RE: The Birth of a Backyard Track
OK......Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong overdue!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally, some updates!!!!!!!! I've been working on "Track Wetting System"(TWS)!!!!
Here's what went down..... I purchased 4 yellow, plastic sprinklers, some hose repair kits, rubber washers, mutiple manifold, etc....
I got my Mantis eletric tiller back out and "dug" a trench of where I wanted to bury the hose. Now, I let the tiller work real deep.....as I wanted to make sure that if I ever use the tiller again to de-weed....I wouldn't hit the hose that I would be burying underground. The hose I used happened to be an old one that I used to have at the place of business my father and I had. Since it was rather "shabby" to be using around the house.....I cut it up and used it for the TWS.
I also had to burrow under my sidewalk so that the hose would not be lying on top of the ground.....something to trip over at night....and I hate that!!! Again, since I save everything......I found an old paint mixer that I made at my shop some time ago that I used to use for mixing 5 gallon pails. I attached it to my Ryobi 18v cordless drill.....snapped the speed setting to low/torque and started to drill away. It took me 2 battery packs to make it under the sidewalk.......that stuff was HARD packed! All I know is that I was glad I didn't have to do it manually. I wasn't exactly a straight hole......nor did it happen really fast.....but all I had to do was hang on tight to the drill and give slight pressure.....and pull back every once in a while to clean out the dirt.
This really made the system look much "cleaner".
Then, I started to run the hose. Of course, before I started ANYTHING......I set up the 4 sprinklers with long hoses, etc......in a mock setup. One thing you DON'T want to do is get it all buried only to find out it doesn't cover very well. I knew I wanted to put these sprinklers right up the middle of my 2 opposing lanes. And, I found out in my mock setup.....with my water pressure.....it was perfect cause it would overspray by 6-12 inches on each side at full blast!!! So, I run the hose, cut it, then add the hose repair kit and tie in the sprinkler. Then, do it all over again. Then, I test it one last time......once satisfied.....I buried the hose as deep as I could. But, I had to set the depth of the sprinklers to where they were just breaking the surface. You barely notice them......in fact, I didn't notice this when I bought them.....the must've been two different production runs.....cause 1 of the 4 sprinklers has different spraying head on it. This thing can, literally, be right under the top surface.....as the water sprays directly from the very top of the head. The other 3 spray from the side of the head......but, only 1/2" protrudes above the surface. No big deal! I've posted pics below.......