What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Automatic Watering System

xvart

Doing it wrong until I do it right.
Staff member
Moderator
Update 6/13/08: For working directions, click here to jump to later in this thread.

So after converting several of my Nepenthes to hanging pots on my grow shelf, I was having difficulty watering the ones in the back. Being the proactive person that I am, I decided that just being annoyed and complaining wasn't a good enough solution. So, I made a trip to Lowe's to start a project with little knowledge of what I was doing. With reckless abandon, I started buying stuff to create an automatic watering system. Additionally, since I had just cleaned the floor in my plant/project room I had more than enough clean space to make dirty again.

The clean floor:
AutoWatering002.jpg


Please remember that it has been four or five years since my last physics class involving pressure in pipes and liquid flow systems.

I had done some reading online about similar DIY projects, but I was unable to find one that had split tee joints.

Here is everything I bought laid out:
AutoWatering005.jpg


Inventory
Submersible Fountain Pump (40-80 GPH)
20 ft. Clear Vinyl Tubing, 1/2" x 3/8"
5 x Nylon Hose Barb Tee, 3/8" x 3/8" x 3/8"
3.5 Gallon Bucket
1 x Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich, hold the mayo, add cheese and pickles

STEP ONE: Eat My Sandwich
AutoWatering006.jpg


STEP TWO: Test the Fountain Pump
I initially filled up the bucket with water, submerged the fountain pump in the water, and attached a length of tubing. I then plugged it in to see if the tubing size and connection was correct.

AutoWatering010.jpg


Sweet! It was working. Off to a good start.

STEP THREE: String the First Length of Tubing up the Shelf
I split the tubing at the top of the hanging pot shelf and taped it to the top of one of the legs. Before splitting the tubing too many times I decided it would be important to test it with only one junction.

AutoWatering012.jpg


STEP FOUR: Test the Junction
At this point, I didn't think I would be able to split the main line too many times without significant drop-off in pressure through the tubing. I turned it on again and discovered that the water wouldn't even climb the four feet to the top from the bucket that was sitting on a chair. I looked at the fountain pump box for the first time and read: "Pumping Height 3.3 ft (Max)." Whoops!

AutoWatering011.jpg


STEP FOUR (B): Move the Water Bucket and Repeat Step Four
I put the water bucket on the very top shelf so gravity would no longer be my enemy.

AutoWatering015.jpg


I turned on the pump again. Remember this:
xvart said:
At this point, I didn't think I would be able to split the main line too many times without significant drop-off in pressure through the tubing.
Well... The first split was yielding hardly any water through the second tube.

AutoWatering013.jpg


So I unplugged the pump and waited for the water to finish draining... and waited... and waited... Then it struck me. My non-enemy gravity was now my non-friend gravity because the water in the tube was sucking up water from the top bucket as it poured from the tube into the bottom bucket. I had essentially created a slightly more expensive siphon.

Conclusion
So, it looks like my wreckless abandon would have to be supplemented with a little more research and help from others. But, I still had created something that solved my original goal of making watering the back plants easier, since I can easily pump water through one small tube.

Here I am watering my N. Kohala. Ahhhh... how easy.
AutoWatering020.jpg


Potential Ideas: Research Denied!
  • Plug the main line and force water down the side shoots;
  • Get a more powerful pump; or,
  • Stop kidding myself and read more information.

Any and all comments will be appreciated. Eventually I'll have it so I just turn on the pump for a minute and it will water six or seven pots.

xvart.
 
Last edited:
No all you need to do is set a pipe in each pot and then just flip a switch to water them all at once. Looks good. Going to set something up like that myself when I move.
 
No all you need to do is set a pipe in each pot and then just flip a switch to water them all at once. Looks good. Going to set something up like that myself when I move.

Yeah, but the water wasn't flowing out of both pipes when I only split it once. Not enough pressure?

xvart.
 
You need to do what I did for my bog. You have the one pipe. It is a heavier black tubing then you pierce it and use these connectors to run smaller tubes off the main one. You did the same thing I did in the beginning. You need to look at the micro drip irrigation stuff at lowes then use the pump to feed it. I will have to take a pic of my setup. You can see it easily on the back of the bog.

Don't buy the fancy irrigation heads. There will not be enough pressure, but it will be enough to get an even flow out of each tubing.
 
One of the pieces you might be missing is something called a manifold. The manifold is something used to somewhat solve that problem. They are cheap and will sometimes do the conversion of pipe sizes for you. Mine accepts a 1/2" pvc thread, and spit out 1/4" tubing. The manifold delivers water to everything, just not the path of least resistance. And each outlet is adjustable in case it's doing just that. The part runs about 3 - 5 dollars.

http://www.leaffactory.com/wp/v/thevault/P4130159.JPG.html

You can see it in that photo, black circle with some capped off, some with hoses connected.

http://www.hardwareandtools.com/invt/u695443?ref=gbase
 
Last edited:

Thanks for that link. Some good reading.

oh and flashback... total dynamic head = total static head + total friction head
I teach it every semester ;)

Ahhh... the cobwebs are falling down now and it's starting to come back with that vocabulary! lol. Thanks for all the information Av.

One of the pieces you might be missing is something called a manifold. The manifold is something used to somewhat solve that problem. They are cheap and will sometimes do the conversion of pipe sizes for you. Mine accepts a 1/2" pvc thread, and spit out 1/4" tubing. The manifold delivers water to everything, just not the path of least resistance. And each outlet is adjustable in case it's doing just that. The part runs about 3 - 5 dollars.

http://www.leaffactory.com/wp/v/thevault/P4130159.JPG.html

You can see it in that photo, black circle with some capped off, some with hoses connected.

http://www.hardwareandtools.com/invt/u695443?ref=gbase

I see. How does the manifold play into the upper pvc piping in your picture? Are they separate systems? I remember you mentioning changing pipe sizes during our last conversation on AIM but I never realized or saw that manifold. Any chance of getting some pictures of the connection pieces to it and how it connects to your water supply?

I think that might work with the pieces I've currently bought.

I'll have to ponder all this before taking the next step. Thanks for all the help, JB, Av, and MFT.

xvart.
 
  • #10
Hey Xvart,

Um I have absolutely no experience in this, but I have an idea, but I have no idea if it will work. This idea requires buying nothing new, if it actually works, so you might like it. Just have your bucket of water up top like you do now, and run the tubing across the top of each pot you want to water, and secure the tubing onto the pots so the tubing does not move. Have the end of the tubing pour back into your bucket so that it recirculates. At each pot, go to the tubing that is running across the top and just make a very small puncture in it so that a very small stream comes out. Hopefully when the pump forces the water through the tubing, some will come out of the very small hole while the majority moves through the pipe onto the next holes, and whatever is left over is recirculated into the bucket. If this actually does work, it might take a while to actually water the whole pot since the stream is so small...but it would probably get the job done. So ya I dunno if that made any sense to you, and it probably won't work, but if it does, there ya go!!!

Just my crazy thought/idea!

Zach
 
  • #11
Mr Flytrap 2, that is a very nice setup. I have thought of doing something similar to that. Infact, I may indeed do something like that. Many times having seen the MISTKING website, I have wanted to get one of those systems. But it is easily made at a significantly lower price when you DIY. All we need to find is the correct nozzles and a powerful pump and we should be good to go.
 
  • #12
Honestly I woudl just get a better water pump, maybe something pressure rated but not even really I just like over kill, just something that can pump more GPH at a higher head.

Hey Xvart,

Um I have absolutely no experience in this, but I have an idea, but I have no idea if it will work. This idea requires buying nothing new, if it actually works, so you might like it. Just have your bucket of water up top like you do now, and run the tubing across the top of each pot you want to water, and secure the tubing onto the pots so the tubing does not move. Have the end of the tubing pour back into your bucket so that it recirculates. At each pot, go to the tubing that is running across the top and just make a very small puncture in it so that a very small stream comes out. Hopefully when the pump forces the water through the tubing, some will come out of the very small hole while the majority moves through the pipe onto the next holes, and whatever is left over is recirculated into the bucket. If this actually does work, it might take a while to actually water the whole pot since the stream is so small...but it would probably get the job done. So ya I dunno if that made any sense to you, and it probably won't work, but if it does, there ya go!!!

Just my crazy thought/idea!

Zach



that would still have the problem of the siphon just instead of it coming through the large hole it would just slowly drip out the small punctures...
 
  • #13
Well I had a brainstorm late last night around 1:30 am. My thought process was revolving around the water not going down the second tube. Could it be the way I had the Tee Joint configured? So I got out of bed and turned the Tee Joint so it wasn't a straight line with a junction splitting off from there. Now, the main tube from the pump ends, and it splits two ways, forcing the water to go either one way or the other.

ATTEMPT ONE:

<============<"PUMP"
......||
......||
......||
......\/

ATTEMPT TWO:

/\
||
||
||===========<"PUMP"
||
||
||
\/

It seems so obvious that I should have done this to begin with. Well, it worked with one branch, with fairly even and regular flow from both tubes.

This morning I split both of those tubes again, in the same manner. I had irregular flow from three of the tubes, but enough water to practically water three plants. Since I was working quickly and just testing it the tubes were neither uniform in length nor flat/circular shape of the tubing.

Something to think on during the day...

Honestly I woudl just get a better water pump, maybe something pressure rated but not even really I just like over kill, just something that can pump more GPH at a higher head.

Based on what I've discovered today, I think I may take my pump back and get one like you suggest to see how it works pumping more water through the tubing. I know this is still neither optimal nor perfect, but it might serve in the interim quite well. Another option would be to get some cheap valves and not allow water to run through alll the tubes at once, limiting to two at once.

xvart.
 
  • #14
Even with the other configuration, you'll run into problems unless the tubing is a different size than the pump tubing. You have to have a reduction at some point in order to build pressure, resulting in water in all tubes instead of just one or two.
 
  • #15
also, ( you probly already know this but...) remember to make all the tubing the same length so you have even flow out of all of them. If not the system will be prone to having a greater flow of water out of the shorter tubing and less to non out of the longer tubes.
 
  • #16
also, ( you probly already know this but...) remember to make all the tubing the same length so you have even flow out of all of them. If not the system will be prone to having a greater flow of water out of the shorter tubing.


Another good reason to have the manifold. The extra weight of tubing can pull plants down onto that clean carpet. Another thing to think about, with no regulation of each tube, you're going to get the same flow of water to a 4" pot as you are for a hanging basket. The manifold also has screw adjustments for each tube to help with those issues.
 
  • #17
Even with the other configuration, you'll run into problems unless the tubing is a different size than the pump tubing. You have to have a reduction at some point in order to build pressure, resulting in water in all tubes instead of just one or two.

I forgot to mention that I was thinking about buying some smaller tubing that would break off the main line when I went to return the pump and work on what you mentioned previously. Thanks for mentioning that again.

Another good reason to have the manifold. The extra weight of tubing can pull plants down onto that clean carpet. Another thing to think about, with no regulation of each tube, you're going to get the same flow of water to a 4" pot as you are for a hanging basket. The manifold also has screw adjustments for each tube to help with those issues.

I'm still curious about the size of the piping on the "in-line" of your manifold. And do you pump water from a bucket or do you have it hooked up to a hard line?

xvart.
 
  • #18
Hmm...eating that sandwich seems to be a very important step.
 
  • #19
Second Try 6/13/08

I've had a couple questions about the status of this project; so I went out to Lowe's again tonight and bought a few more different sized tubing, and upgraded my water pump. I appreciate everyone's suggestions and I'm not discounting any of those by not following them, but since I already had some pieces, and don't really want to invest a ton of money into this project. Eventually I would like to upgrade to the dripping system mentioned above since it would better serve my purposes for more plants, better looking, etc. There are some great resources and suggestions mentioned earlier in this thread for anyone just now joining the party.

So, I'm going to put the horse in front of the wagon when I say it works! I can now easily water four plants at once, with no effort whatsoever.

Since the problem seemed to be water pressure, I decided I needed to, as MFT suggested, force the water being pumped from a larger diameter tube to a smaller diameter tube. My new water pump (150 gph) has a bigger tubing attachment. Lowe's didn't have any special attachments that would convert my plastic tubes, so I did it the old fashioned way: I just jammed to tubes into each other, and since the outside diameter (OD) of the small tube was the same size as the inside diameter (ID) of the larger tube.

IrrigationPart2005.jpg


It made a perfect seal, and no water leaked out. Who needs special conversion parts?! Now I forked it a few times, while keeping the main waterline as short as possible because I don't want the water to lose pressure as it travels a distance. Here's what it looks like laid out:

IrrigationPart2003.jpg


The next step probably wasn't necessary but I went ahead and made the exit tubes smaller than the middle portion, so the line is constricted twice from the original pump point. Now all that I need to do is install a turnoff valve to keep the siphoning action from happening once gravity takes over, as I previously described.

Now I just need to get bigger water collection containers underneath the pots because water flows fast and drains fast. Here are some pictures of the final setup.

IrrigationPart2007.jpg


IrrigationPart2010.jpg


IrrigationPart2011.jpg


IrrigationPart2012.jpg


IrrigationPart2016.jpg


IrrigationPart2017.jpg


So... It's not the greatest, but it will certainly serve my purposes for a while. It was fairly inexpensive, too. The biggest purchase was the pump at $24. With tubing and joints, the total price was probably about $30.

I'll put together a little drawing schematic and parts list if anyone is interested.

Hmm...eating that sandwich seems to be a very important step.

You know it. Disappointingly, I missed that step this time around.

xvart.
 
  • #20
JC. You would get alot better flow out of the tubing if you would have just gotten the black tubing I was talking about and then the small flexable stuff to tap off that. I am glad it is working for you, but you would have better flows, more evenly dipursed flows and water conservation with the setup I was talking about. I am sorry I didn't get back to you with my setup's pictures yet. Been busy. I also don't think it was that pricey either and could be expanded upon by just tapping the tubing again and not upgrading the pump. :p
 
Back
Top