Irrigation idea to water the garden

last year

Hi,

My above ground garden is 350 feet away from water. My idea is to use 1/2 in x 500 ft irrigation tube...like the following:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rain-Bird-1-2-in-x-500-ft-Drip-Irrigation-Tubing-Coil-T70-500S/204751462

On one end, I'll use a hose connector to connect the tubing to the outdoor faucet. The other end would tie into copper pipe with a facuet on the end. I plan to lay the tubing at the bottom of the wooden fence and use little "U" shapped pins to hold it on the ground.

At the faucet by the above ground garden, I will hook up a drip irrigation system to water the plants.

I do have a concern about winter and freezing, but if I use an air compressor to blow out the water, I think this idea will work.

Thoughts? Any other ideas?

Thanks, Tom

Comments (5)

krnuttle
last year
We have a similar system for a fountain at church. The difference is the pipe is underground. It works just about all year long, except the months with freezing temperatures.

You said you worried about freezing, so I assume you your house is plumbed with Freeze Proof exterior faucets. It you go with you system make sure that not only the pipe is drained, but also the faucet.

https://phyxter.ai/blog/freeze-proof-outdoor-faucet

If you leave the hose attached to the faucet during the freezing weather, it will no longer be freeze proof as the water in the long tube in the faucet will not drain properly.

Several years ago, not knowing about the faucets, we nearly flooded the basement of the church when the hose was left attached to the Freeze proof faucet and it froze.
tvglaser
Original Author
last year
Thanks krnuttle
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1.Trench, install and backfill a 2" line and wire to the garden from your house. Set up your controller at the garden to irrigate at night or early morning but not during peak water demand hours. The large diameter pipe reduces friction loss for the 500 ft length. From the 2" line set up your type of irrigation and use the wire to create an outdoor weatherproof GFI outlet to give your controller power. This could be a rough-in for your later uses including using power tools. Aloha
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dchall_san_antonio
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Before I read down to the drip irrigation part, my first thought was to use 350 feet of 1.5-inch PVC. The benefit of PVC is that it is rigid enough to maintain water pressure all the way out. The benefit of the larger size is that it will carry a relatively normal flow of water over that distance. Any farther and I'd go to 2-inch pipe. If you think you might need to use something besides drip out there someday, the 1/2-inch line won't carry the flow of water you need.
tvglaser
Original Author
last year
Hi, great point. I had assumed a water hose is 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Maybe it's the distance that might impact the water pressure. It is possible we might want to use the water for more than drip irrigation, which is why I had posted this; as I have not done this before. Thx!
dchall_san_antonio
last year
For example, a couple of decades ago I visited a rural setting where cattle were being raised. They had a raised concrete cistern about 20 feet off the ground with a 1-inch PVC pipe stretching down another 30 feet lower (total of 50 feet of head pressure) over a distance of about 1,000 feet. They turned on the faucet at the cistern and we drove to the livestock tank where the water was headed. By the time we got there it was trickling out. We went about our business evaluating the forage in the pasture and returned past the livestock tank on the way back. By that time the water was roaring out of the pipe at what you would call, full blast.

I don't want to get into the mathematics involved, but in essence, the farther the run, the bigger diameter pipe you want. Just going from 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch more than doubles the cross sectional area of the pipe and significantly reduces the flow resistance.

You also lose pressure when the pipe is flexible. Drip irrigation pipe doesn't need to be rigid for low pressures, but if you are planning for higher flow someday, then rigid PVC will hold the pressure all the way out. Flexible pipe expands and there is pressure loss in that expansion.

Irrigation idea to water the garden

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Irrigation idea to water the garden

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