Drip Irrigation Arrangement Simple Maintenance & Repair

The power to make fast and consummate repairs to your Drip Irrigation organization immediately, saves fourth dimension and money. Keeping a few spare parts on hand also saves downwards fourth dimension which will keep your plants happy and healthy. This will guide y'all through a few of import maintenance tips and simple repairs that you tin do without any experience at all.

Head Assembly Components

The Head Assembly (backflow preventer, filter and pressure regulator) are vital to a properly operating drip arrangement. Call up, nothing lasts forever. Fifty-fifty with top notch maintenance, high quality parts habiliment out. Leaks are the most noticeable sign of something wrong with your caput assembly components. Hither is a link to our Caput Assembly Installation Tips .

Maintenance & Repair Tips:

All head assembly components should be protected from freezing temperatures. Follow our Winterizing Instructions  if you lot live in an area where temperatures drib beneath 37° F.

Safety washers get dry and no longer shrink to seal the threaded components together to forestall leaks. Nosotros recommend replacing the rubber washers in female hose threaded connections every twelvemonth when you hook up your caput assembly to your irrigation system. Go along a pocket-size supply of iii/4" washer seals  on hand.

Practise non over-tighten! Hose thread components brand their leakproof seal with a rubber washer compressed between the two (a male and a female) threaded connections. Over-tightening tin can misconstrue the washer or create tiny fractures in the plastics (and fifty-fifty in contumely) that will cause premature failure. Hand tighten only, no tools!

Mismatched threads or cross threading can damage the threads and cause leaking. Be certain you accept matching thread types earlier screwing two pieces together. Here is a link to Know Your Threads  for additional information on thread types.

Drippers/Emitters

Clogging is the number 1 outcome with drip emitters. The very tiny opening in most baste and micro-irrigation emitters can go chock-full even in clean water. Minerals in the water or fifty-fifty the chemicals and fertilizers nosotros use on our systems tin can build up and clog the emitter. Encounter Troubleshooting Drippers  for additional assistance with dripper operation.

Maintenance & Repair Tips:

Proper filtration is pertinent to optimal functioning of any drip irrigation organisation. Make sure your mesh size correlates to your emitter type. Most every filter has a screen that tin can easily be removed for cleaning.

Irrigation Product Type

Minimum Filtration Needed

Rotors, Sprinkler Spray Nozzles

80 Mesh

Drip Emitters, Sprayers, Spray Jets

120 Mesh

Drip Tape

155 Mesh

Flushing your system is the best preventive measure out we tin can take. Flushing can be done past removing the finish caps on irrigation lines and allowing the h2o to menstruum through to affluent out any deposits or debris that may exist trapped in the lines. If your system requires more frequent flushing and so you might consider installing Flush Valve Terminate Caps for more convenience.

Cleanable drippers are a great pick if you know you have dirty or hard water. No demand to remove the entire dripper, just unscrew the top, be conscientious not to lose the tiny diaphragm within, rinse all parts and replace diaphragm and cap. Here are links to some of our cleanable drippers: Toro Cleanable Drippers; Ceta Cleanable Drippers; or we offer the Bowsmith Non Clog Drippers with their unique Pressure Cascade Principle of continuous self-cleaning action.

If not cleanable drippers become chock-full, c hanging drippers in your organisation is pretty easy . Removing the dripper from tubing:

¼" micro-tubing - Remove clogged dripper, trim tubing end and insert a new dripper

½" and larger tubing - Grasp dripper and carefully tug or pull to remove from mainline tubing. Information technology may be necessary to plug the hole from the old dripper using a goof plug then punch a new hole nearby and insert the new dripper

These steps will ensure a tight seal for the new dripper. If you have problem grasping the dripper our i tem #1576 Pocket Punch has a component built in to aid in dripper removal.

Punctures or Holes in Tubing

Whether from removing a dripper or run of micro-tubing from a main line, a critter chewing on information technology, or fifty-fifty a run abroad shovel or lawn mower, most oft a hole or other harm tin be repaired instead of replacing the entire line.

Maintenance & Repair Tips:

Holes from barbed drippers and fittings are plugged by using the appropriate sized Goof Plug.

Small damaged areas can be "bandaged" with Poly Tubing Repair Record or the damaged section can be cutting out and a Coupler used to join the sections back together or add a new department of tubing into the run using two couplers.

Adding to Your System

First and foremost, check your water source flow rate before adding to assure you can provide the necessary flow before calculation to your organisation. Here is a link to our Flow Rate Calculator and Instructions .

Next, make sure you know the specific inside/outside diameter size of your tubing to assure getting the right sized fittings to add to or extend your organisation. Unfortunately, there is no industry standard in irrigation tubing sizes. For boosted details see Adding To An Existing Drip Irrigation Arrangement .

For additional information and troubleshooting drip systems come across these articles in our Educational activity Heart .

Product FAQ (Oft Asked Questions)

Drip Organisation Maintenance

Repairing Drip Irrigation Tubing

Professional Tips

Troubleshooting - Leaking in My Organization