9 June Update .
Mr Kookaburra showed up today at 8am.
Update on PVC manifold REBUILD.
Disassembled the mixed 20mm PVC and 19mm Polypipe mess he tried to tell me was a manifold .
Moved the surveyor's stakes to comply with having the mains pressure manifold 30cm from the north boundary fence , parts hadn't arrived at this stage or til he left just before lunchtime.
bloody hell - I thought there was only one loose sheet on that north boundary fence , there's 2 of the buggers that need 6 screws each to make them stop waving and banging in the breeze .
Newly discovered annoyance. Neighbour took that sheet off when he trespassed onto my land to do his dodgey shed conversion - told me he'd fixed it when he'd finished --- silly me taking his word for it.
Loose fence sheet I've known about since November 2019 , old neighbours never did put those 6 screws , DESPITE THEIR BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR IT BEING KNOCKED LOOSE (backed a big 6 wheel trailor into when drunk one day - so I told him , he damaged the fence - he fixes it - into the fence to secure it before "he" got his marching orders. learnt my lesson , shouldn't have trusted him and went straight to an BUILDING INSURANCE claim for the damage and called the cops - will never make that mistake again ) Handy that I had a spare pallet hanging about to "secure it" and stop it getting blown off entirely.
Update in Strawberries.
Added a proper down pipes to the two 3.6m on fence Strawberry gutter troughs , removed the 13mm and 19mm hodgepodge "parallel" branches and dripper emitters , replaced with DRIP-EZE pipes ( a mistake as he confused the WEEPER pipe for DRIP-EZE pipes , both brown , one a lighter colour than the other ) .
Result , not quite right yet ,
How can anyone think this "right" ?
Really - the guy's stupid. ( Or just don't give a …. seems o put him brain into idle mode when working ).
The lower gutter needs to be shifted W by about 30cm or the higher gutter E by 30cm ,as the higher down pipe offloads to the lower gutter.
But why move the HEAVY gutters ( weigh over 60kg each full of DRY soil !! ) when there are flexi agri fittings the are bendable and stretchy ie
a 1 min job slipping the rectangular end on , self-tapping screw in at the joint to hold it there , bend to suit. Done - literally no time , and zero effort.
A fortunate mistake = installer DRIP-EZE not WEEPER pipe.
Comparing
L = 3.6m / gutter
Emitter hole spacing = 0.3m
12 holes per gutter
Flow/hole = 3 Lph ( controlled via built-in flow regulator at each nano - emitter (hole) .
So calculation of flow of water per gutter-trough is straightforeward
12x 3Lph = 36 Lph ==> 9 L/15min
6 plants / gutter ==> 9 L/ 15min / 6 plants ==> 1.5 L/ plant / 15mins
Gutters EACH hold 25L soil moisture (starting dry)
so 9L water / 25L soil = 36% H2O V/V
Had a chat with one of the engineers at Holman who told me the recommended soil moisture is 45% V/V to 65% V/V in most cases.
So since strawberries like a drier bed , 35% H2O V/V is OK.
WEEPER HOSE
Separarely sold flow regulator discs and regulators are hard to source .
BLUE = 10L/min per 15m hose .
Call this the UNTHROTTLED WEEPER hose flow-rate.
PLUS will break down in about 18mths ( recycled tires used to make these ).
PLUS weeping rate is not constant over entire length , measure downstream end.
10L/min per 15m tube length.
== > flow to each 3.6m gutter trough = ( 3.6m gutter run x 10 L/min / 15m hose)
= 2.4 L / min per 3.6m run
==> 36 L/ 15min per 3.6m run
==> 36 L / 15min per 6 plants
36 L / 15min TOO MUCH for gutters with 25L SOIL IN THEM.
Back to flow regulation via an inline upstream flowmeter and a globe valve to throttle the flowrate predictably manually .
To get a acceptable flow I would to either
a) reduce watering time significantly 9/36 = by 75% ==> 3.5min - 3.75min per day ( don't want to install another timer )
b) reduce flowrate by 75% using a globe valve and watching the flowrate via an inline flowmeter ( per my design )
Globe valve will need to be closed by 85% to achieve a 75% reduction in flowrate ( ref to Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook valve characteristic flow curves ( Equal Percentage curve applies ).
The inline polypipe taps are a "quick opening" tap -- so definitely not the best for regulation of flow.
Evidence the strawberries have survived . New leaves are sprouting !
So looks like I'll now have 20 strawberry plants ( JOY, ALPINE and TEMPTATION varieties , my wife and grandson will be spoilt for choice year round ).
The 1m x 1m mobile planter box in use at least.