Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Watering Cones




8 April 2020

I bought a 6-pack of "watering cones" from Harbor Freight last summer. First use today, for my first two "type 1" lawn grass that I grew under lights over the winter.

Jammed two cones into the ground, filled two soda bottles with water, turned a bottle over & tried to shove it into the cone. No good: The bottle collapses, squirting water out. You can't shove the bottle into the cone if the bottle collapses.

Tried the second bottle anyway. Same result.

Went to the comments at HF. Love2ski says:
Fill bottles with tap water and attach water cones as shown [bottles shown right-side up]. Note, you'll need to give the bottle and cone a little "TWIST" for it to fit snugly. That's it!!Turn the bottle upside down without squeezing it and check the water flow.
Okay Art
1: fill the bottles
2: mount the watering cones on the bottles
3: insert cones in ground
I'll give it a shot next time.

I thought it'd be better to avoid pulling the cone out of its hole in the ground and shoving it back in, repeatedly. Maybe that's not a problem. Will see.

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Note: Love2ski also says
...there's a plastic ring thingy that is left behind when the bottle cap was initially opened. Remove plastic ring thingy from bottles. Use a utility knife, scissors etc. (plz. be careful)
I removed it anyway, out of habit, but the thought is worth repeating.

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3/4" SCH40 PVC pile fits easily into the cone (where the bottle should go).
The OD of that pipe is given as 1.05".
The cone opening as I measured it is 1 1/16", so 1.0625, so the 3/4PVS is a nice fit. Goes in about an inch and a quarter.
What's the OD of a 1/2" PVC pipe fitting?
Aetna Plastics says 1 5/16" for half inch PVC tee. Way big.
but for a reducing tee, 1 1/16" for half inch legs. Possibly perfect.
Are these threaded or slip fit? Or does it even matter.
These questions might merit a trip to the hardware store, but not in a coronavirus environment.
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I would consider a PVC adapter 3/4" Spigot (1.05" OD) to Female GHT (easy to make soda bottles fit FGHT)
PVC pipe to Garden Hose Thread adapters.

Not finding it.