I don't see why you wouldn't be able to attach it to a garden hose if it's made to fit a standard spigot. I'm installing one this year, too, and my plan is to only run the drip irrigation line to the end of the garden. There I'll attach it to a hose that will run to the house. Otherwise I'd have to buy more of the blank irrigation tubing.

If you can't find what you need locally, contact dripworks.com Their knowledgeable sales staff can get you what you need.

It will depend on the size of the zone you want to water(amount of water flow). A drip system will have a very low flow, so you can water a large area on a standard water line. The ball valve in the "y"s are smaller than the line coming out of your house, so you will expect less volume (flow). The "Y"s I use have a 11/32 hole through them. (cheap) The pressure also plays an imprortant part of how much you can water at a time. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you have a hose feeding the timer, you will need a pretty good hose to withstand the static pressure some systems have, especially if it will be in the sun. I have just over 40 psi, my son across the street has 150 psi. Your pressure should be below 70 psi because most outdoor water componants are designed for a max of 70 psi, some drip systems are designed for a 10 to 40 psi range, a regulater may be neede if you have too much pressure.

All standard hose threads are 3/4- 11.5 threads per inch so all are interchangable. If for some reason you need to adapt from standard pipe threads to garden hose threads you can buy the adapters at Home depot and some hardware stores.

Gilmour makes a hose that is supposed to have a 500 LB burst pressure. I bought one last year from Amazon for just under $65.00 with free shipping (3/4"x100'). It is a very nice hose, but a little heavy to drag around.

Larry

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful replies.

What is everyone's feeling on soaker hoses instead? How would someone keep from soaking the garden paths?

Thanks!

Ezzira,

I think soaker hoses work great. I have some I hope to use in the flower beds. The main reason I don't have any installed now is that I had a problem with them stopping up from mineral in the well water (lived at a different place then) and started using PVC instead. PVC is not as forgiving as soaker hose as to elevation of the row/garden. My PVC system runs on a very low pressure, or a very high pressure, and anything in between. A soaker or drip system will need at least 5 or 10 lbs of pressure. ( I am talking about operation pressure, not static pressure now). The more lines you have open the lower your operating pressure will be.

Look on the rating tab on the soaker hoses and check the flow per foot and the min/max operating pressure. The ones I have I think are 40 to 60 lbs max and around 10 pounds min. The flow rate will be in the 2 gph. per ft. range at around 25psi. I cut about 8" of the capped end off of my 5/8 when it was new, filled it with water and stood it in the sink to see how much it would leak with no pressure, the water level dropped about 1" over night. I have a 1/2 and 5/8 dia. soaker hose, if I buy more they will be 5/8" dia. because of the higher flow rate and they can be spliced, tee'd or capped with 1/2" CPVC (hot water fittings and tubes), which I keep in stock in the shop. This makes customizing you system easier if you live out in the sticks like I do and don't want to wait for online orders or pay the high shipping.

I expect the easiest to install (if you a large area to irrigate) would be 1/2" or 3/4" rolled irrigation line with self regulating emitters, but I don't have good access to those.

I have 425 ft. of 1/4" irrigation tubing, 100 ft. of soaker hose and near 100 drippers and mini sprinklers in the shop of which I will install some of when the need comes but for now I am still adding PVC.

Larry

I bought the 1/2" emitter tubing that has 1 gph holes in the tube every 18 inches. So, where it goes over the pathway I can plug the holes with those "goof plug" things that came came with the kit. I just received all the tubes and components from Amazon last week, so I haven't had a chance to get it installed and test it out yet.

Miraje, that should be a wonderful system. If I had that hooked to my manifold system I should be able to water at least 3 times the area as I do now. When I first started using my sysyem I did not know anything about a drip system, but the water I had then would have plugged it up in less than one season any way. That was 8+ years ago and I still have iron deposits on my older tubes. Please let us know how it works.

Larry

miraje - What kit did you use? Can you provide a link or give a name? I would like to check that out....

ezzirah, I think there are several companies that make a similar product. I probably would have gone with Dripworks (www.dripworksusa.com), but I was given a $50 gift card to Amazon for Christmas and ended up going with the Rain Bird kit and add-ons there (link below). The reviews are pretty accurate when they say the basic starter kit isn't enough to do much. I had to buy another 150 feet of emitter tubing and more connectors just to cover my 20'x35' garden. The discounted prices seem reasonable, though, so it wasn't that much of an extra expense for me to add on what I needed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rain Bird Drip Irrigation Supplies