Rate My (Preliminary) Drip Irrigation Layout

[elouicious]

also what PSI is everyone running?

[pineislander]

If it is hard digging I would put PVC under the driveway. Use compression adapter inside a 1/2" coupling or elbow & push in the poly tubing.
https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/compression-adapter-1-2-in-x-700-in-slip-10-ct-ca700-10pk

[Victoria Ave]

You would want to do a schedule 40 1” (minimum) pipe sleeve under the driveway then run the line through. It will protect the poly and if something goes wrong you won’t have to dig up the driveway again

[elouicious]

so basically you are saying lay pvc under the gravel and feed poly through?

2 questions-

1. Why not just have an adapter to pvc and run the water through the pvc for the portion under the driveway?

2. I am running 3/4" poly for the main line on most parts- so would a 1" pvc with a 3/4" poly compression adaptor work?

I am experiencing pressure loss at a few points in the system- going to try to close most of the loops to see if that corrects it-

I am running less than 500' of total line but I have a ton of emitters

[pineislander]

so basically you are saying lay pvc under the gravel and feed poly through?

2 questions-

1. Why not just have an adapter to pvc and run the water through the pvc for the portion under the driveway?

That was my advice. No need to run poly through PVC, that is twice the cost. 3/4" PVC buried will be fine under a driveway. When you backfill, be sure to pack dirt/sand/gravel under the PVC so it is supported before covering. You can use a water hose to settle the fill.

[elouicious]

Thank you so much!

Got another project to try to get done before the move

[Victoria Ave]

Yeah, that makes more sense haha. In the profession you sleeve anything under a drive like that but for home stuff that’s fine

[spaugh]

Yeah, that makes more sense haha. In the profession you sleeve anything under a drive like that but for home stuff that’s fine

Its sound advice.  I would throw an electrical conduit in there for future use as well. 

[elouicious]

I did some tests this afternoon and I think there are a confluence of problems causing some low pressure points in my system

• I have a few runs of 1/4" poly that are more than 10 feet - tested by closing these off with goof plugs (saw some rise in pressure)
• Elevation - Tested by placing the sprinklers on the ground instead of the pots on pallets (bigger rise in pressure)
• Not a closed loop
• possibly too many emitters

At this point I have resolved to close the loop by running ~20ft of 3/4" or 1" pvc under the driveway. (I tested digging with a pickaxe and it actually wasn't so bad) I think I will just connect the poly to the pvc and have the water run through the pvc instead of sleeving it, but if it is a relatively easy DIY I could be convinced to sleeve it. If I have dead ends into drip lines (like on the bottom left of the picture) is this a problem? I could also close these loops

I think this will solve problems 2 and 3 (dear god please) but as far as point #1 goes I am not sure If I should close the loop on the 1/4" poly runs, swap the 1/4" poly runs for 1/2" (again closing the loop back to the 3/4" main) or just go with some sprinklers that will cover area

I don't think there is much of a way around #4- I have a ton of plants and especially if I am trying to put 2 emitters per plant in ground the number will be in the 100's

Any and all help appreciated- my time to fix this is dwindling

[K-Rimes]

It sounds like you have a lot of plants and this is overly complex using emitters / micro sprinklers for each and every plant. In areas with density, just use a spinner like Brad is suggesting. They really soak a big area real quick. Fine for a bunch of trees in a lawn like area.

You will have a ridiculous amount of maintenance with 100 emitters. I'm managing maybe 40 emitters and it's a lot, almost requiring daily viewing of them running, adjusting them open to clear blockages then back to proper spray, losing caps due to over pressure, etc

My experience recently when my well coughed up manganese chunks is that drippers can be just as much a curse as blessing because I had to go and uncap each and everyone to clear the blockages...

Don't take a long trip expecting everything will be perfect on your return. I am leaning more and more to using spinners for my densely planted areas!

[elouicious]

Thanks K-Rimes, I have completely abandoned the idea of an emitter for every plant-

I have already implemented sprinklers in the areas where things are densely planted in ground and, honestly, everything in ground is covered.

The problem is with the elevated pots-

I got the Jain pressure compensating sprinklers which claim they can do 15' circular- I'm getting maybe 1-2'

they work better than the non-pressure compensating drippers but when I drop one of those sprinklers down to the ground it is probably covering 4-5'

[nattyfroootz]

Hmm sounds like you might have a pressure issue. Are you overloading the distribution line with flow from other sprinklers? I don't think water hammer is an issue because it sounds like you are still getting some flow.  Do you have a filter and pressure reducer on your line?

I have around 400 or so emitters and very rarely have any issues with clogs or heads popping off.  Pretty stoked with the netafim supernets. I'm on well water too and don't have major issues, I'm sure I will at some point though. 

[elouicious]

Hmm sounds like you might have a pressure issue. Are you overloading the distribution line with flow from other sprinklers? I don't think water hammer is an issue because it sounds like you are still getting some flow.  Do you have a filter and pressure reducer on your line?

I have around 400 or so emitters and very rarely have any issues with clogs or heads popping off.  Pretty stoked with the netafim supernets. I'm on well water too and don't have major issues, I'm sure I will at some point though.

It's a bit puzzling-

I'm going to look for kinks in the main line that can be replace as well- I have less that 400 emitters

One thing is I am using the inline filter mentioned in a previous post but I also have a chlorine/chloramine filter which I suspect may be reducing the flow- I am very happy with the setup so far but as I suspected getting things fine tuned is a bit of an art- I'm gonna take a massive amount of pictures this weekend to see if that will help with tips