Hi I want to make a self watering system for my greenhouse and was wondering
what would be the best diameter of pipe to use. I would suck the water
through the syphon pipe and put the end in the trough which will use
capillary matting to water the plants, as per my picture, but would there be
any problems with air getting in the syphon pipe as the level of the trough
drops?
http://i16.tinypic.com/61ufm9g.jpg
thanks, Ron

On 16 Aug, 23:50, "Rocket Ron" wrote:
Hi I want to make a self watering system for my greenhouse and was wondering
what would be the best diameter of pipe to use. I would suck the water
through the syphon pipe and put the end in the trough which will use
capillary matting to water the plants, as per my picture, but would there be
any problems with air getting in the syphon pipe as the level of the trough
drops?http://i16.tinypic.com/61ufm9g.jpg
thanks, Ron

There is no problem with the bottom end of a syphon. The water is
flowing out that way, after all. The siphonage is lost when the upper
container is emptied, and then the hose will just drain and have to be
manually refilled when the upper container is.

The problem I see is that the siphon will drain the upper container as
quickly as the bore of the pipe will permit, perhpas a few minutes,
then break the fluid seal and the whole thing will stop. Get a
bucket of water and 3 foot of hose and try it out on the lawn.

I don't see why you need a siphon at the top at all. I'd tap the
bottom of the upper container, put in a smallish hose (5mm?) and use a
restrictor on it - one of those clamps they put on fish aeration
pumps, for example.

Presumably you will lap the matting into the lower gutter - to prevent
all the water wicking up into the nearest end, consider cutting
"teeth" into the overlap, so that tt controls the area in the water.

The restrictor will control the rate at which the lower gutter is
replenished, but you should prime it with a good slop of water first,
and putting a bigger bit of guttering over it upside down will hold
the mat in and reduce evaporation.

"Rocket Ron" wrote in message
k...
Hi I want to make a self watering system for my greenhouse and was
wondering
what would be the best diameter of pipe to use. I would suck the water
through the syphon pipe and put the end in the trough which will use
capillary matting to water the plants, as per my picture, but would there
be
any problems with air getting in the syphon pipe as the level of the
trough
drops?
http://i16.tinypic.com/61ufm9g.jpg
thanks, Ron


I forgot to put a ball cock valve on the end of the pipe in the small trough
so that the water stops when the trough is full :-(

Ron

"Rocket Ron" wrote in message
k...

"Rocket Ron" wrote in message
k...
Hi I want to make a self watering system for my greenhouse and was
wondering
what would be the best diameter of pipe to use. I would suck the water
through the syphon pipe and put the end in the trough which will use
capillary matting to water the plants, as per my picture, but would there
be
any problems with air getting in the syphon pipe as the level of the
trough
drops?
http://i16.tinypic.com/61ufm9g.jpg
thanks, Ron


I forgot to put a ball cock valve on the end of the pipe in the small
trough so that the water stops when the trough is full :-(


What you need to do is to take the feed through the side of, rather than
over top of the upper container. Then when you fill the upper container it
will syphon by itself. You'll need a good seal, naturally.

Steve