My drip irrigation system failed and flooded half my raised beds

I came home from a weekend trip Sunday to find one of the emitters had popped off the line. Water was pooling around my tomato plants and two beds were completely soaked. I spent three hours digging trenches to redirect the water and replaced all the cheap push-fit connectors with proper threaded ones from the hardware store. Has anyone else had these plastic connectors fail after a season or two?

3 comments

3 Comments

phoenix_martin401d ago

Switch to brass fittings and you'll never have that problem again.

beth_park1d ago

There's a YouTube gardener who actually tested these push-fit connectors under pressure, and pretty much all of them failed after a year or so of sun exposure. The UV damage makes the plastic brittle, and then a little temperature change pops them right off. Threaded brass fittings are the way to go, even if they cost a little more upfront. I had the same thing happen with a cheap drip kit from the big box store, and now I only use brass barb fittings with a backflow preventer.

danielr991d ago

Oh man, yeah, the UV thing is absolutely real. I switched to brass fittings after my second blowout last summer and haven't had a single issue since. That little bit extra upfront saves you from a whole weekend of digging and cussing.