Advice on getting water to my garden, up to 550' from source

14 years ago

My house gets water from a well. And I want to attach a hose, and water 2 gardens. I'm thinking one main line starting from the faucet outside the house. Running past one garden. Then continuing out to the middle of the other. This main line would be about 350 feet, with an outlet for the first garden at about 150 feet. Then I'd just use my regular garden hose from there. Up to 200 feet of it at the farthest point (for a total of 550 feet). But most of the time, less than 100 feet of garden hose. I found a pressure meter in the house that says about 45 psi. The yard is pretty level for about the first 200 feet, then it slopes down somewhat. I'm thinking about using 3/4 or 1 inch poly pipe. But I was wondering if anyone else has a better idea. I mainly plan to just water with a hose this year, since that's all I have time to deal with right now. But I may get a little more sophisticated later on. One thing I'm concerned about is deer stepping on it. Is poly pipe strong enough to handle that? I don't want to bury it. Thanks!

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Comments (8)

lehua49
14 years ago
Hi Complicated,

The flow rate you are experiencing at your source would be very helpful in aiding us in providing you with some help. Fill a 5 gal bucket and time it and let us know what you recorded. Thanks and Aloha.
gardningscomplicated
Original Author
14 years ago
lehua - I'll check the flow rate next chance I get. I'm in the middle of a few other projects though, so it'll probably be a few days. Thanks for responding.
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gardningscomplicated
Original Author
13 years ago
Ok, so it took me a little longer than I expected to get back to this:) I want to pick up something from home depot or lowes tomorrow, and was wondering if 1 inch 100 psi pipe is strong enough. I'm not going to worry about flow rates at this point, since I have too many other things to get done. But I'm just wondering if 100 psi will probably be strong enough, if my meter inside reads 45 psi. Does anyone know if that should work, or if I need something with a higher psi rating? Thanks.
gardningscomplicated
Original Author
13 years ago
I just looked up poly pipe at lowes, and now I'm not sure what psi ratings are actually available near where I live. So instead of the 100 psi question, does anyone know approximately what psi rating would be good enough? The meter in my house for my well says 45 psi. Thanks.
twolips
13 years ago
The 100 psi pipe you were looking at, is referring to the amount of pressue that that pipe can withstand. In other words, if your pressure was over 100 psi, you can not use that.
gardningscomplicated
Original Author
13 years ago
twolips - Thanks, I understand 100 psi pipe could normally handle 45 pounds of pressure. I should've said that in my post. But are pressure surges possible? That's really what I'm wondering about. I have no idea how constant that 45 psi is. For all I know it could surge occasionally, and possibly enough to burst the pipe. I think most garden hoses are rated well above 100 psi--even the light duty hoses. So that makes me wonder if I'll need something stronger.
homr
13 years ago
Poly pipe with a 100 psi rating is pretty standard for irrigation. I doubt you will have any problems with surge based on the info you gave in your post.I would go with the 1"vs 3/4". YOu might as well minimize your pressure loss, as your really not starting off with a great amount of pressure. Deer should not be a problem stepping on the pipe. It's pretty sturdy.
gardningscomplicated
Original Author
13 years ago
homr and twolips - Thanks for the replies. I did a little more research, and I think the 100 psi rating means it's actually good for a constant 100 psi, with an occasional surge up to about 200 psi. So I picked some up from home depot. And the guy there who's supposed to have some experience with it, also said it shouldn't be a problem.