What’s the most economical way to make a green hou se watering system?

[items4sale]

I now have a green house supplied with 10mm2 SWA for power and 25mm blue MDPE for mains water....

Ditto a veg and fruit patch that has both power and water to it.

Now I need to think about making a watering system to water the grow bags and pots within the green house and also on my veg and fruit patch...

I want to be able to turn a single tap on or zoned taps. This would then be turned off later using a simple count down timer.

I do have some stock in my garage of the ?just in case I need it in the future? such as copper solder ring fittings, brass compression fittings, 15mm plastic pipe, John guest tees, elbows in both 22mm and 15mm sizes.

So I have some options but want to see which one is the most economic one...

1 all plastic speedfit/John guest

1. Copper tube and solder/compression fittings

2. That black hozelock irrigation system Kit that one can buy from garden centres.... is there any good reason why I should invest in this?

1. Lengths of Hozelock hosepipe with quick release connectors and Tee pieces.

2. Some combination of the above?

Whichever option I go for, I will need to buy a few stop valves as I don?t have any spare in the garage.

[Chris Green]

Don't rely on any sort of 'hose' pipe or fittings with mains pressure. All the 'before the tap that turns it off' plumbing should be in MDPE or copper or (less robust) sppedfit. So, taking the possibilities one by one:-

1 - Plastic/speedfit - I don't think this will survive well long term outdoors. I have some that I have used to connect a water collecting butt to a bigger storage tank and that is beginning to look decidedly sad after a few years. It's still working OK but at very low pressure of course. 2 - OK, but relatively hard work and not flexible so you have to make it exactly the right shape etc. 3 - Don't do it! :-)

4 - Don't do it, except 'after' the main on/off tap.

5 - Possible

6 - I have quite a lot of outside plumbing feeding horse waterers and a tap in the middle of a little orchard. It's all (now) plumbed in blue and black MDPE (blue for buried, black for above ground). Anything else I have tried has not withstood the test of time (or our rather high pressure mains water). If you shop around you can get fittings reasonably cheaply.

[Tim+]

It?s not hard to fit a pressure regulator. Just an option to consider if you feel that pressure is a problem.

Tim

[charles]

I have an underground pipe in black plastic (all there was 40 years ago) and it's been working ever since

[Brian Reay]

We use ring cultures for tomatoes, cucumbers etc and, in a previous greenhouse, I rigged up a very simple drip system. It was just an old hose with a number of holes, fed from a old header tank (to give a more or less constant rate). The header was filled from a butt, kept full with grey water and rain water etc. It took a while to adjust the flow but, once I found the settings ( a few were needed depending on conditions), it worked rather well. I keep meaning to set a similar system up in the current greenhouse but ......

[The Natural Philosopher]

Tell your woke friends its a new eco friendly toilet?

[Martin Brown]

You don't give any idea of scale. Be sur eto fit a reverse flow one way valve in the mains water supply so that you are code compliant.

Probably won't survive the harsh outdoor conditions and go brittle.

Might be OK for fixed distribution in a very large greenhouse.

It is quite convenient and easy to use on a small to medium scale. I have a fair selection for mine. There is even a battery powered timed daily valve that connects to a suitably equipped garden tap.

It is probably over priced but it is convenient and just works. YMMV

Will die horribly even if you do manage to get it leak free.

[Chris J Dixon]

For me too.

Chris

[Roger Hayter]

Just a pedantic clarification; it has to be a double check valve (sold as a WRAS compliant solution in ordinary fittings or as part of an outside-type bib tap) *not* an ordinary non-return valve. Actually the double check valve is probably cheaper as they are more common than single non-return valves, but both are available.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

So how do these devices know which bit to turn on and off fore each. The trays etc are not too bad as capillary matting and the old level dropping in the tray trick works, but how would you do it for growbags and the like? Surely these need humidity switches or timers of some sort. Brian

[Martin Brown]

They are typically a regulated drip system that isn't too sensitive about pressure provided that there is enough. The only snag I ran into with mine was that mosquito larvae getting into the lines from my rainwater sump would jam up the works. This was fixed by putting some former ladies tights over the pump inlet filter.

If you get it wrong and then go away for a fortnight you can come back to plants submerged under water. It is as well to monitor any automated watering system for a few weeks before leaving it unattended.

[Chris Green]

What are the 'former ladies' now? :-)