Water pressure/flow rate from IBC water

redser7

I hope someone on here can help me out. I'm setting up an automatic gravity-fed watering system from a 1000 ltr IBC tank. I just bought a water timer from Lidl and the operating pressure for the unit is 0.34 - 8.27 bar (34.5 - 827 kPa). Minimum flow rate is 28 ltr/min. Before I test it out and ruin my chances of a refund if it doesn't work out, do you think the IBC would meet that requirement? I am raising it up on blocks about 2 foot. The IBC tap will be fully open flowing into a 1/2 inch hose.
Appreciate any advice!

pakalasa

What exactly are you trying to do?
On the pressure, every 10M high of water is 1 Bar, so for the minimum of 0.34 Bar you need a min height of 3.4m of water. So that's 3.4 m from the top level of the water to where you measure it. You need extra then if the water is flowing as the pressure tends to drop off.

redser7

Thanks. It looks like it wont work then. I have a 1000 ltr IBC. I want to gravity feed the water to a polytunnel to water the beds using soaker hose. I need a timer so I wont flood the beds. There's no way I can raise the tank high enough for this unit. Looks like it is for mains garden tap only if it needs pressure that high. Do you think I'm right?
Cheers

cjpm

Why don't you just put a pump on the tank and put a timer on the pump?

redser7

It's on an allotment plot and there's no electricity
I'll get my money back and try a different make. Have seen this setup around. Looks like this particular unit just needs high pressure to open/shut the valve.

BeeDI

cjpm wrote: »

Why don't you just put a pump on the tank and put a timer on the pump?

SNAP! That's exactly how to do it. IBC on the ground, in a place where you can run roof water into it. Rain water FAR, FAR, better than mains water for your plants. Do a trial. Rain water on one row of veggie. Lettuce for example. Mains water on the other.
Compare the two rows after one week or ten days.:cool:

BeeDI

redser7 wrote: »

It's on an allotment plot and there's no electricity
I'll get my money back and try a different make. Have seen this setup around. Looks like this particular unit just needs high pressure to open/shut the valve.

12 volt pump and car battery;)

pakalasa

Ya,
0.34bar is very high, so it does look like it uses the water pressure itself to do the work of switching the valve.

redser7

Cheers pakalasa. lucky I kept the receipt.
Thanks for the other suggestions but it's a non-runner for me. The plot is some distance away so I can't get up to water every day. Hence the gravity fed system on a timer. If I can't get up to water I can't be running up and down to charge a battery. The other thing is the expense of a setup like that, need to keep it low. But thanks!

Farmer Pudsey

redser7 wrote: »

Cheers pakalasa. lucky I kept the receipt.
Thanks for the other suggestions but it's a non-runner for me. The plot is some distance away so I can't get up to water every day. Hence the gravity fed system on a timer. If I can't get up to water I can't be running up and down to charge a battery. The other thing is the expense of a setup like that, need to keep it low. But thanks!

You can get small 12Volt solar panels which will charge the battery one issue is that the leads on the panal can carrode so if you can set up a box that you can keep dry to store your battery and maybe use glass or perspex sheet over panal. Try E-Bay on line or if near one a Maplin shop they are in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and I do not know where else

redser7

Thanks. Yeah I've looked at various options and gravity is the best to suit my needs. Solar would be somewhat unreliable with cloudy days etc. And surely the pump would have to be on all the time keeping pressure behind the timer? I'd say the battery would go flat reasonably quickly. And I'm trying to keep the cost to a minimum. But thanks for the suggestion.