Clogged Drip Emitters

[sleepless]

After a trip on the road for 5 days I am looking at the possibility of losing a plant due too a clogged emitter.

This emitter lasted less than1 grow before clogging.

Looking for suggestions from other who have run into this.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Crop King White Cookies - Drip Irrigation - DIY Citi Cobs - SCROG

 

[Weaselcracker]

I'd be amazed if I had one last a full day let alone a full grow.
I strain all water that goes into my res- not very well mind you - just through a cotton cloth. I found all the drip emitters and sprayers and other flow dispensers with my cheapass system to be way too much trouble to use. They're unreliable, clog easily, and the flow rate valves on them are pretty much useless. The 8 way manifold that I got with the system also had flow valves on it. I took a drill and drilled them all out. So now I have basically open lines all the way and just regulate the total amount of flow by the timer 'on' length.
I'm just running my system on a smallish electric pump - and more water pressure would have helped make the emitters work properly. But I still wouldn't trust them, even with a good filtering system- what I have is way too cheap -crappy quality. Curious what you're using.

 

[DoctorGonzo]

After a trip on the road for 5 days I am looking at the possibility of losing a plant due too a clogged emitter.

This emitter lasted less than1 grow before clogging.

Looking for suggestions from other who have run into this.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Crop King White Cookies - Drip Irrigation - DIY Citi Cobs - SCROG

The Simple Fix:
Use larger emitters, for shorter "On" times, just make sure your pump is up to pushing the volume.

 

[sleepless]

2gph and 2 per plant will hopefully work.

If this clogs I'll run open lines and use the in line flow adjustment.



Crop King White Cookies - Drip Irrigation - DIY Citi Cobs - SCROG

 

[Weaselcracker]

The shortest setting on my timer is one minute. That works out fine with open lines for what I'm doing. If I wanted to control the flow better I'd look into getting a better quality ball valve for the 1" line which runs between the pump and manifold, before the manifold splits it into 1/4" lines. Or I can put clamps in the ends of the lines. All unnecessary in my case.
I think going up to 1/2" line and fittings would probably open up the choices, and there might be a better quality rig out there somewhere. But for what I have now- the simpler the system is and less opportunities for it to screw up, the better.

 

[DoctorGonzo]

The shortest setting on my timer is one minute. That works out fine with open lines for what I'm doing. If I wanted to control the flow better I'd look into getting a better quality ball valve for the 1" line which runs between the pump and manifold, before the manifold splits it into 1/4" lines. Or I can put clamps in the ends of the lines. All unnecessary in my case.
I think going up to 1/2" line and fittings would probably open up the choices, and there might be a better quality rig out there somewhere. But for what I have now- the simpler the system is and less opportunities for it to screw up, the better.

I'm not a fan of auto feeding, but I can see a need for it if a grower isn't available to feed on a regular schedule. For single strain, from single mother runs, I concede it can be okay in veg though. All plants feed at different rates, and in a room running multiple strains with differing flower times, one size fits all feedings yield far less than optimal finish quality. A 56-day finish cultivar is on a totally different nutrient schedule at times than a 75 day, so unless a room is single-strain/cash crop then emitters wouldn't work for optimum results without multiple reservoirs.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Yep totally-it's always a compromise - I just try to get reasonably well matched strains in there, and feed a bit on low side. The DTW section of my grow with the auto-feeding is just kind of a playground area where I use up freebie seeds and random stuff that I'd never get to growing if I had to put more effort into them. Optimum results no- but very fun and lets me cycle through lots of smallish plants, and find some interesting ones.

Reality is- almost all of the seeds I have- I would never grow if I didn't have some way to burn through them fairly painlessly and actually have fun doing it. Some are freebies. Lots are from seed coupons I won in 420 contests, and then there are the inevitable mystery seeds that pop up on plants.

 

[BedroomFarmer]

2gph and 2 per plant will hopefully work.

If this clogs I'll run open lines and use the in line flow adjustment.



Crop King White Cookies - Drip Irrigation - DIY Citi Cobs - SCROG

These will clog up. Anything labeled as "pressure compensation" will clog in our systems. Those are ment to be run on a home sprinkler system and we use too low of pressure to operate them properly.You have to watch what manifold and what emitter you use because they won't work with a fountain pump if they are labeled pressure compensating.

Simple drip system

Here is my drip system. My manifold is a ring and I use flag emitters. These are made for low pressure or gravity drip systems. I've had no clogs but if I did I can open them up with a twist. TK found a great low pressure manifold in the UK. Good luck.

 

[sleepless]

These will clog up. Anything labeled as "pressure compensation" will clog in our systems. Those are ment to be run on a home sprinkler system and we use too low of pressure to operate them properly.You have to watch what manifold and what emitter you use because they won't work with a fountain pump if they are labeled pressure compensating.

Simple drip system

Here is my drip system. My manifold is a ring and I use flag emitters. These are made for low pressure or gravity drip systems. I've had no clogs but if I did I can open them up with a twist. TK found a great low pressure manifold in the UK. Good luck.

Well I am not using a manifold.

Tried a 4 port manifold with emitters and had 4l in one bucket and 1 in another.

So far this has worked.

Keep in mind it is only used once or twice a grow.

What do you run?

 

[BedroomFarmer]

Anything labeled pressure compensating like the button drippers will eventually fail due to low pressure.

I use flag drippers restricted to 4gph. They are free flow and you can twist them open to clear a clog if you get one. If I wasn't using these I'd be open lines but I like how these dont disturb the coco too much.