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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] drip tape woes

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  • From: "Wyatt Jones" <wyatt_jones AT netzero.com>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] drip tape woes
  • Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 08:46:00 -0400

A few low tech insights to what can be fairly complicated to explain that might help you troubleshoot your system without a physics degree LOL.
 
If the lateral lines (the lines after the regulator that distribute to the various drip lines or header as Steve put it) are the problem you will have a greater drop in pressure the farther down the lateral you get especially if you have drip lines turned on closer to the regulator.  You can squeeze the drip lines connected at both ends of the lateral and  kinda tell the difference if you can't measure it.  I had this problem at one time and increased the size of the orchard tubing (although at some point I'm going to switch to flathose) I used for the laterals to 2 inches and that problem was fixed.  If you are having that problem you can work around it a little until you can fix it by shutting off the lines (if you have valves to do this) closest to the regulator so the ones farther down can get more pressure unless the lateral is so small the capacity and length are a problem, then you just have to replace the laterals with larger ones to avoid the pressure drop.  If you have valves you can turn off and on you are essentially plugging the holes selectively as Steve suggested.  If you don't have valves on your lines that would be a good thing to add so you can control the flow and rotate lines to make the most of the pressure you can get with your existing system.  If you only have a 7 or even a 10psi system you might want to get a 15psi regulator but I wouldn't go higher. The lower your pressure is the fussier the system will be and pressure drops will be more extreme, like most things its a balancing act.. You are going to lose some pressure by the time it gets to your driplines anyway and the more lines you have active the lower that pressure will be but you don't want to exceed MFR ratings in any case.  A word of caution turning lines on and off though, make sure you always have enough flow to meet the minimum flow requirements of your regulator or the pressure will go higher than the rating of the regulator.  Even if you don't see a problem right away it could damage your system.  The bigger the capacity of the regulator the higher this minimum flow will have to be in most cases.  If you have no flow it can go as high as the main line pressure which's way too high.  
 
Your problem seems to be pressure but if you still have problems after getting enough pressure you might want to go with a better drip tape with a more sophisticated turbulent flow, which is what I'm having to do but I wouldn't worry about that until you get the pressure under control. 
 
Wyatt
 
 
>Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:56:28 -0400
>From: "MAsteveINE" <
MAsteveINE AT 207me.com>
>Subject: Re: [Market-farming] drip tape woes
>To: "Market Farming" <
market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
>Message-ID: <
011001cc4d8a$9ac77410$4f818740@your4dacd0ea75>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"

>Agree that upping the presure is not the answer.


>There is a bit of engineering involving how much 10 psi water you can put through a certain length and >diameter pipe.>>

>Were it me not getting full drip lines I would drop out a few lines on the header (and pluging the holes) >and seeing

>if the remaining lines dont straighten up and fly right. If they do the cure would be bigger header or more >of them.

>MAsteveINE



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