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MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
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DK,
Yeah, I haven't been able to measure it objectively. My estimate is a pure estimate. The actual way I came up with 26 gallons per 26 minute is by
having measured the number of inches the water level dropped in the Tinaco before and after the 26 minutes of watering and calculating that volume of
water.
Also, having repeatedly witnessed a stream of water that measured a pour rate of 1 gallon of water and removing an end cap at the farthest plant and
looking at that stream...as a "reasonableness" test...I think that I am in the approximate neighborhood. But, it's all still a guess.
I connect my 3/4" hose to 1/2" irrigation tubing using makeshift adapters, split it off to supply several different plants using "Ts" and then I push
on a white plastic end cap/plug at the end of the tube terminating at each plant. The way I control the flow to each plant is by drilling different
sized holes in the end cap/plug (e.g., 5/64", 6/64" and 7/64") and sometimes put more than one hole in certain caps.
The trick is to balance how much water gets to each plant during the 26 minutes of watering. That was a real task as variables such as size and
number of holes in the end cap, distance from the valve, relative elevations of each plant and the needs of the plant for water depending on size,
type and nature of the plant. Big, big balancing act. But, I did it. Lots of trial and error.
I did it all on the cheap...because I AM cheap. It has been fun and it is certainly worth it.
[Edited on 8-8-2013 by MitchMan]
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64854
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Good job!!!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64854
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Received some emailed drip questions from long time Nomad and Amigo de Baja, Bedman... Bumping up this thread for his ease to find.
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Doug/Vamonos
Nomad
Posts: 417
Registered: 6-19-2006
Location: Bahia de los Angeles
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fyi. I did a simple drip system at christmas time for a mix of palms, plumerias, and bougainvillea in pots. It features an 1100 liter pila on my roof
at 11 feet, feeding 3/4" pvc to a battery timer mounted to the side of the garage. The outlet is also 3/4" pvc which goes down to the plants and I
simply drilled about an 1/8" hole over every plant and water drips to them. Set the timer every other day for ten minutes and the plants look fine
when I visited a couple weeks ago. It was a temporary system in December just to keep the plants alive till I return with enough time to really set it
up. I used about 1/2 tank of water over three months. Kind of fun. The city water guys work in my office and they calc'd it at about 6psi with that
much fall.
[Edited on 4-17-2017 by Doug/Vamonos]
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Doug/Vamonos
Nomad
Posts: 417
Registered: 6-19-2006
Location: Bahia de los Angeles
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Update. Gravity was not doing it for me because it really wasn't enough pressure to distribute the water to a dozen plants. So I added a regular rv 12
volt water pump to the roof at the pila/tinaco. This allowed me to decrease the watering time on the timer. And all the plants get a nice stream of
water for one or two minutes and that seems to be enough. This could be a problem if the tank runs out of water or a timer fails to close. But the
pump is fused so it shouldn't burn out.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64854
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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I recently moved and the senior community I am in has a lot of drip irrigation in their planters. I am offering my new neighbors a free irrigation
check-up and evaluation as a way to meet the neighbors here and maybe help make things work better.
Here on Baja Nomad, which has provided so much Baja news and entertainment the past 17 years, I will give advice or solutions if you can post here or
send me photos or just ask questions about your irrigation concerns (drip or sprinkler).
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Jack Swords
Super Nomad
Posts: 1095
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Nipomo, CA/La Paz, BCS
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For those with meters, I just installed this: https://www.flumetech.com/
which was designed by Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. I have about 4000 ft of drip hose 7 solenoid valves and a $250 a month water bill (I deserve it!)
and thought all was well. This device is so sensitive that it shows a .20 gal or less leak. I can see my water use, toilets flushing, etc. on my
desktop computer and on my cell phone when away. My meter is 600 ft from the house and the signal easily transmits from meter to house. When I am
away travelling I can see water use and even get notifications by text, e-mail, and the computer. I set parameters for being notified after 5 hours
of continue flow. Ran drippers for 5 1/2 hours yesterday and got notified 3 different ways. If I had a break when away, my water cost could be
serious dollars. A phone call to Services district would get the water shut off until repaired. Found one leak, fixing it now.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64854
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Very cool, Jack. $200? How does it pick up the meter and know the gallons that pass through it? Do you have to set it up for either cubic feet or
gallons or other meter types?
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fishbuck
Banned
Posts: 5318
Registered: 8-31-2006
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I am gonna need some help with the treated water that comes out of my septic tank.
It uses only grey water and then it is treated and sanitary.
I will use it to irrigate my palms and other non-fruit trees.
And other shrubs etc.
I plan to plant those on the "downhill" side of my lot. Where the tank is.
I already have 3 nice fan palms about 4-5 feet tall and looking good.
I am hoping to grow some queens too. But it seems a little rough on them there. Will be between the houses. So maybe they can get big.
I will use a separate irrigation system on the "uphill" side with filtered water for my fruit trees. Same as my shower and tap water. The salty water
looks hard on plumbing and fixtures
Bottled water for drinking and cooking seems what everyone does there.
[Edited on 7-6-2019 by fishbuck]
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." J. A. Shedd.
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. – Albert Einstein
"Life's a Beach... and then you Fly!" Fishbuck
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fishbuck
Banned
Posts: 5318
Registered: 8-31-2006
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If you want to visit, you can tell my guys how to build the treated water irrigation system.
I will start to rough out all my plumbing soon.
I haven't drawn up the casita yet but have a good idea of what I want.
So will try an sketch it out with the help of my architect in SQ.
But it will be very cool when done.
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." J. A. Shedd.
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. – Albert Einstein
"Life's a Beach... and then you Fly!" Fishbuck
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Jack Swords
Super Nomad
Posts: 1095
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Nipomo, CA/La Paz, BCS
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David..already set for gallons, sensing device is battery operated and simply strapped to meter. No interference for meter reader. As leak detector
rotates (they are magnetic) the device detects the rotation, sends it to the house "bridge" by 900 mHz radio which connects to home router, then on to
Internet. They even include a tool for opening meter vault and a pair of gloves (I raise a good crop of black widows in mine). It's on Amazon and
with $20 coupon it is $180. Reviews and questions there too. No water connection is needed. San Luis gives a financial incentive to help pay for
it. Our service district is testing them and considering an incentive. I believe Rainbow already does. I needed something like this being gone for
several months with irrigation still operating. Now I can check from anywhere on cell phone Internet.
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Doug/Vamonos
Nomad
Posts: 417
Registered: 6-19-2006
Location: Bahia de los Angeles
Member Is Offline
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I manage the water system at a SoCal municipality. We recently installed 20,000 AMI meters (Advanced Metering Infrastructure). Basically autoread
meters that constantly monitor water flow past the meter and send that data to our system. Residents can log in and create their homepage to activate
alarms for overuse, leaks, etc. Very cool stuff. And see spouses taking showers at weird times of the day when they are supposed to be working. :-)
Nothing like technology!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64854
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Great info Doug. Which water district or will all have it? I am in the Rainbow water district (Fallbrook), for example.
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BajaTed
Senior Nomad
Posts: 859
Registered: 5-2-2010
Location: Bajamar
Member Is Offline
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Low cost point of use technology creating meaningful data for the consumer to deal with their life's footprint as they see fit until its measured
against their life's productivity metrics by you know who....
More coffee needed, sorry
Es Todo Bueno
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