On April 6, 2019 at 14:32, james_aa said...
We have system setup with c. 75m of drip pipe (spec :
[Link: rainbird.com]).
At the programmer end we get c. 2 bar pressure, 12L per minute flow.
I stuck the pressure meter on the end of the 75m run and ran the system for a few minutes and seems we are getting 1 bar of pressure at the end of the run.
The problem is that the ground doesn't seem to be getting wet, even after a pro longed 3 hour run. The ground is wet directly under the drip locations with a small c. 10cm puddle, but not along the whole length of the pipe.
Dose this sound right and if not what can be done to improve the system ?
That's why its called a drip system. Its doing what its supposed to.
Having said that, im not looking at the scenario so here's a couple of thoughts.
First, the ground isnt supposed to be wet under the entire length of pipe, only where the holes are.
Second, that is pressure compensating drip line, which means every hole from first to last should have an equal amount of water flow.
What are you trying to water that you need to wet entire length of pipe?
You may have the wrong product depending on what you want to do.
Drip line is for things like privet hedges, plantings in beds, etc and is meant to form a circle around each plant before proceeding to the next.
If its linear like a row of hedges then one run of line on each side so the roots are watered evenly.
If you're trying to do something else like lawn areas then its the wrong product.
If you have flower beds you could swap out the drip line for mist heads. Mist heads are different than rotary heads in that they are not powerful enough to destroy the plantings they emit a fine spray.
Last, even if you have the drip line for the correct purpose, 3 hours is not enough if its hot out. Sometimes you'll need double that especially if new plantings.
You mentioned flow rates and pressure. You may be creating an issue that doesn't exist, so the tell tale sign is, are the plants dying or doing well?