Hey, I know what "feet of head" is!

Rainbarrel Man has an Introduction to Drip Irrigation page with a link to Pressure 101. The link brings up a one-page PDF, where I learned something about feet of head. Here's the first part of that PDF:

In this picture the water pressure in the water tank at the top of the water surface level is 0 feet of head, or you could also say there is 0 PSI. This is because the is no water above it to create pressure. Head is another word that indicates pressure, it is mostly used when measuring pressure created by the depth of water. So 10 feet of depth = 10 feet of head.

A few days ago I found Dultmeier saying you can multiply feet of head by .43 to get PSI. Rainbarrel Man says the same, but is easier to understand. (Dultmeier is more technical.) Also, Rain man uses .433, to get a little more accuracy in the PSI number.

Mr. Drip has GREAT INFO!

http://www.mrdrip.com/

When I first noticed their product, I didn't like it. They had "580" hose and "700" hose and like that. But garden hoses are half-inch ID, or five eighths, or three quarter. So: What is this "580" thing? I backed away from it.

Came back to it almost by accident. Looking at the Snip-n-Drip fittings you can get at Gardener's Supply, I wanted to compare em to something. Bezos was showing a Mr. Soaker Hose .580 Parts Kit that is "sold by MrDrip". So I started looking, and it started to get interesting.

The mrdrip.com home page, for example, compares drip irrigation to soaker hoses. They say soaker hoses are less expensive and take less time to set up. By contrast, "Drip irrigation does need some expertise while setting up and can have more components..."

They point out important differences that I would otherwise only stumble across after I bought a setup, set it up, and tried it out. For example:

Soaker hoses water the entire length of the hose, so it’s great for closely planted veggies, herbs, flowers etc. Where drip allows the use of a dripper to each individual plant.

They also provide useful tips:

Soaker hoses and drip irrigation share similar longevity. They will last longer when you run them under mulch to help protect it from the sun and other elements.

And that's just the home page.

Oh yeah, the home page also says you can use their stuff for your "Cannabis Irrigation" needs.

//

So, about the naming of their hoses:

I looked at the 580 Soaker Hose page. First sentence:

580 Soaker Hose (3/8" ID) can be identified by it's "Yellow Stripe".

And among the products listed on that page is

#150 .580 OD (3/8" ID) x 100' Bulk Soaker Hose

for $21.99... 22 cents a foot. A bargain by garden hose standards. Granted, it's small-diameter, and you'll have to buy some fittings and do some assembly, but it still strikes me as a good price. (Hey, I'm not spending money. I'm just looking. Even cheaper.)

Plus, we already know both the ID and OD of their hose. That's good information.

Turns out they offer four sizes:

• 820 Soaker Hose - 5/8" ID - .820 OD (say 13/16") - Green Stripe
• 700 Soaker Hose - 1/2" ID - .700 OD (say 11/16") - Red Stripe
• 580 Soaker Hose - 3/8" ID - .580 OD (say  9/16") - Yellow Stripe
• 420 Soaker Hose - 1/4" ID

My guess, the 420 must be .420 OD, say 7/16". Can't guess the stripe color. But this is still damn good information. And that's a damn good naming system, after all.

//

Oh! On their Soaker Hose page I just now found this table:

Actually, their table includes two more columns. I wanted to show the hose sizes. This table is like one you might see for steel pipe. It strikes me as very useful.

//

Speaking of good info, the "580" page says

Note: We have our customers tell us that these fittings fit the Flexon kits available in Lowes. Customers also tell us that our fittings fit the 3/8" Miracle Gro brand of soaker hose.

They tell you who else's stuff works with their stuff, and where to get it. That's useful.

I like this site.

Dultmeier Sales: Flow Data - Water Through Hose

A technical page turned up in a Google search: Flow Data - Water Through Hose from Dultmeier Sales. One-page PDF. Some interesting facts. And it looks like it'll be useful if I can find it when I need it, and if I take a few minutes to figure it out.

Some of the interesting stuff:

Pressure loss is proportionate to length [of hose].

They include a table of pressure loss, too. And this:

Water pressure expressed as feet of head (height of a column, or difference in elevation) can be converted to psi by multiplying by .43.

Did not know that. (Won't remember it, either.) But it might come in handy when I run across a table that gives water pressure as "feet of head". I've seen it before.

And this:

Couplings of the insert type, attached with bands or clamps are restrictive. Pressure loss resulting from use of these couplings is approximately equal to 5% of the loss through 100’ of hose.

Using the table they provide(for 100' of hose) you can now figure the pressure loss from couplings. And this rings a bell for me.

When we decided to run a hose underground to our garden, I came across Installing an Underground Water Line and Remote Faucet from Lee Valley Tools. It encouraged me to go with my plan to bury the hose. So I did. In my heavy clay soil their "rock a spade handle back and forth" suggestion didn't work at all. But I got the digging all done in a day, enough to bury 223 feet of 3/4" hose.

One of their "points to keep in mind" was this:

Use a large-diameter hose and avoid the use of hose menders. The longer your hose, the greater the pressure drop is going to be between the faucet and the far end of the hose. The pressure drop is minimized by using large-diameter hose and by avoiding the use of restrictions such as hose menders.

It's a teaser. I went with their recommendation, obviously. But it stuck in my mind because I want to know what harm I'm doing to the flow by using a hose mender. Using the Dultmeier info sheet, maybe I can figure it out.

The most common hose size?

I said 5/8" is the most common garden hose size. Then I backed up and said I assume it's the most common size. But I don't like to assume. So I googled garden hose sales by size.

Got a lot of links to places selling garden hose, of course. Some links to garden hose reviews. Got one link to The Difference Between 5/8-Inch and 3/4-Inch Garden Hose, which says

You probably only need a 5/8-inch diameter hose... Use of 3/4-inch hoses is normally reserved for professional uses, such as watering public parks or gardens.

So, yeah: I've heard that before. That's the reason I think 5/8 is the most common size. But I still don't know if 5/8 is the most common size! So I kept looking.

Ever heard of Google Answers? I thought it was something new. Apparently, it is something old. Back in 2003 someone asked about the size of the garden hose market. And someone replied:

According the 1997 US Economic Census (the last one completed), there were 218 companies that primarily engaged in manufacturing rubber hose and/or plastics (reinforced) hose and belting from natural and synthetic rubber and/or plastics resins. This North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 32622, Rubber & plastics hoses & belting mfg. This sector generated $4,025,238,000 in sales and paid over 24,000 employees. This was an increase of over 50% in revenue from the 1992 statistics. You can see a breakdown of the sales locations of the manufacturers as well as other data at the reference below.

Reference:
1997 Economic Census:
NAICS 326220
Rubber and plastics hoses and belting manufacturing
http://www.census.gov/epcd/ec97/industry/E326220.HTM

Something from Freedonia on Lawn & Garden Watering Products from a year ago:

Demand for lawn and garden watering products is expected to grow at an annual rate of 2.8% to $970 million in 2021, based on assumptions that weather will be favorable and the economy will continue to grow at a slow to moderate pace. Trends in watering products will continue to focus on attributes demanded by consumers: ease of use, performance, durability, and water conservation.

However,

This report presents a detailed analysis of the US consumer market for residential do-it-yourself (DIY) lawn and garden watering products.

and

The report does not include products/services sold to the following markets:

• agricultural
• commercial
• horticultural
• institutional
• professional
• recreational

The page offers the report for sale... for $4900.

Wow.

And then, something from PR Newswire: Garden Hose Demand to Grow 3% Annually Through 2021. Dated October, 2017 -- same as the Freedonia link. I looked again, and the PR Newswire page says "News provided by the Freedonia Group". Huh. I never heard of Freedonia, and now twice in two minutes. Might be a useful source (if they have free info).

Anyway, PR Newswire says

Demand for garden hoses in the US is forecast to rise 3% per year to $435 million in 2021. Growth will be driven by an improved economy and the development of the higher quality products that are most desired by consumers. Growth will be more broad-based compared to the previous five-year period due primarily to the leveling off of demand for expandable hoses.

and

These and other trends are presented in Lawn & Garden Watering Products Market in the US, a new study from The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based industry research firm.

Yeah, that's the $4900 report.

They also say:

Conventional garden hoses continue to dominate the market, accounting for around 70% of all sales. A conventional garden hose is still seen by most households as a basic item required for typical maintenance activities. Further gains will result from disappointed buyers of expandable hoses reverting back to conventional hoses, which have a longer history of positive performance and durability.

Soaker hoses will see the fastest increase of sales at 6.4% per year through 2021. Despite the rapid gains, soaker hoses are expected to remain a niche product as their use is primarily limited to irrigation purposes.

Yeah. I bought my first shrinker hose 2, maybe 3 years ago. Fell in love with it immediately and bought two more since. But now I'm running out of em because the outer cover wears out and the rubber tube within expands like a balloon when you turn the water on, and you can't use the hose anymore. You can repair em, but it's difficult to get the fittings into that rubber tube. I haven't found a solution to that, yet.

But I do plan to buy some soaker hoses this coming spring. And probably some of those compression fittings I was looking at the other day.

//

Okay, so I have three numbers:

• $435 million in 2021
• $970 million in 2021
• $4,025,238,000 in sales in 1997. Four billion dollars.

That last number includes "belting" and all kinds of hoses, so it probably overstates the garden hose market. A lot. The low number is only for garden hoses. And the middle number is for "lawn and garden watering products" which is more than just hoses.

So half a billion in garden hoses and another half a billion in accessories gets us to a billion bucks. That leaves three billion for belting and hoses other than garden hoses. All very interesting.

But I still don't know how many 5/8" hoses then sell, and how many 3/4" hoses. I still don't know the most common garden hose size.

Putting away

Well I packed up my hoses today and put them away for the winter. Early October, but it was warm today, and the hoses were flexible and well-behaved. So I filled a 55-gallon barrel with rolled-up garden hoses.

This year I've been using that open-top barrel as a soaker tub for my bagger tube. Lawn clippings accumulate inside the tube that brings the clippings from mower to bag. Accumulated clippings choke the flow, as sure as accumulated debt chokes the economy. When the mower chokes I have to disassemble the bagger to clean it. It's a pain in the -- well, you know. So I started hosing out the tube -- and soaking it before I hose it out.

Don't need the bagger for the winter, and the barrel's a perfect place to put the hoses. Oh, yeah, I was gonna write about my hose layout, but I didn't get to that yet. Pretty soon. Anyway, the hoses fill the barrel.

Meanwhile, the barrel: It was in the back yard when we bought the house. I ignored it for years. But I kept it because I thought it might come in handy, and finally now it does. Anyway, it has a drain hole in it, a few inches up from the bottom.

Not just a hole. There is a "bulkhead fitting" in the hole so it won't leak. And on the outside of the barrel, garden hose threads. So I can connect up a garden hose or whatever.

Another thing the previous owner left is a garden hose shutoff valve. An ugly little one, but I didn't have the heart to throw it out. I kept it just in case. And after eight or nine years living here, one day I looked at the hose fitting on the barrel and put one and one together. That's what that old shutoff is for! So I put the shutoff valve on the 55-gallon drum so it could hold water, and used it to soak the bagger tube.

It improved my baggerworks a little. But I have to clean that tube more, and maybe get some kind of spray to coat the inside and make it slippery. What kind of spray, I don't yet know. Meanwhile...

After the soaking, the water in the drum was dirty with grass clippings and yuck. I opened the shutoff to drain it, and it clogged up good. When the water level got low enough I could tip the barrel, I dumped it out and left it.

I looked at that barrel for a month. Looked into replacing the bulkhead fitting with a bigger one, but big ones cost a lot more than little ones. So I just thought about it, instead of actually doing it.

Recently, getting ready to store my hoses, I took the shutoff valve off the barrel. And I happened to look at it. Fully open, it has a tiny little hole, only about 3/8 of an inch diameter. That's the reason it gets clogged, I thought. So I bought a new shutoff. "Full flow". I measure 5/8" diameter. Doesn't sound a lot bigger, but it is.

Never measured a "full flow" fitting before. I was thinking 3/4", like the largest standard garden hose size. Nope: 5/8", like the most common size. I assume, most common. Anyway:

The 5/8" ID opening of the fitting on the right has 2.78, almost 3 times the area of the 3/8" ID opening on the left. So I'm thinkin the fitting on the right can move almost 3 times as much water per minute, all else equal.

And regarding the context described above, the fitting on the right is a lot less likely to clog than the fitting on the left. That's my bet.

8-sided nuts on hose fittings, not 6-sided. I never noticed that before.

Oh, and the swivel nut on the bigger fitting, that's one of those two-piece assemblies with the teeth that break off. As noted in the first post on this blog, and also in a recent one.

I.D.

I thought about getting a collection of different size marbles, so I could drop them thru garden hose fittings. The biggest marble that doesn't get stuck tells you the flow diameter of the fitting.

On a related note, I thought this was a clever idea:

If you have a marble and want to know what size it is and don't have a caliper
to measure it try using an open end wrench.

Source: Marble Size at glassmarbles.com.

The Gilmour full-flow splitter at Amazon

Well, I wasn't gonna buy any more fittings with the swivel nut that leaks when the teeth break off. But I did. Gilmour is dumping them at Amazon and I fell for it. They look so good. Here's one of the photos from the Amazon site:

Ball valves that get bigger where the ball is, so that the ball can be big enough to take a 3/4" hole thru it. (I didn't actually measure the hole, but it looks like 3/4".) Big grabbers to make the turning off and on easier. And that lovely but problematic swivel nut. Oh, well.

But I want to point out something else in the photo. The splitter is large enough to contain a 3/4" diameter^[1] path for water flow, equal to the ID of the largest standard garden hose size. But the spigot coming off the house is too small to provide that kind of flow!

Is that really the best photo to use to sell full-flow splitters?

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1. I just went and measured one: 5/8" diameter at the outlet end. Looks like maybe 3/4" at the inlet, but there's a 5/8" ID hose washer that blocks part of the opening. So I guess there's a reason they call these things "full flow" rather than actually telling you the ID measurement.

Still, I'd want a bigger diameter faucet than what they show.