Pressure Compensation

17 years ago

I just installed a Raindrip irrigation system which I purchased in the form of a landscape irrigation kit. The package came complete with a PVC swivel adapter and a 30psi pressure compensating (PC) flow control as shown below:

For a test run, I hooked up 10x1gph and 2x0.5gph PC drippers. The water did flow, but when I measured the output from one of the 1gph drippers, it was at least 3gph. This led be to suspect that the PC flow control was not functioning properly, and indeed, when I manually reduced the pressure at the faucet, I was able to achieve a 1gph flow rate.

Did I receive a defective flow control or am I missing something? Also, since the drippers are *supposed* to be PC, doesn't it *not* matter what the inlet pressure is as long as it is within a certain range? (my inlet pressure is about 300kPa or 45 psi)

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Comments (4)

enoughcliches
Original Author
17 years ago
[Typo: That should have been 30gph PC flow control, not psi. How does it function, by the way?]
jean001
17 years ago
Excess presssure from the faucet --that is turning it on, but too far -- easily overwhelms that sort of inexpensive device.
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ravilotta
16 years ago
I installed the drip system today with a 30GPH PC flow control and a lot of plants did not get any water. When I took the black metal insert out of the blue one (30GPH), all the plants got water. Is it harmful to take out the metal insert from this two piece design? plants seem to get water fine.
charotarguy
16 years ago
I had the same issue, I have two zones and one zone was doing ok while the other one was putting out more water in a flow fashion rather then the regular drip by drip. I called back and they replaced the part for me. But I am impressed the way you checked the water output from the drippers/emitters. I should do it too just to check.

CG