (You are not alone, though I know it may feel that way sometimes ~ I hope that makes you feel a bit better.). It's a tough thing to do ~ trying to help your children understand while constantly feeling betrayed, alone and embarassed yourself (even though it's NOT your fault). Sis finally opened up to me and I was her confidant through much of her ordeal, so I feel for you tremendously. But you WILL overcome this! Diane's suggestion is a great one. You can spend the money you would have spent on toys to buy supplies to make cookies and ornaments for the tree or gas for the car to take the kids to see the lights (GOTTA' do that! It's SO fun!). Besides the Salvation Army and churches, a lot of police and fire departments have programs that give toys away. The Austin Police Dept. calls their program Blue Santa (they have blue uniforms) and the Travis County Sheriff's Dept.'s is called Brown Santa (yep, they have brown uniforms!). When I was in a local volunteer fire dept., we took donations of toys for people in need, wrapped them and delivered them on the fire engine Christmas Eve! That was fun!! One firefighter dressed as Santa and the rest as elves! I honestly don't know who has more fun with programs like this ~ the parents who don't have to stress over Christmas gifts, the kids who get the presents or the people who deliver them and get to see the smiling faces! So DON'T feel bad about getting this service from anyone! Not only are you saving that money at a time when $5 is a lot of money to you, you are giving someone the chance to do something nice. And THAT is what Christmas is all about! How much "stuff" you get at Christmas isn't. Nowadays, most people have gotten so far away from the true meaning of Christmas that it makes me want to cry. Things are so commercial. I don't like going to any store at Christmas anymore. And the malls! Oh, they're the worst! All those displays, all those people, and all those signs saying, "They won't be happy unless you buy them this $499 thing!" Horse-crap! I completely and wholeheartedly agree that the best gift you can give your children is your time. It doesn't matter how much $$$ you spend or what you do. What does matter is that you all are together. My sis was crying one time about how she coulnd't afford to give her two sons everything she wanted to. I told her flat out that we didn't have much growing up and we turned out great, so don't focus on what you can't give them ~ focus on what you CAN give them. And, Wendy, what you CAN give your children are memories. Those are much more precious than ANY storebought gift.

I am an actual customer. I have had this system installed on a brand new pool for 5 months. They have needed to replace the controller, the flow chamber, a titanium screw, and an expired test kit so far. This contraption has flooded my yard, turned my pool green with copper plating, turned my wife's hair green, gone through $150 copper plates in 5 months, and badly corroded the $400 titanium. They have no reasons for the low quality, they denied their system can turn anything green until we sent pictures and then suddenly they knew it was because my wife dyes her hair. They blame my water (only a few months old from a legit municipal water source), I drained half and refilled, same issues. They have sent me to countless pool stores for tests, all pass with flying colors. Sadly, the system appears to kill germs and algae but the quality is terrible and the support mirrors the attitudes of their person above. If only they were willing to fix their issue. Stay away unless you want LOTS of issues and no real support

Hi Everyone, I apologize if this is not clear and pretty long, but it's my first time on the site, and I do medicine, not engineering) I am part of a community garden club at my medical school aimed at providing healthy (& usually store-expensive) vegetable options to underserved persons in our community. We recently expanded in the last year from 3 4x8 raised garden beds to 6 4x8 and this year added 4 5x10 raised beds. Last year, we built a gravity-fed, "zero-pressure" drip system for the 6 4x8 beds, which was mostly successful, other than not having enough of a reservoir (1, 77-gal barrel on a 3' platform with an automatic timer fed by a gutter of 150 sqft roof), but with the expansion, we are not sure how to sustain the autonomy of the system. We recently obtained a 330gal rectangular tank for the main reservoir, but have yet to elevate it (space is limited, and we only have the one gutter to tap). In addition to the space and water-source problem, we anticipate having pressure issues (needed to supplement irrigation with manual watering many times in dryer months) again, and are not sure how to fix them, as the roof from which we get the water is only 7', and we cannot reasonably raise the tanks much higher and still have them fill. Yet another issue with the idea of using a pump to supplement the pressure is that we have no access to any power outlets. My original idea was to attach a 55gal barrel side-by-side with the 77gal (increased capacity at the raised height), then run an overflow pipe from the top of the 77gal into the 330gal tank to capture as much as possible during this rainier time of the year (we are in northeast PA, and last July we did not have enough water to maintain the system), but the issue then arises with how to send the water back up to the raised barrels to supply the beds. I toyed-around with the idea of purchasing a 2m lift solar fountain pump that would continuously pump the water from the large 330gal reservoir into the barrels, and just let the overflow drain back into the reservoir via overflow pipe, since solar power won't be wasting any energy and it would ensure the barrels stayed filled to maintain more pressure. This makes logical sense to me, and is practically simple, but I do not know enough about low pressure irrigation systems to know if this would work out in actuality. A little basic/general background on the plot: The 6 4x8 raised beds are closest to the barrel (furthest 2 are about 25-30' away) The 4 new 5x10 beds are about 10' to the right of the barrel and another 10' in front (see attached picture of the excel layout we made) I know we need 392sqft x 0.623gal/sqft/wk (including natural rain) to supply them adequately This is long-winded and probably not too clear, but I have attached a picture of our layout that will hopefully help it make a little sense. My actual question is: how can I rig up a system that will supply all of the beds that is fully or almost completely automated, particularly with the pump, as pressure became an increasingly annoying issue last growing season. Please ask any questions you may have, and try to keep in mind that children will be playing and gardening here, so no open wires or dangerous things. Also, we are future doctors, not engineers, so while we are pretty good at improvising and making things work, we will never be engineers or electricians, so we are trying to devise the simplest system possible that maintains its functionality. Thank you, and any advice/plans are greatly appreciated! Charles