Irrigation pipe switch and fix

Now that the baling is over life is calming down.  I was able to do some chores put off by the baling, such as, taking a shower, buying groceries, washing clothes.

I also worked on my irrigation system.  It appears a pipe near the beginning came apart enough to reduce the water pressure enough to cause the pump to turn off.  I had a problem once before with this pipe separating a little and leaking.  So this time I replaced the pipe.

The replaced pipe was similar to the one in the following photo.  Minus the clamp (and stick).  The old pipe fit into the pipe in the second photo with the valve.  To keep the two pipes together I wired the pipe without the clamp to the opening for the hook.  I have a few pipes in the mainline like this.  The difference is those pipes are more inside the mainline and not near the end.  The other pipes in the mainline keep the wired pipes from slipping out.

Oh, the reason for the stick is to keep the pipes from slipping.  While the design should allow the pipes to move enough to where the clamp holds against the lip and not have a leak, sometimes that movement is enough to allow a small leak to occur where the pipes come together.


I had one pipe available where Dad had replaced the half circle clamp with a hook as the half circle clamp doesn't work on pipes with valves and hook openings.  This hook setup will hold the pipes together.

I also reinforced the elbow.  I had some metal pipes and posts around the elbow but over time the pipes and posts moved.  The elbow has a small leak which softens the ground.  I added a two by four board between the tree and pipe next to the elbow.  I'll watch to see if these changes stops the pipes near the elbow from moving in the future.

I moved the two sprinkler lines and started my pump.  It started pumping water right away.  So it does appear my pump packing tightening solved my pump starting problem.

Before I started the pump I added some mainline pipe a little over a third across my hayfield.  In about three to five days I will complete watering the pastures.  I am going to move the sprinkler lines back to the hayfield.  The cut hayfield has stayed green and looks to be wanting to grow so I will see how much grows if I add water to what I just cut.  Why I added only a third of the mainline pipes was to break up the task of carrying all those heavy steel pipes into multiple days, and I haven't moved the hay bales out of the hayfield yet.

I got my electric bill for last month's irrigation.  I didn't irrigate the entire month.  My electricity cost came to $300.  Plus almost $49 a month as the basic charge for the privilege of being connected to the grid.