Problem with drip irrigation system

[Reyaaz]

Problem with drip irrigation system

Hello all,

We have set up a drip irrigation system. The first half of the system seemed to work, however no water was flowing from the latter half.

We then rearranged the tubing as shown in the pictures:

Unfortunately, we seem to have defied the laws of gravity as now nothing comes out of any irrigation pipe.

The water butt is 2m off the ground and the pressure seems sufficient to flow through the system. The length of the system is approximately 10m.

All help would be appreciated as we need to eat at harvest time.

Kind regards, R

[Jeff Layman]

You have a blockage somewhere. I can't see clearly from the photos, but it appears your irrigation pipe is fed directly from the water butt via a standard hosepipe. If that is anything like my water butts, they get a lot of crud from the pipe that feeds them the rainwater, and sometimes from vent holes in the lid (I assume your lid is usually closed). That stuff - dead leaves, moss, etc - doesn't usually matter if you use only the butt tap to get water, but fine-bore irrigation pipes could easily get blocked. I suggest you fit a filter somewhere which is simple to remove and clean out occasionally, and is fine enough to prevent blockage.