gig, 1. If you were running sprinklers on a lawn yes. This is called a water audit. Drip is different. It applies water in a plume shape to get to the roots. This plume shape is directly proportional to your soil type. Sand has move movement downward than out ward. Clay has finer particles and has more outward than down ward. Place a small pipe in the ground close to the plant about 12" deep Water for a period and stick something down the pipe and see if there is moist soil at the bottom. If the plume is not at the bottom then run a longer period and add the time to the first. Give it plenty of time to percolate through the soil. If you wanted to map the plume then place several pipes at distances from your plants. This is a drip water audit. Let us know how it goes. Aloha

My vent is a rigid vent, not a telescoping one. It is 4" typical rigid duct work to the outside except for the flex aluminum stuff that is at the big box that I put in. I have never done any of this before, so I read and tried to figure it out as best I could. The box and flexible duct work I got online at an outfit called the Dryerbox. I linked it below. The box is put in upside down compared to their pictures because my vent goes into my basement and exits the side of the house. Be sure to calculate the duct run that is recommended by your dryer manufacturer. Each 90degree bend subtracts 5' of run you have available as recommended by the manufacturer. So you want to have the least amount of bends. I don't think the flex connection counts though, at least it doesn't for my dryer. You can get these flexable auger like brush for cleaning vents. They sell them at the website I linked below and at Lowes. I used it for my old dryer and it works. You are supposed to be able to run the brush using your drill to spin it, from your outside vent. When we cleaned ours it was beneficial to be able to get the brush right into the dryer itself, attaching a vacuum to pull out accumulated lint. There was plenty. Regarding the water, I think where ever you can reach it and get it turned off is the important thing. I plan on turning the water off between uses, now that I have the set in my living area. My old set is in the basement and I didn't give it a thought. This laundry project has taught me a lot about better management of my appliances. I installed Floodchek hoses on my basement set. http://www.floodchek.com/ I bought 2 sets and gave one set to my plumber. He thought they looked like high pressure hoses. He liked them. Regarding your pull out. Could you have a top and a bottom pull out, then a shelving area with door to hide and access the vent, electric, and water? Here is another drawing of my setup. It shows where the vent goes inside the wall and down to the basement. There will be a door on the shelving area where I can pull out the shelves to get to the vent exiting the dryer on the side. I bought a Miele set and there is the option for side venting. There is also my water connection on the right side that isn't shown on this drawing, but is seen in my picture. I also have and outlet near the front of this cabinet for an iron. The bottom area will be open for a laundry basket, though I will have shelving available if I want to use them. The bottom area is where my electric outlets for the W/D are. The one drawer shown will be one of those pull out ironing boards. I do very little ironing but thought it could be handy. My counter between the ironing drawer and the shelving above will not be exposed, instead hidden behind the door (door not indicated on this drawing) When the door is open there will be the vent box and water hoses visible I'm afraid. But it will be all accessible. Current design of my setup, showing vent that is inside the wall: Here is a link that might be useful: The Dryerbox online store.

A frost free bib will help protect the valve from freezing. The actual valve seat is at the back end of the valve with a very long stem inside the pipe section from the supply to the bib itself. They need to be installed with a slight downward pitch so they drain completely, and the hose needs to be off them to avoid trapping water. If you are going to finish the inside of the wall you should consider using a screw fitting as the connection from the supply to the frost proof valve. This allows you to unscrew hose bib from the supply line to replace it if needed with minimal damage to the exterior and no damage to the interior. Most frost proof units come with male threads on the outside and a sweat solder bore on the inside end.

My water district recommends 70psi as the limit for normal pressure. You should check with yours to see what the supply pressure is in your area and what pressure they recommend as a limit so you don't stress your house plumbing. Your primary problem may be the hose. How far are you running it? You might try to do a flow rate check. See how many seconds it takes to fill a bucket at the spigot and then repeat to see how much longer it takes. Also, if you have a substantially higher supply pressure from the meter, one approach is to plumb one spigot at this pressure and then install a pressure reducer to control/protect the rest of your plumbing. Also bear in mind that some localities charge an arm and a leg to upgrade a meter. My neighbor just got through paying about $5000 to upgrade one size.