I know it's out there but I'm pressed for time and too lazy to go
looking for it.

Here's what I need.

I'm running a drip system from the faucet in my garage to a second
story balcony. My genius builder didn't think to install a faucet out
there. Anyway, what I have is some 1/4" tubing that goes directly from
the faucet (on a timer) up the length of the garage door, across the
length of the garage door, down the length of the garage door (two car
garage), out the garage to a patch of dirt, up a tree that brushes
against my condo, exteneded along a branch, finally entering my
balcony, up two a flower bed - whew......okay...Now, I have enough
pressure to water two flowerbeds - 4 drip sprinklers. I want to add
three more pots and know that i won't have the water pressure to do so.

The total distance that the tubing covers is around 50'-60'.

I have issues here with the homeowners association so I have to keep
things as stealth as possible - that's why I chose to use the 1/4"
instead of 1/2".

Soooooo...now I was thinking of re-tubing the lengths on the inside of
the garage - up, across, and down with the 1/2" tubing. Is this going
to give me more pressure?

I guess what I'm looking for here is someone kind enough to help me
with some calculations.

Something like:

"water pressure" is directly proportional to "x length of tubing"
having an "inside diameter of x"

I'd like to know if I gain anything by "cutting down" the distance that
I'm using the 1/4" tubing and instead replacing it with the 1/2"
tubing. The total length of all tubing with still be the same - still
50'-60'.

Say for example I now have:

A. 50 feet of 1/4" tubing from water source to flower bed and that I
get a water presure reading of X.

B. If I use 20' feet of 1/2" and 30' of 1/4" should my water pressure
increase? If so, by how much?

One more question:

C. If I use 20' feet of 1/2" then go to a 1' section of 1/4" then back
to 29' feet of 1/2" would I have the same pressure as above in "B"?

Thanks...

"Ted" writes in article . com dated 19 Jul 2005 12:25:48 -0700:
I'm running a drip system from the faucet in my garage to a second
story balcony. My genius builder didn't think to install a faucet out
there. Anyway, what I have is some 1/4" tubing that goes directly from
the faucet (on a timer) up the length of the garage door, across the
length of the garage door, down the length of the garage door (two car
garage), out the garage to a patch of dirt, up a tree that brushes
against my condo, exteneded along a branch, finally entering my
balcony, up two a flower bed - whew......okay...Now, I have enough
pressure to water two flowerbeds - 4 drip sprinklers. I want to add
three more pots and know that i won't have the water pressure to do so.

The total distance that the tubing covers is around 50'-60'.

I have issues here with the homeowners association so I have to keep
things as stealth as possible - that's why I chose to use the 1/4"
instead of 1/2".

Soooooo...now I was thinking of re-tubing the lengths on the inside of
the garage - up, across, and down with the 1/2" tubing. Is this going
to give me more pressure?

I guess what I'm looking for here is someone kind enough to help me
with some calculations.

Something like:

"water pressure" is directly proportional to "x length of tubing"
having an "inside diameter of x"

Here's a site that might help:
http://www.efunda.com/formulae/fluid...e_friction.cfm

You might also want to post your question to a more technical newsgroup such
as sci.physics or sci.math.

I'd like to know if I gain anything by "cutting down" the distance that
I'm using the 1/4" tubing and instead replacing it with the 1/2"
tubing. The total length of all tubing with still be the same - still
50'-60'.

Say for example I now have:

A. 50 feet of 1/4" tubing from water source to flower bed and that I
get a water presure reading of X.

B. If I use 20' feet of 1/2" and 30' of 1/4" should my water pressure
increase? If so, by how much?

If you measure pressure with a device that halts the water flow, the result
will depend only on the height of the measurement point, not on what kind of
tubing you use. I suspect you're interested in increasing the flow rate.

energy/mass = v^2/2 + h*g + friction

Friction is proportional to the fluid velocity multiplied by the tubing area
(length * diameter * pi), I think.

I don't think you'd do much better by replacing only half of it. Replacing
almost all of it probably would help. Those are guesses on my part.

Can you set the timer to stay on longer?

-- spud_demon -at- thundermaker.net
The above may not (yet) represent the opinions of my employer.