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Post by mountshastagarden on May 27, 2015 12:01:12 GMT -5
Does anyone else have a system with 1/2 inch plastic hose mainline joined to 1/8 inch soaker hose? In mine, which is several years old now, I am getting a lot of water leaking out of the joints between the half inch and 1/8 inch lines. So too much water gets to one end of the plot and not enough at the other end. I'm not sure whether I could fix it by plugging and taping existing holes and poking new holes with the icepick tool, or I need to replace the half inch line. --It's not that expensive, but I would probably also need to get a new end piece where it connects to the garden hose. I think if I were doing it over again I would just use half inch soaker hoses.
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Post by davidjp on May 27, 2015 12:29:10 GMT -5
I'm afraid I don't have specific recommendations for your system, other than going through each one and trying to fix each joint. However I have a similar system with 1/2 inch poly tube and use drip tape coming off it. www.dripworks.com/category/drip-tapeIf I do get any problems its not bad to just replace a section of drip tape, I think 100 ft runs about $12 at the moment. I have had my system for about 4 years and I've only had to replace a couple of sections and that was due to my cutting it with tools. Also the fittings for each length of tape run about 50c, or $2 if you want to be able to individually turn tape sections off. I would heartily recommend go that route, I do occasionally see soaker hoses in other peoples gardens and always think what a pain but thats usually with the larger diameter hoses.
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Post by octave on May 27, 2015 13:07:23 GMT -5
I read that problems may be caused by water pressure. Do you have an accurate pressure regulator?
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Post by desertwoman on May 27, 2015 17:48:14 GMT -5
shasta- are your 1/2" hoses exposed to the sun? My drip system set up sounds like yours. I love it. I use much less water than when I had soaker hose.
I have found, however, that sun can start to degrade the hose over time., especially at the joints where I plug the smaller hose into the bigger main lines. So I cover those joints with leaf mulch.
Or else, I try to plant something where the leak is!
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Post by claude on May 27, 2015 19:24:01 GMT -5
I am so proud of myself! I configured a soaker watering system that was leak free...now I need some straw for mulch. I used some old sections of cut up hose with connections to connect and leave the pathways dry without loosing flow of water to the last bed.
shasta would you consider making the water reducer disk (found in the opening of the section )the last garden bed..making the hole larger?
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 27, 2015 21:22:47 GMT -5
I've never worked with 1/8" tubing, but I've known others that did, but no longer do, so there seems to be a pattern! Like davidjp, for a row I use T-tape, and I get the thicker, 15 mil, with high output (it's really not high - lower than the 1/2 gal/hr emitters) emitting holes every 6", and I plant a row on each side of it with garlic, shallots, and greens. Everything else, I have an emitter per plant, which I run out of the 1/2" tubing with an elbow, or a tee, if going to both sides. Eventually, in many places this connection begins to leak, some more than others, so I pull the tee out and stick a "goof plug" into the hole, then punch another hole right next to it, and start over! I have a 35' line for my pepper row that is 6 or 7 years old, and has more goof plugs than emitters! One time I got a set of tees which were simply too thin, and the connections all leaked, and some of them simply popped apart from the pressure. The company replaced them (and hopefully stopped carrying those! LOL), and those were 1/4" tees, but maybe it is a similar problem with yours. I have seen 1/4" to 1/8" transfer barbs in the catalog, so maybe this would work better for you, though you would have to get the puncher for 1/4", unless you have that one, too.
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Post by desertwoman on May 27, 2015 21:42:27 GMT -5
Oh, I also don't use 1/8" tubing. I use 1/4"
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