I just added on about six bubblers to three Orbit gear drive lawn sprinklers. They have a 3/4" feed at about 50 psi. The three lawn sprinklers now don't spray nearly as much. I took off the guts, and the filters were not clogged. I turned down the bubblers so they are just coming out a little. The other stations function properly.
Do you think I have a clog, or is that too many to put on one line? I can put a pressure reducer on to that leg. But like I say, I barely have the bubblers on, and don't think that's enough to drop the performance of the lawn sprinklers by half.
could there be a limit to how many head can be run or added to system? if you add heads in then that effects how well what was there before works, might need to divide or get heads that deliver at lower pressure??
Have considered a booster pump, as this is a gravity fed/booster pump situation from a local mountain stream, and a holding reservoir. Pressure varies a lot according to use.
My neighborhood is on a water system that is gravity-fed from a
1,000,000 gallon tank up on a hill higher than any house. The pressure in my lines is high enough that a hose turned on full will writhe and snap like an injured snake.
I have drip emitters for three dwarf citrus in large flower pots (about
21 inches across and equally deep). These emitters are tied into my regular garden sprinklers. Despite the available pressure, each emitter is on a separate sprinkler valve.
For my garden, there are 7 valves: 2 in front and 5 in back (popup and shrub heads). There is a separate (8th) valve for the drip system for my roses in front on the far side of my driveway (seven emitters). And there are 4 valves for my hill (rotating heads). Since emitters have a much lower flow rate than bubblers, I can run the drip system for the roses while another valve is open, but I cannot otherwise run 2 valves at the same time.
All of this is to indicate that the "load" on a sprinkler system must be balanced even when the available pressure is quite high.
Fortunately for me, the 7 garden valves and the drip valve for the roses are on a clock. I don't have to keep running outside to shut one valve and open another. I do the 4 hill valves manually, but my hill is irrigated only every third weekend.
It's hard to say without being there and having some feel for how the system behaves under different loads. If you suspect a clog then open joints progressively (and close them again) starting at the pump until you find the section with a big drop in flow. I am assuming you have polypipe not threaded metal. OTOH if the system returns to how it was beforehand when you turn off the new heads then it is overloaded.
Is "injured snake" some new water company standard?
Your water company like every other US water company is delivering residential properties no more than about 40 psi, with volume limited by meter diameter. Most folks on private wells will have much greater pressure and volume than what a municipal water company supplies residential customers... you'd be doing good if your tap can produce four gallons a minute. With most neighborhoods on a municipal water system it's suggested to run automatic sprinkler systems during the wee morning hours before people awaken for the day, and then to have no more than 4-5 sprinkler heads per zone.
How about this .......... I put a pressure reducer on the leg I put to the new plants. They are bubblers, and can be cranked down. That's why I'm surprised that there was such a drop in pressure. I did take the guts out of all four of the sprinklers at once and turn on the water, so if there was gunk in there, it should have blown out. I am going to try both a pressure reducer and a ninety and see if that solves it. I may have to hook that leg to another water source.
How do you know that you have 70 psi water pressure inside your home, people on city water don't have a pressure tank. Most residenses (especially older homes) would spring leaks at 70 psi... clothes/dish washer fill hoses, ice makers, toilets and such especially... of course you can post the Seattle water URL that shows their residential pressure. Municipal water companys typically supply about 50 psi to residential street mains but the residential meter reduces pressure to about 40 psi, which is more than enough pressure for the average home. Municipal water companys don't supply higher pressure than is adequate, they are averse to destroying peoples homes.
We have a pressure regulator where our service line from the meter enters the house. Thus, the house might have 40 psi.
However, our hose bibs and garden sprinklers are on a line that taps the service line before the pressure regulator. I believe that line is getting whatever pressure is in the main in the street. With a
1,000,000 gallon storage tank that has a base about 100 feet higher than my house and that is ususally at least half full (another 30 feet), we get about 130 feet of "head" or about 56 psi in our garden line.
As quickly as it came on, my lack of pressure has gone away. We planted today, about six bubblers, none of them opened up very much. Not adding any, just planting the plants. I would say extending the line with six bubblers may have dropped the performance a little. Oh, I have one gear drive Orbit added until these new plants get established. But when I turned it off with the in-line 90, the other four didn't jump up noticeably in spraying. When they were low, they were just going at a slow pee stream rate. Now they're going 25' with lots of spray. I may still put a pressure reducer on there anyway. I think it may have been low pressure from the source, but I was reading near 50 psi on the gauge.
I recognize brooklyn1 as a pure D psycho idiot from foodie newsgroups. Don't waste your time pig wrestling. You and I know the facts, and use a gauge and understand physics. brooklyn1 is a mere child, at least mentally.
Pressure varies within a range by residential, light industry, heavy industry, etc., does anyone really think water company's supply water pressure helter skelter... you're the imbecile who is *ascared* to post your water company's stats.
I just received an E-mail from my water service. The pressure at my meter averages 88 psi. Yes, there is some loss resulting from the narrowness and bends in the feed lines from the meter to my sprinklers and hose bibs; but that should not be enough to reduce the pressure to household values.
Given that our water flows by gravity from a tank at an elevation greater than any customer, the pressure is dictated entirely by location and not by the characteristics of the users.
There are a few hilltop homes where the water service needs to use a pump to maintain pressure. Of course, the water reaches the tanks by being pumped uphill.
It takes the better part of a day at normal usage to drain the tank. Thus, gravity feed means that almost all of us will still have water if there is a power failure. There are about 5-6 such tanks -- each holding 1-2 million gallons -- serving the entire community: homes for over 14,000 residents, stores, restaurants, six schools, and seven parks.
Yes, we have color-coded fire hydrants. Yellow means the potable (regular) water system at 88 psi, and lavender means reclaimed water at a lower pressure from the local sewage plant. The mains for reclaimed water are at a lower pressure so that, if both potable and reclaimed mains break near each other, reclaimed water will not get into the potable main and contaminate it. The reclaimed water is used for irrigating some parks, greenbelts, two golf courses in adjacent communities, and some school playfields.
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