PVC Watering Grid.

My Watering grids.
I have one for each 4 X 4 box and there connected to each
other with a short section of hose and a Brass 2-Way Connector which I use
to adjust the pressure to each grid, it then is connected to the faucet and a
battery powered timer with another Brass 2-Way Connector.
I ended up using Full pattern micro-Sprinkler spray heads. I have
tried many different types and will keep experimenting until I'm happy
with the output. I'm thinking I might switch to Soaker tubing and a
4-Port Adjustable Manifold to keep the water off of the leaves and down
in the soil.


So here is the recipe for the grids if any one is interested.

I bought 1/2" PVC tubing and cut it into

18x 10-3/4" lengths
6x 9-1/4" lengths
2x 2-2/1" lengths

I used
9. cross connectors

2. 90° Elbows

1. PVC Reducer Male Adapter 3/4" MNPT x 1/2” Slip.


2. Male Slip Adapter 1/2" x 1/2"


2. 1/2" Threaded cap.

9. Slip on PVC caps.

for each grid




The timer assembly parts are:
A double nozzle faucet timer.
2. short lengths of double female ended hoses.
1. Brass 2-Way Connector.
1. 3/4" Double Male Brass Water Hose Coupling



This setup allows me to run the water system twice a day.

I will up date this as I make changes.

Very cool!

I'm following!

Excellent!

That's an amazing grid, for the nozzles have you looked at the under soil drip systems instead of soaker hoses? I saw some of the nozzles for it at a local irrigation store last year, and they screw into the same areas as the micro-sprinklers.

Just a thought,
James

Ps I would love to see pictures of it in action!

I haven't heard of the under soil drip stuff Ill have to look it up.

OFF TO THE INTER WEBS!!!

Ill get some pictures and post them when I'm all set up for the season.

Hoggar wrote:My Watering grids.

I have one for each 4 X 4 box and there connected to each
other with a short section of hose ...

I am coveting a dozen of those. What do you have invested in them?

I keep coming back to this thread because it makes so much sense to me in how it's set up. When we put our sprinkler system in years ago, we had two zones set up for drip system and had intended to set it up as such, but changed our minds or just never got it going. But we did buy all of the 1/2" hoses so I have 5 or 6 rolls of it and a few rolls of the 1/4". If I do this, I would probably use the hosing I have and put in drip heads. You mentioned you've tried several experiments prior to arriving at this one. Anything that stands out that definitely didn't work? Any downsides you've come across in having a grid like this? I'm trying to weigh options but weigh more heavily on the supplies I already have.

Hi KDeus.

These prices are all from the current Home Depot online pricing.

But I would take a look at shawn350's Post "8 Table Top Boxes with Automatic Watering" as he has done some things I hadn't thought about with my setup.

1/2 in. x 10 ft. PVC Schedule 40 Plain End Pipe. $1.68 x 3

1/2 in. PVC Pressure Cross connector $0.98 x 9

1/2 in. PVC Schedule 40 Pressure Slip x Slip Elbow $0.28 x 2

PVC Reducer Male Adapter 3/4" MNPT x 1/2” Slip $0.74 x 1

PVC Male Slip Adapter 1/2" x 1/2" $0.32 x 2

Total before Tax 23.03 for the grid.

PVC 1/2" Threaded cap $0.66 x 2

Slip on PVC caps $0.27 x 9

360-Degree Sprinkler Jets (10-Pack) $3.07 x 1

Total before Tax $23.03

I'm in the process of re jigging the green house irrigation as the stuff I had previously was just not up to scratch .

You had no control at the drippers , it was the very devil of a job to set the flow just right so they dripped sufficinetly along each 12 foot branch of six drippers .

This new set up has a computerized controller like the others but is settable for all sorts of intervals of watering from a minute to several hours of water on , gaps every few hours if needed , it can be set to which ever day or days in the week to do all sorts of timings .. some thing like 20 events per day if needed .

It uses 1/2 heavy duty PVC tube as the man water arteries and branchese off every 18 inches over 20 feet into heavy duty 4mm tube to anjustable drippers or ..get this .....an adjustable spray head that can be 180 or a 360 degree coveraege with diameters from 1 foot upto almost 20 inches per spray head.

They were special offer ( due to water restrictions in the UK ) at less than half price , P & P free .

So we got two sets and saved over £70 . The company must have a hell of a lot of them in their stores to rack them out at that price.

The spare bits plus and extra 50 mtrs of 1/2 & 4 mm more tubes & sprays /drippers will be added to to make up six hanging basket watering pionts and also to run several dripper and spray heads to each SF bed over 1/2 pipe as I can then adjust or turn off the water to each area as needed .

I spent most of yesterday and a bit of this morning setting things up in the glasshouse , only to find on opening up the packs that there are two pressure reducers missing . A frantic call to the supply companuy and they tell me there are another two individual packages heading in my direction..

I wish they had marked the packs as pack 1 of 3 , 2 of 3 & , 3 of 3 or mentioned it in their sales info.

Waaaaahh:no: ....I want to play ..... NOW , before we go away for two days sampling the cultural debauchery of a big city & it's night life.

Hoggar wrote:Hi KDeus.

These prices are all from the current Home Depot online pricing.

But I would take a look at shawn350's Post "8 Table Top Boxes with Automatic Watering" as he has done some things I hadn't thought about with my setup.

1/2 in. x 10 ft. PVC Schedule 40 Plain End Pipe. $1.68 x 3
1/2 in. PVC Pressure Cross connector $0.98 x 9
1/2 in. PVC Schedule 40 Pressure Slip x Slip Elbow $0.28 x 2
PVC Reducer Male Adapter 3/4" MNPT x 1/2” Slip $0.74 x 1
PVC Male Slip Adapter 1/2" x 1/2" $0.32 x 2
Total before Tax 23.03 for the grid.
PVC 1/2" Threaded cap $0.66 x 2
Slip on PVC caps $0.27 x 9
360-Degree Sprinkler Jets (10-Pack) $3.07 x 1
Total before Tax $23.03

Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together! I bit the bullet and between your post and the one you suggested I check out, I went ahead and bought the pipe and connectors yesterday. My plan to use my poly tubing was abandoned when I realized how much the 4-way connectors cost. Your details at the top for how you cut them helped tremendously.

I noticed on the other thread that he drilled the holes with a 5/64" bit. I think I'm going to try that instead of the sprayers. need to study the video he posted a bit more to determine how many holes.

I was afraid my husband wasn't going to be onboard with spending the money to create these irrigation grids, but he thinks it's a great idea especially since it's so hot and dry here. We're just trying to determine if we're going to go with converting existing sprinkler heads to hook into these boxes, or take the existing, but not used, drip zone we set up and use that.

Thanks again!

Hoggar, you drilled and tapped the holes correct? Or did you just drill and thread straight into the PVC without manually tapping the threads?

Yes I drilled and tapped the holes but I am in the process of revamping
the system and am seriously thinking about trying the drilled hole system
that Plantoid used in his system. It will save a couple bucks on spray heads.

And if I drill them small and at slight angles I might get it to mist as it
sprays. Dr. Frankensteins got nuthin on me.

I'm very interested in making a watering grid, but need some help. I have two (ports?) pipes from an existing underground sprinkler system that are capped off. They are located right next to two of my boxes, but i'm not sure what I would need to attach a watering grid system to them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If there threaded you could just make an adapter for a hose connection
then use a short piece of hose to loop over to your watering grid.
If there not threaded you can just mount a PVC hose bib and connect to
that but either way treat it like a sprinkler unit in the winter time and
make sure its well drained.

PeonyLover wrote:I'm very interested in making a watering grid, but need some help. I have two (ports?) pipes from an existing underground sprinkler system that are capped off. They are located right next to two of my boxes, but i'm not sure what I would need to attach a watering grid system to them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Don't do it! That's the short answer.

You need to verify what irrigation zones those two heads are on from your controller. The easiest way will be to dig up around the cap, unscrew or more likely cut the cap off, then go turn on each zone for 1 minute to see which one makes the cut off spray like a fountain. Before doing this, have two spare caps to reseal if necessary.

If everything covered by the sprinklers on that zone will be fine with the amount of water you have to use for the raised bed Mel's mix, I'd say go for it, but I doubt it. if it's lawns or shrubs, they'll go soupy and drown or have massive run off.

That's what I did, nothing but problems as the line that was cap was space hold for an additional riser if needed. I just dug it up, cut the end off, attached a new elbow and riser and was ready to go. The only problem, it's tied to the 1st zone of the irrigation system for the back yard. That zone happens to be the plants under the shade of the eaves of the house. The right water amount for in ground house huggers isn't the right amount of water for a raised bed.

If the zoning is right with the sprinkler system, then you just unscrew or more likely, cut the cap off, put a connector on and a riser and go from there. But step one is to verify what irrigation zones those heads are on.

Hoggar, did you glue the pvc joints? I'm just wondering if the parts might hold together and not leak with 25 psi supply and the parts all firmly put together.

Hi Don, I glued all the joints and made sure everything was as solid.
as if I was going to buried it. I used:

Thanks for the response, Hoggar. I went ahead and tested my first grid without glue and soon had the answer to my question. LOL So I knocked it all apart and used both primer and glue and there are no leaks now and it's working beautifully! But I sure made a messy looking grid. I have no experience with gluing pvc and also the glue dauber I have is too big for 1/2 inch PVC and the glue got all over everything. So before I make my next grid I'm going to get new can of glue with a smaller dauber. Do you know of any way to clean them up?

I put the watering holes in the bottom side of the tubes so the water goes straight down under the grid and will not get leaves wet. That means I have to support the grid a little bit above the soil. I'm thinking of making the 9 1/4 inch tubes a little longer and letting the whole grid rest on the sides of the box. Then I'll have to keep the box pretty full of MM so there wouldn't be too much space under the grid. I think I'll make one like that and try it out. I can always shorten the tubes if it doesn't work well. Thanks again for posting your ideas and plans.

No Such Reality is right.

1: You must know the watering time for the cycle in that Zone. How much water will you be putting out into your garden? How much will you effect the watering in your other areas.

2. The additional pressure drop by adding a watering grid to your garden must be considered as well. It may decrease the covered area from the other sprinkler heads.

You could just try it and see what happens. If you substantially cut the water to the rest of the heads in that zone, then you could run a dedicated line to the SQFT beds. If you are uncomfortable with handling the possibilities, I'd recommend a short consultation with an irrigation system specialist.

what size hole did you drill in the pipe and how many per square

jfkelly001: If your question was directed my way, the answer is 5/64 drill bit and one hole per section of pvc.

Don the reason I use the "Red hot Blue" is it doesn't require the
primer, as for cleaning it off after it has dried Ive had no luck
in that department. But if you are really worried about the way
they look there is always Krylon spray paint for plastic.

LOL.. I like the way you think! :-) How's the greenhouse coming along? Thanks again!

KDeus wrote:I keep coming back to this thread because it makes so much sense to me in how it's set up. When we put our sprinkler system in years ago, we had two zones set up for drip system and had intended to set it up as such, but changed our minds or just never got it going. But we did buy all of the 1/2" hoses so I have 5 or 6 rolls of it and a few rolls of the 1/4". If I do this, I would probably use the hosing I have and put in drip heads. You mentioned you've tried several experiments prior to arriving at this one. Anything that stands out that definitely didn't work? Any downsides you've come across in having a grid like this? I'm trying to weigh options but weigh more heavily on the supplies I already have.

You can get adapters for the poly to run off of your inground sprinkler system. dont use more than 200ft of 1/2" poly in a run though and only 1 dripper per length of 1/4" tubing for decent pressure. The poly stuff is pretty easy to use and there are lot of drippers and sprayers to choose from. Poly is pretty cheap to get going too (if anyone is wanting to get an easy irrigation system going quickly). Also use a pressure regulator at the head of the poly line!

Is there any way putting tiny punctures all the way along the PVC pipes themselves would work? That's what DH & I were thinking of doing with this wonderfully creative design (thanks for the design!).