I can find plenty of products to helpfully dispense water to my plants from a pressurised mains feed (like an outside tap), but I can't find anything that's suitable for a gravity feed like a water butt. Is anybody doing this? In the height of summer my toms dry out between me watering them before I go to work and getting back in the evening.
In our little polytunnel I use a brown plastic drip-feeder pipe which has built-in dripper valves every 6 inches or so. Known as water-but pipe - works off low pressure water only.
As the polytunnel is 'uphill' from the bungalow, it just so happens that the head of water from the storage tank in the loft is about right for the drippers. They are turned on & off with a plug-in amins timer - which controls a mains-operated washing-machine inlet valve - costs about a fiver from CPC
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- search for 'water valve'.
The timer is set to come on & off for selectable 15min periods throughout the day (mainly to save cooking the washing machine valve)
- and waters a row of tomatoes in ring culture, and four raised beds - each 4ft x 10ft.
I looked at the time for low voltage solenoid valves - but they're all much more expensive. If you're friendly with your local scrap dealer then you might even find them second-hand for much less money !
Hope this helps Adrian Suffolk UK
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On Thu, 11 May 2006 14:35:20 +0100 someone who may be "mike. buckley" wrote this:-
I saw something like this on a web site a few weeks ago, so yes people are doing this. AFAIR the components came in kits for typical applications or separately.
Can't remember where it was, but searching for rainwater harvesting may produce something.
I used the hozelock kit but without the pressure reducing valve (~£25-30 from B+Q) with short runs of pipe. On the longest "On" period per day after sunset it was giving ~10 l/day averaged over a week (as the level in the butt reduced). If you raise the butt and have a length of standard hosepipe to increase the drop the flow would increase quite a bit, and it should be good enough for you. Or don't use the timer.
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