Low tech irrigation from a rainbarrel. Barrel of water can last a week or more.
Rainbarrels have a fantastic capacity to irrigate and they also have huge potential as a buffer against big downpours flooding the city infrastructure. But they only act as a buffer if they are not full. Irrigation is better if it is slow and constant and at least semiautomatic. If we can combine a rain barrel with this type of slow irrigation we can have a far better "system" with a healthier city environment. Now we can with the TCMTECH dripper irrigation system!
Step 1: How it works
If you just poke a hole in the bottom of a barrel, the water will quickly run out at first and then slow right down or the hole will block and it will stop completely. We need something with even and very slow flow. There are several ways to achieve even flow but I am convinced that this method is the simplest and easiest and will prove to be the most reliable. You simply have a float in the water in the barrel; the float is attached to or is a container; there is a little hole in the container; and there is a plastic tube leading from the float to an outlet from the barrel. This means that the barrel will empty at a constant rate as the float simply drops as the water empties slowly from the barrel. The picture shows a float which is a glass pot lid. The water is leaking through the steam exit hole and the tube goes through the hole that I left when I removed the handle.
Step 2: Proof of concept device
Here are pictures of my first TCMTECH dripper. It is running great!
External links
- Investigating the Pulser Pump by Michael Turner
