Components of Home Drip Irrigation System

Drip irrigation system is changing the agriculture sector around the world. It’s helping farmers earn more, saving water and making farming easier than ever. However, home gardeners are also benefiting immensely from Elitech Drip irrigation system. You can now go on vacation without worrying about the plants, and can spend more time with your family.

One customer said that he just enjoy sitting in his garden and relax. Watering a big garden can get tiring and messy as you spill water all over the floor.

Another customer bought this kit for his elderly parents who find it difficult to maintain the garden. They love growing vegetables on their terrace garden and have planted flowers in the balcony. One Elitech Drip irrigation kit was able to cover both terrace and balcony garden for the elderly couple. Earlier, a maali had to visit their garden every other day to water plants. Now he just comes twice a month to do pruning and cleaning. Read about the advantages of drip irrigation

The drip irrigation system is very easy to install. Let’s see what all components comes in the kit and what’s it’s used for:

Water Timer

The timer opens and closes the water flow as you set it. For example you can set it to water 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minute in the evening. It will continue to run that way each day. It takes two AA size alkaline batteries that lasts for over 6 months.

Main Supply 16mm Pipe:

As the name suggests, the 16mm diameter pipe is used as the main water channel for drip irrigation system. This pipe is routed along your plants, starting from the water source/tap. It is made out of plastic, LLDPE (Linear low-density polyethylene) to be exact.

Feeder Line 4mm Pipe:

Feeder Line is the thinner 4mm diameter flexible pipe that takes water from the mainline to your planter. One end of the feeder line connects to the mainline using 4mm connnector and dripper is connected on the other end. The dripper is then mounted securely on the planter soil using holding stick. Feeder Line also helps a lot if you want to water plants in the hanging baskets.

Drip Emitters:

Drip Emitter is an essential component on the drip system. That’s because it regulates the water output in the planters. Drip Emitters releases water drop by drop. It comes with different rating and can be identified by cap colour: 2 litre/hour (Yellow), 4 litre/hour (Blue), and 8 litre/hour (Black). It allows you to calculate the water delivery to the plants precisely. For the bigger planters, you can use 8 litre/hour drip emitter and for the small planters, you can use 2 litre/hour drip emitters.

4mm Connectors:

This connector is used to join feeder line with the mainline.

4mm T-Connectors:

This T connector is also used to join feederline with mainline. However, you can divert to two different drip emitter on the output side. For example, if you have two parellel rows of planters, you can plant mainline between them and use 4mm T connector to divert water from mainline to two planters on left and right side.

Holding Sticks:

Holding stick is the smaller stick that securely holds the drip emitter in place. On one end there is a 4mm slot to hold feederline and the other end needs to be stuck in the soil.

Location Sticks:

Location sticks are used to secure 16mm Mainline to the ground. Although you may choose not to secure if you have layed main line on the hard flooring. On the soil, location sticks can be used as it can be stuck into the soil.

16mm Elbow Connectors:

This elbow connector helps to bend mainline around the corners. If you bend mainline around the corner without it, there’s a possiblity that water flow may get blocked. Using elbow connector ensure that it does not happen and makes the setup neat and tidy.

16mm T Connectors:

This connector is used to divert one mainline into two.

16mm Straight Connectors:

This connector is helpful is you need to connect two ends on mainline. Maybe, you made a wrong cut on the mainline…no worries, just use straight connector join two ends back together. Want to extend the mainline further, again you can use straight connector for that.

Straight Connector with Tap:

This is a tap that fits inline with the mainline. You can shut off or open the valve as per your requirement. For example, you can have two sections in your garden using drip irrigation and getting water from same tap. You install this tap just before the two sections. If one section does not need watering, you can just shut off the valve on that side.

Water Tap Adapter:

Water tap adaper is used to connect mainline pipe to your regular household tap. You just slide this rubber adapter over the tap and connect mainline on the bottom. It’s a good idea to secure the connection using some kind of clamp.

End Cap:

This is used to close one end of the main line pipe and block the water flowing out.

Drip Hole Puncher:

This tool is used to punch 4mm holes into the main line pipe to insert 4mm connectors into it.

Ratchet Clamp:

This plastic ratchet clamp is helpful for securing connectors on the main line pipe. It fits around the 16mm Pipe and grips the connector tighly for more security. Although you can choose not to use it if you confident about the fitment of 16mm connector. It is also great to hold feeder line on the branch of the tree.

Dummy Plugs:

Made a 4mm hole on the wrong place on the mainline? Don’t worry, just insert 4mm dummy plug into it to close it again. It’s also great if you decide to remove some planters from its position and you can easily close the extra holes on the mainline.

Also Read: History of Drip Irrigation

Watch the video above to learn more about Elitech Drip Irrigation Kit