Drip irrigation using a rain barrel

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Several people have warned me that using a rain barrel to drive a drip irrigation system is not possible due to insufficient pressure.  I didn't want to believe this so I decided to try it for myself on the off-chance that I do something that those other people have not tried.

My drip irrigation test will use ONLY drip emitter tubing because it is cheaper than any other type of emitter available and because wetting the leaves of my plants with a spray or mist only wastes water and increases the chances of disease on the leaves.

Reality check:

  • 100 1/2 gph drip emitters  = $25
  • 100 ft roll of 1/2 gph drip tubing with 6" spacing  (200 emitters) = $22

Since most drip irrigation requires a pressure reducer to work properly, why not use a 0 psi rain barrel?  As long as the water source (rain barrel spigot) is higher than the end of the tubing, gravity will ensure that water comes out the other end.  

Since the rain barrel is very close to 0 psi, we need to ensure that there are no long runs of 1/4" tubing (ie less than 6-10 feet) because there is not enough pressure to get water through a small long tube. Since my garden beds are much longer than 10 feet, I used larger 1/2" tubing to bring water all the way to the end of my garden to supply the water to the short runs of 1/4" drip tubing tapped into the supply line.

TIP:
  1. As the length of 1/4" tubing run gets beyond 5 ft it is helpful to maintain sufficient water by attaching both ends of the 1/4" tube to the supply
  2. Keep the 1/4" tubing longer closer to the barrel and shorter towards the end of the supply tube
  3. Buy a spool of bailing wire for about $7 and cut 1 foot lengths to bend into U shaped hold downs to save a few bucks (it's close to 50% savings to make the hold downs vs buying them)
  4. no need to purchase the figure 8 supply line pincher to end your run, just fold the tube and zip tie it.

Caveat: 
  • 0 psi means we can't run a tube UP to a hanging plant.  Gravity will not allow us to water a plant that is higher than the rain barrel.
  • Water will drip S-L-O-W-L-Y but this will ensure the water goes deep to the roots where it is needed.  This implies that  you will let the water trickle over several hours instead of letting it run for 10 minutes like the lawn sprinkler (which is way too short for the lawn by the way).  I'm planning on turning the drip on in the morning and turning it off sometime before 3.
  • 1 rain barrel will likely be close to fully depleted after several hours of drip depending on how many emitters are attached to the barrel.


Comments

  1. Deep thinkerJune 8, 2015 at 6:11 AM

    I'm draining a 50 gallon rain barrel in about 1 hour so I'm watering the plants for 30 minutes roughly once a week. With the irrigation setup, I can always unhook the supply line from my rain barrel and attach it to my garden hose after a dry spell and an empty rain barrel.

    ReplyDelete

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