Drip Irrigation

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Drip Irrigation

Postby cactuspete » Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:32 pm

Simple Drip Irrigation
Sounds like a bit of a hassle to install, but it could save a ton of money. And it beats the hassle of watering everything by hand. Then again, a lot of people don't have any plants around their homes and so they don't have to worry about this kind of thing to begin with!
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Re: Drip Irrigation

Postby cactuspete » Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:52 pm

Drip Irrigation System Done Right ;)
Here's another video on drip irrigation system installation. It doesn't look all that complicated, but it does look like a lot of work, depending on how many plants you have. I'm not sure if you wind up saving all that much money since it might take a few years of reduced water bills to pay for the materials, but it would save you a lot of time. Then again, the system is likely to require some maintenance and so maybe it's one of those zero sum gain kind of situations!
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Re: Drip Irrigation

Postby wildrose » Tue Sep 17, 2013 7:11 am

How to tunnel under driveway for lawn sprinkler system.
Funny use of an old song in this clip. It doesn't quite make sense, but then again it does.
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Re: Drip Irrigation

Postby surfsteve » Wed Sep 18, 2013 7:25 am

I had an irrigation company in the 1980's and used to use a simple piece of pipe hooked up to a garden hose to "jet" under driveways. Single car width is the longest I've ever jetted. Mostly I just went under sidewalks and if there was a driveway in the way I usually ran a line from the back yard instead of jetting under it. Let me see if I can find a video showing how to do this. It's really easy and doesn't require any machinery.



You don't need to buy the special ends the guy was using in the video. Actually a piece of duct tape works just as good for taping the hose to the pipe. Most of the time I didn't even bother to use that and just held a rag wrapped around the whole thing with my hand.
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Re: Drip Irrigation

Postby mrfish » Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:39 am

Somewhere I heard that they might be considering water rationing in Ridgecrest. I wonder how many people in RC have drip irrigation systems installed. If some kind of rationing system is instigated I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people consider it.
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Re: Drip Irrigation

Postby surfsteve » Thu Apr 24, 2014 7:42 am

Even though I am still only in the idea phase I just purchased a license YESTERDAY to start up a lawn care service in Ridgecrest as a first step. This could potentially greatly affect me. They had water rationing in Denver one of the places I did lawn care. To my surprise it wasn't that bad. Regulations made it hard to water ones lawn unless they had a sprinkler system. I eventually sold my lawn care business and made a small but short lived fortune installing sprinklers. Was able to retire for 2 years and windsurf around the country. Maybe it's a good omen.
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Re: Drip Irrigation

Postby wildrose » Thu Apr 24, 2014 8:16 am

mrfish wrote:Somewhere I heard that they might be considering water rationing in Ridgecrest. I wonder how many people in RC have drip irrigation systems installed. If some kind of rationing system is instigated I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people consider it.

I also heard that rumor. Not sure how true it is, but it stands to reason since we've been through three years of drought in a row now. There was a news article somewhere about the aquifer being low and getting lower a while back, but I haven't heard anything new on that lately.
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Re: Drip Irrigation

Postby BallaratBob » Wed May 14, 2014 8:27 am

Sprinkler systems and drip irrigation are a wonderful thing as long as they work reliably, but what I wonder about is how often a drip irrigation system needs to be tinkered with to make sure there ain't any clogs in the line. I mean if it's all underground the only way you know if it ain't working is if some plants die!
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Re: Drip Irrigation

Postby surfsteve » Wed May 14, 2014 5:56 pm

Most drip systems are entirely above ground. The key to a good system is to keep dirt out of the lines. This includes using filters but is mostly preventable by not letting any dirt get into the system while you are building it. This is where most of the dirt that causes problems comes from. You can buy packages of plugs to use whenever a line is left open but you might find it easier to use duct tape. It is also necessary to flush out the lines but don't count on that. Dirt that is too heavy to flush out can sometimes take years to make it's way to clog up your system.
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Re: Drip Irrigation

Postby sandman » Fri Jul 04, 2014 6:48 am

Smart Home Sprinkler System Controller - Iro
I like the idea of the smartphone being like a remote control for everything. Get your whole house and yard hooked up and control everything from your phone. Maybe start your car from your smartphone too.
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