Solar drip irrigation for Family garden
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Background: Calculation of a family garden irrigation with 30 two-year-old fruit trees, 50 one-year-old flowers and 10 one-year-old bushes.
Every fruit tree requires approx. 2l of water per day, every flower approx. 1,50l per day and every bush approx. 2,50l of water per day: this makes (30X2l=60l) + (50X1.5l=75l) + (10X2.5l=25). The garden owner requires in total a water quantity of approx. 160 liters. If he waters the plants in a conventional way, then around 800 liters water will be needed, which means five times more water is wasted to achieve the same effect.
After the required water quantity is calculated, the garden owner must find a water source as the next step. Rainwater tons, wells, creeks or lakes are possible.
Here are some points, which should be kept in mind:
1. The water pressure of the main water line and the water pressure in the distributor water line must be well synchronized, because their sum is the entire produced pressure of the pump. LJ1012 reaches a maximum of 10m i.e. this pump produces a pressure of max. 1 bar (LJ2012 produces max. 2.0 bar). If the owner uses LJ1012 in a 6 m deep well (0.6 bar for the well), 0.4 bar of pressure remain for the main water line. A higher pressure in the main water line has many advantages. In the same case, the pump LJ2012 produces 1.4 bar of pressure in the main water line for the same amount of water per hour.
2. It is advantageous to use water from rainwater collectors, creeks or lakes, because of their low water delivery height. Longer distances to such water resources do not cause any pressure disadvantages for the LIUJIA Solar pump in contrary to delivery height. In our experience, the pump loses only approx. 0.1 bar at a distance of 100 m through friction loss.
3. If the owner cannot look after the garden due to vacation etc., he can install a LJ1012 in the well, thus all plants are automatically irrigated through the LIUJIA Drip System.
It is here important to regulate the pressure of the main water line and the distributor water line. If a 13 mm black PVC main water line is used, the distributor water line should have an internal diameter of 4 mm. In order to achieve regular pressure in the main line, it should not be longer than 30 meters and placed in an O-shape or an 8- shape.
4. At the appropriate point of the main line, the owner taps the water with a coupler and combines it with the distribution line, which is connected to dripping heads. Every distribution water line should not be combined with more than 10 water heads, because of small water flow. The heads should not be further apart than 1 m. It is possible to try out all combinations in order to find the ideal dripping head position for every plant.
5. A conventional drip irrigation system has usually a water output of 2 l/hour per dripping head.
This is far too much for a plant, therefore a computer-controlled valve must be installed, which can be switched off after a programmed time interval. The LIUJIA Drip System however is so variable that the dripping heads can supply every plant with its individual water requirement.
6. The end of the main water line should be connected to the solar pump with a filter. The filter is used to prevent that particles, which are in the water e.g. sand clog up the dripping heads. Of course, this filter must be cleaned from time to time depending on water quality. The pushing movements of the pump also keep the dripping heads cleaner than conventional pumps.
7. If all drip heads have been connected, the owner can start the pump. On sunny days the water pours through the network very fast. The pressure in the water lines must now be adjusted, so that all distributing lines are supplied.
As a next step, turn on those drip heads, where no water pours out - a second water line can accumulate air, which hinders the water flow. After all air has leaked out slowly adjust all dripping heads until water drips out from all of them. This increases the pressure of the internal water line in order to guarantee sufficient pressure for the remote distribution lines. Adjusting the positioning to the ideal constellation takes approx. two weeks until all dripping heads supply every plant with its individual water requirement.
There are more details, which cannot all be summarized here, but it shows that the LIUJIA Solar Drip System is a flexible and open system. It can be individually combined and extended under professional support of the distributor.