Quote:
Originally Posted by Amigatec
I was thinking on this again, and the way to fix that would be to add a T and valve to the line coming from the top on the pump and run some of the water back to the top res. You could use the valve to regulate the flow to the drip lines. Just make sure the return line is above the water level so it doesn't back flow and overfill the bottom res. |
Ya, I was thinking about using the "T" also last night as well. I was concerned with the water level in the bottom reservoir, because I'm not sure how much room you have to play with. Depending on how many plants you are running it to, as well as the
growing medium soaking it in before it becomes saturated and makes its way back to the reservoir. It would be quite possible for the pump to run dry.
Again, I have not looked at possible materials, so I would need to make sure that the simple float will be able to allow enough water to go through it while being gravity feed. They usually have about a 1/4 inch inlet I believe, and that is usually meant to be pressure feed from the pluming lines that have about 90 psi in it. It would be quite possible that between the
drip system and the "T" to the top reservoir, the growing medium soaking it up, that the pump would pump it out faster than the float can replace it.
I'm not sure how much space you have between the water line and the growing medium either. So I would assume there's not much space to play with. After the dippers stop dripping, most of the water the growing medium has soaked in will slowly drip down back to the reservoir. Making the water level in the reservoir rise, even after the float valve shuts off. Of coarse how much depends on how much you are using as well as what kind. If the water level rises too much and reaches the growing medium from the bottom, the roots wont be well drained and probably have rot as well as become diseasesed.
I don't know what line you are using for the drip lines, but I do know that the drip line from Home Depot for landscaping is designed for the pluming water pressure. At our house it is set at 90 psi (I have replaced the valve before), the city water to the house is over 110 psi. I don't think that would be any problem at all. In fact you will probably run into the opposite problem. With every hole/dipper you place in the line the pressure will drop.