Irrigation thread.

[Cole_Robbie]

I set up about three acres on drip irrigation this year. It worked very well, except it seems like every fitting I connect always leaks a little. The drip-into-header barbed fitting requires a punch, which I used in two different sizes for two different fittings, as well as some drilled with a drill bit. I can never seem to get one to not leak. My city water is expensive and I am trying not to waste any. Plus, the weeds grow up wherever the line leaks.

The other connections leak, too, the ones where the drip tape goes over the round fitting and the plastic piece screws down to hold it. My problem is that the fitting is round, but the drip tape is flat on the spool and has creases on the side, and it leaks around those creases. I don't understand how to make drip tape that isn't round seal onto a fitting that is round.

Thanks in advance for the help. I won't need to set up irrigation again until next summer, so I have time to figure out what I was doing wrong.

[Fat Charlie]

Use a heat gun?

[Worth1]

What is your pressure?

[Heritage]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

The drip-into-header barbed fitting requires a punch, which I used in two different sizes for two different fittings, as well as some drilled with a drill bit. I can never seem to get one to not leak.

I assume you are using black poly as a header? (either 5/8" or 1") Make sure the hole is considerably smaller than the smallest part of the barb - after wetting the barb, it should still require quite a bit of effort to insert into the poly.

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

My problem is that the fitting is round, but the drip tape is flat on the spool and has creases on the side, and it leaks around those creases. I don't understand how to make drip tape that isn't round seal onto a fitting that is round.

The cheaper (thin wall) drip tape is easier to keep from leaking at this joint. Make the connection at the part of tape that is between the holes (the flat, smooth part). Make sure the fitting is clean.
If you are using a thick wall drip tape maybe soaking the end in hot water a few minutes would help the tape form to the barbs. But, it you are getting a lot of leakage you might want to switch to one of the other type (barbed) connectors.

And, as Worth mentions, make sure the pressure is within recommended operating range for your tape.

Steve

[Cole_Robbie]

I use 10 and 12 psi pressure regulators on the end of the header line. Without them, the drip line blows up within a few minutes.

We only use the tape once per season, so it is probably the cheap stuff. I can look at it again, but I have a hard time telling where the holes are in it. And I have both sizes of header line with two different sizes of barb fitting; both of them give me the same problems.

I am a lot more comfortable plumbing with pvc. I may just make next year's header lines with it. But I still have to get from pvc to drip line somehow. The best I have done is 1/2" cpvc and a hose clamp, but that still leaks like crazy. Maybe I can try glue or silicon.

[Heritage]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I use 10 and 12 psi pressure regulators on the end of the header line. Without them, the drip line blows up within a few minutes.

We only use the tape once per season, so it is probably the cheap stuff. I can look at it again, but I have a hard time telling where the holes are in it. And I have both sizes of header line with two different sizes of barb fitting; both of them give me the same problems.

I am a lot more comfortable plumbing with pvc. I may just make next year's header lines with it. But I still have to get from pvc to drip line somehow. The best I have done is 1/2" cpvc and a hose clamp, but that still leaks like crazy. Maybe I can try glue or silicon.

I estimate about half of my connections leak, but the leak is only a rapid drip at worst and so not much more than the regular line drip. All of my headers run next to the start of a row so the first few plants sometimes get slightly more water. I don't even use a punch anymore to make holes - I either use a nail (20p, I think) or a #1 Phillips screwdriver to punch the holes for the barbed fittings.

I have larger leaks where the voles, gophers, or crows have poked holes in the tape and I've had to repair it. What do you use to repair holes in the tape?

You could use a plumbed pvc solution but I doubt the extra expense would be made up in water expense savings.

Before they came out with the fancy barbed fittings we used to just use a short piece of 1/4" tubing inserted into a hole in the header and then into a hole into a folded end of tape (and then wired) with a little practice, those connections hardly ever leaked. But, the new barbed fittings save a lot of labor expense.

[Worth1]

I don't know what to say I have 0 leaks and I use the hole punch provided. By the manufacturer.
From the 1/2 drip line to hose bib I use the brass slip on fittings.

I would make a pvc header with the appropriate fittings to go to drip line.
a look at a drip web site should do the trick.

Worth.

[Cole_Robbie]

I'm using the correct punch sold for my fittings. It's a "palm punch," just a little stick. I have seen fancier punches that look like a pair of pliers that grip the header line as it punches. I don't think the hole it makes should be any different, though. I feel like the design of the barbed fitting is faulty. It needs a tiny rubber gasket around the barb to stop leaks.

My water costs 2 cents per gallon, so every leak is consequential. Thanks for the help.

[Worth1]

Who makes the stuff?

Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

Most of my fittings have been sitting in a box for about ten years. My newer stuff was ordered from the seed company I buy from. The newer parts are different colors and the barbed fitting hole is larger. They use different punches. But I have the same leak issues with both kinds, new and old. I don't know the brand names; I can look if it matters.

[Worth1]

I have learned that much of this stuff is proprietary and it wont mix and match from one manufacture to an other.
I have used the dig stuff and even though some here have cursed it, I have had no problems with it up to 50 PSI.
The age of the line may be a problem?
This would explain the tape leaking from the flats you explained.
The brass fittings I use for ½ are real tight and they don’t leak even without a hose clamp, which I still use anyway.
I do believe they make these things in plastic (PVC) also, but I like things to last if they are to be exposed to UV light.
Could you possibly post a picture of the apparatus?

Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

I will go dig through the stuff, look for brand names, and post pics.

I used both an old 1" header line and a new 3/4" header line with the same problems. I ordered the stuff from the same seed company, but it very well might be different manufacturers between the tape, header line, and fittings.

[Worth1]

You might think about using something like this, I have used the smaller 1/4 inch tubing with great6 success.
If you go online it even has a calculator to help you out with what you need.

http://store.rainbird.com/product/detail/X44000-M.aspx

Or this,
http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/pr...esDripline.htm
Or this,
http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/pr...ipline/XFS.htm


Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

Here are the pics of the fittings that leak on me. The green one is one of the old ones we had from about ten years ago. I can't find anything on the company name of the green one, "Irrite" or something like that. They probably are no longer in business under that name.

The orange fitting is the new one. I bought it with the Chapin drip tape, and apparently it is made by Chapin/Jain Irrigation:
http://www.jainirrigationinc.com/ind...id=79&Itemid=3

We also have some drip tape that is "John Deere Water," but it is exactly the same stuff with the same problems. There are emitter slits in it every few inches, but they are about impossible to see when the tape is not under pressure. I don't know that it makes a difference where you cut the tape to connect it to the fitting.

It still seems to me like the design is flawed. The fitting is round and the lay-flat tape will never expand to a perfect circle. It always ends up football-shaped. The fitting where it connects and ideally a metal clamp to hold it need to be in that same shape. Or something needs to fill the gaps on the sides.

All of this is in addition to the fittings leaking where they punch into the header line. There should be a little rubber gasket on the barb where it plugs into the header line.

[Worth1]

I have looked at fittings till I am cross eyed.

Here is a picture of what the tape should look like.
It should stretch over the fitting like all of my stuff does.

None of my barbs leak.