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Automatic yard watering - Life is strange...

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Mar. 30th, 2007

01:00 pm - Automatic yard watering

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Hi!

I want, I need automatic watering. It was made for me. We are renting a house, so all of that cool in-ground actually-plumbed stuff is out. It turns out that some pretty nifty hose-mounted automatic watering gear is now available. I bought this, it's cool and it works. The interface isn't even completely awful:

orbit sunmate 62032

But first I bought this:

orbit sunmate 62032

It is called Melnor Aquatimer Duo. You might think that it would have two timed outputs. But no, only one of those outlets is timed, the other one is manually-controlled. So, as required in any plumbing or plumbing-related project, I had to go back to the store. Thankfully, I had repackaged the unit so neatly that the "returns specialist" had no problem taking it back.

The one I bought is actually very much like the in-ground ones. The controller comes with two electrically-actuated valves, and the controller can control up to four valves. The valves look like this:

orbit sunmate valve

So I bought some of those, too.

I hope your pursuits are going well.

Cheers! generalist

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[User Picture]
From:lusty
Date:March 30th, 2007 10:18 pm (UTC)
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I need some sort of automated hose-mounted means of refilling the reservoir on my little bubbler fountain. Preferably it would transition down quickly to a very small tube on the order of the size of drip lines that I can bury under the path it must cross to get to the fountain. And with a float valve that would open when the water level goes too low.
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From:generalist
Date:March 31st, 2007 01:40 am (UTC)
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Hi!


Why not use one of those canister-type toilet-bowl-type integrated float valves? You can put it under a lily pad or something. They're very reliable as long as you dont foul their slides. This one looks like its adjustment and movement is not easily fouled, so it might be a good candidate.


Cheers! generalist

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From:lusty
Date:March 31st, 2007 04:14 am (UTC)
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That's not a bad idea. I was thinking of something along the lines of this "mechanical water leveler", with the horizontal flat wing cut off. My bubbler looks like this.

Underneath it's just a square plastic "windowbox" planter box (with no hole in the bottom) that's about 12" square and maybe slightly more than that deep. Sitting on top of it is a bbq grill grate that's covered with a wire mesh to keep the gravel from falling through. The (solar-powered) pump is about 5" tall and fills up most of the bottom of the reservoir, although there is some space in a couple of corners.

I was thinking with that float valve there, I could zip-tie it to the under-side of the grating, probably with some spacer to lower it a little. I'm not sure how I would be able to attach the toilet type of valve, although it might fit into the space more easily.
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From:andybeals
Date:April 5th, 2007 07:55 am (UTC)
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Good luck! I find that the heat and craptastic hard water we have here kills the valves in a year's time.

(Don't forget to replace the batteries!)
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