Home made garden drip watering system
Home made garden drip watering system
As a large quantity of 15mm PEX barrier pipe became freely available, I thought I would use it to create a large-scale irrigation drip system for our gardens and bungalow.
Commercial watering systems rely on 6mm black plastic pipe to carry the water to sprinklers or drip irrigation waterers. The problem with using these on a large scale is that at the end of a long run of ten or more sprinklers there is not enough pressure to activate them properly. The same occurs when you branch the 6mm pipe with T adaptors, low pressure. There is also normally a maximum of five 6mm connection points on the manifold that connects to the 13mm timed water outlet. I've solved this problem by drilling directly into the 15mm PEX barrier pipe at intervals, inserting the 6mm pipe and glueing with Gripfill adhesive.
Components used
I've used a variety of items in creating this system and listed them all here; not all of the parts below have been used on the systems I have built, and not all may be required for your system but I've shown them here for completeness.
all items sourced from Amazon UK unless otherwise stated
- Battery operated water timer: Kingfisher Electronic Water Timer £18.45 [March 2020]
- 20mm stainless steel Jubilee hose clips: 10 x JCS HI-GRIP HOSE CLIPS SIZE 20 STAINLESS STEEL 13-20mm JUBILEE TYPE OO £9.99 [March 2020]
- Flexible 13mm hosepipe: Faithfull Pvc Reinforced Hose, 30 Metre, 1/2" £12.99 [June 2019]
- Black micro irrigation pipe: IRRIGA® Black micro irrigation pipe (tube), inner dia. 4mm / outer dia. 6mm - 25m £12.99 [April 2020]
- Shut off tap used as a pressure limiting valve:Visua 15mm Compression Isolation Valves - Pack of 4 £7.49 [April 2020]
- Cable / Pipe protector: TR-Tools Cable Protector Black Rubber Floor Cover -1m (20) mm (1 metre) £12.00 [April 2020]
- Plastic pipe cutting tool: Silverline 633767 PVC Pipe Cutter 36 mm £7.30 [April 2020]
- Speedfit elbows: John Guest Speedfit PEM0315W 15 mm Equal Elbow - White (Pack of 10) £19.05 [April 2020]
- Speedfit equal T John Guest Speedfit PEM0215W 15 mm Equal Tee (bag of 5) by John Guest £13.14 [April 2020]
- Speedfit end stops: John Guest JG Speedfit 5x Stop End 15mm £11.54 [March 2020]
- White pipe clips: 50 x Push-in Open White Clip Plastic 15mm Fitting Plumbing Pipe Snap Holder £6.49 [April 2020]
- Micro drip irrigation kit: Landrip Micro Drip Irrigation Kit;DIY Patio Plant Watering Kit;Garden Irrigation System;Misting Cooling System £17.59 [April 2020]
- Ball valve tap Europart Universal Straight Compression Fit Valve Tap, 3/4-Inch x 15 mm, Pack of 1 £3.99 [April 2020]
- PEX 15mm barrier pipe: PEX 15mm Barrier Pipe (50M) £55.00 [April 2020]
- 6mm brad-point drill bit: Bosch 2609255203 92mm Brad Point Drill Bits with Diameter 6mm £1.90 [April 2020]
- Gripfill adhesive/bond: Gripfill adhesive 350ML (10261) £2.49 [Screwfix - April 2020]