rm,

Makes sense to me but a little planning will save the day.

What is your water pressure and size for the copper supply line? With that info I can set you up pretty well and give you some ideas on how to put a system together that would last. JMHO aloha

Thanks lehua13!

Sorry it took so long to respond... I went out and measured the copper pipe. It is 7/8 inch in diameter and 3 inches in circumference. My water flow is about 6 gallons per minute. Is that the same as pressure? Do those pipe measurements make sense or did I measure them wrong? I am pretty amateur at the moment....

Thanks again for your help!

Ryan

rm,

The biggest thing in how many faucets you can run at once is the flow rate. Your flow rate would be divided by the number of faucet running at once. So if you had 6 faucet running at once you would experience 1 gpm at each one. It is important that you have good pressure because you lose pressure along each line and at at each open faucet. This is the same as determining the number of irrigation heads that can be run on one zone or station. Each head uses a portion of the flow rate and loses some of the pressure. Pressure can be found by buying a pressure gauge that has a hose bib fitting (in hardware store for about $15). Attach to a house hose bib and read the gauge(psi). This is also useful in finding out what your house pressure is and if your pressure regulator for the house is working properly. House pressure should be around 55 psi. Your copper pipe is a 3/4" line and you would need a Tee with compression fittings on the two inline sides and a threaded fitting on the outlet side. If you are going to use hoses from the faucets, you might look into "quick coupler" fittings instead of hose bibs. They are more expensive but much easier to use instead of not leaving the hose live with pressure on as some people do. GL JMHO. Aloha

Thanks for the advice!! OK, so that sounds fairly straight forward to hookup. My copper line runs just inside the house - in the cellar - so I think I will run that T inside and send the line out through the bottom of the siding... Then I need to run it out for about 100 yards before I start to set up my faucets. I have been reading an irrigation book that suggests all sorts of manifolds and back pressure valves when installing sprinklers - do I not have to do that because they are faucets? Also, do you think that is enough flow rate to service 6 or 7 faucets that are all 100-150 yards away, but only 1 or 2 will be on at once. Also, what size pvc pipe do you think I should use?

I really really REALLY appreciate the help!! I would be clueless otherwise...

Ryan

RM,

For three hundred feet run the biggest size pipe you can. You should get a gauge from the hardware store and check your pressure from an existing outdoor faucet. Reads like you have a 3/4" copper so you should run a 1" diameter pipe to your faucets and there reduce to 3/4" faucet size. You should install a shutoff valve with vacuum breaker just outside the house before continuing to the faucets side. Or you can put vacuum breaker faucets at each end terminal. Which ever way is cheaper but the individual breaker/faucet is more flexible if there is a problem with one the VBs. If you run 2 faucet you will get 3 gpm from each. If you run three faucets you will get 2 gpm from each etc. If you have 20 containers that takes 1/2 gallon each it will take 5 minutes of watering time to do the lot.
Can you water with two faucets at once? double-handed watering is impressive. Aloha

Again, thanks for your time lehua. So I should run 1" schedule 40 pvc out to the garden? The distance wont effect my flow rate? Also, does this vacuum breaker at each faucet look like it could do the trick? Here is a link to it: http://compare.ebay.com/like/360432120805?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

I will go get a pressure gauge and check the pressure....

Thanks again,
Ryan

The larger pipe you run the better flow you will have. It will never be as good as it is closer to the source. If it were me I would over kill it and run 1 1/2" or 2" pipe. In your case the labor is the biggest part of the work not the materials. But thats just me.

Good luck,
Tom

RM,

I agree with TP. The bigger the better. There are price jumps between certain size pvc pipe. If the pipe is buried then go big. This keeps the pressure loss along the pipe to almost nothing. Yes, your choice was what I had in mind for one at each faucet. I am curious to what you will be watering with all the faucets especially running two at a time. Is this a community garden area? Then knowing the pressure and flow rate accurately is important. How did you measure the flow rate? Aloha

Thanks guys, so all I need other than the pvc and the connector to the copper piping are thos vacuum breakers at each faucet?

It isn't for a community garden. I have a 1/2 acre garden about 200 feet from the house and I want to run faucets out there. I plan on putting soaker hoses on timers at each faucet. I need about 6 faucets to cover the whole area. They will only be running at the same time when then timers are both on...

Thanks so much guys,
Ryan

Here's a view from another angle.. The irrigation would stop at the tulip garden on one side and the first fence post on the other.

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