I have an existing sprinkler system on my house. When I had it built,
I had them add extra manifolds for future growth in my backyard. I
have some plants now and would like to use a drip system (or soakers).
Does anyone know if I can hook the drip system up to one of the
existing manifolds? Then I won't need a timer or need to use one of my
outdoor spigots. I haven't looked at the manifolds, so I don't know
what the output looks like. I'm guessing it's some sort of 3/4" PVC.


Thanks in advance for any help.

Pat

"googly" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have an existing sprinkler system on my house. When I had it built,
I had them add extra manifolds for future growth in my backyard. I
have some plants now and would like to use a drip system (or soakers).
Does anyone know if I can hook the drip system up to one of the
existing manifolds? Then I won't need a timer or need to use one of my
outdoor spigots. I haven't looked at the manifolds, so I don't know
what the output looks like. I'm guessing it's some sort of 3/4" PVC.


There are a few ways to do this, depending on what your needs are.
1: Replace pop-up sprinklers with drip manifolds. such as this.
http://www.toro.com/sprinklers/bsd/s...ngs/53755.html
then run individual 1/4" lines to each drip station.

2: T-off a pvc water pipe with a 1/2" water hose. run that water line
everywhere, and punch down 1/4" feeder lines to each watering station.

3: Some other option i can't think of

I prefer #1, i think it allows you to still use your various sprinkler zones
and at the same time convert to drip as needed.

-S

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 22:56:09 -0700, googly wrote:

I have an existing sprinkler system on my house. When I had it built, I
had them add extra manifolds for future growth in my backyard. I have
some plants now and would like to use a drip system (or soakers).
Does anyone know if I can hook the drip system up to one of the
existing manifolds? Then I won't need a timer or need to use one of my
outdoor spigots. I haven't looked at the manifolds, so I don't know
what the output looks like. I'm guessing it's some sort of 3/4" PVC.


Thanks in advance for any help.

Pat

I have done this before. What I did was to plumb a 3/4" (standard black
water line) poly to the manifold and ran it under a deck. I hung the line
with conduit hangers and at the end of the run, I creased the line and put
on a hose clamp. I then punched the dripper line nipples into the 3/4"
line where I needed them. Some of the drip line runs are long, but they
work just fine. This drip run supplies:
10 hanging baskets
6 40 gallon pots
1 2'X12' flower bed
1 3'x25' flower bed

This system run twice a day for 5 mins each cycle.

--
Yard Works Gardening Co.
http://ywgc.com/resources.html

Its not difficult to do, since you already have the extra manifolds, but
the drip systems I have require lower water pressure than the popups.
The first drip system I installed came with a pressure reducer in the
kit; the second (made with extra parts from the first) I bought a valve
that included a pressure adjustment. I didn't adjust it well enough at
first, and some drip heads got blown off, but eventually I got it right.

googly wrote:
I have an existing sprinkler system on my house. When I had it built,
I had them add extra manifolds for future growth in my backyard. I
have some plants now and would like to use a drip system (or soakers).
Does anyone know if I can hook the drip system up to one of the
existing manifolds? Then I won't need a timer or need to use one of my
outdoor spigots. I haven't looked at the manifolds, so I don't know
what the output looks like. I'm guessing it's some sort of 3/4" PVC.


Thanks in advance for any help.

Pat

William Brown wrote:

Its not difficult to do, since you already have the extra manifolds, but
the drip systems I have require lower water pressure than the popups.
The first drip system I installed came with a pressure reducer in the
kit; the second (made with extra parts from the first) I bought a valve
that included a pressure adjustment. I didn't adjust it well enough at
first, and some drip heads got blown off, but eventually I got it right.

googly wrote:
I have an existing sprinkler system on my house. When I had it built,
I had them add extra manifolds for future growth in my backyard. I
have some plants now and would like to use a drip system (or soakers).
Does anyone know if I can hook the drip system up to one of the
existing manifolds? Then I won't need a timer or need to use one of my
outdoor spigots. I haven't looked at the manifolds, so I don't know
what the output looks like. I'm guessing it's some sort of 3/4" PVC.


Thanks in advance for any help.

Pat

Like he said, most drip systems want the main pressure reduced.
I suggest you get this company's catalog. It has lots of great info and parts
inside.

http://www.dripworksusa.com/

Dave.

I couldn't do option 1; there's nothing IN the backyard right now. I
bought a starter kit today that included a pressure reducer... I got to
digging this morning and it looks like thee output for the unused
manifolds are using 3/4" pipe thread. They have some of that large
black tubing (1" ?) used for the sprinklers. I'm thinking of taking
that off and just putting the pressure adaptor for the drip system on
that.

Will let you know how that works.

Pat