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I decided to add a new drip line outside of my side fence and also extending to the plants in front of the house. Now the only question was what I would use as a water source. I had a single faucet in the back yard. It already had a 2 way splitter on the faucet. I had bought a 4-1 splitter on Amazon that would do the trick but after staring at the faucet for awhile, I thought that a multi-splitter would look too messy.
Minimal space between my faucet and my anti-siphon valve
I had 4 nearby anti-siphon valves that I no longer used. I knew that one of the valves specifically controlled some sprinklers that were near some removed trees. I was pretty sure that the PVC attached to this valve was crushed in several places and was therefore useless. What if I just converted the anti-siphon valve and riser into a simple faucet that I could attach my drip line to.
In a perfect world, everything above the ground would be steel pipe but I was in California so the concern of the pipe freezing was pretty minimal. Besides, most of my anti-siphon valves sat on PVC risers anyway and nothing had ever burst in the winter. I took a look on Youtube to see if anyone had done anything similar.
It turns out that there were a few videos about adding a new faucet, or relocating an existing one. Most were more complicated than what I needed to do, but the parts about adding the faucet to the pvc were all straightforward. I could just use a PVC adapter that I could glue onto the PVC on one end, and have threads on the other end for the faucet to screw onto. I could use pipe tape in order to seal the faucet and prevent any leaks. It all seemed simple enough, and in the worst case, I had a PVC cap that I could glue onto the PVC riser just in case something went wrong.
I made the cut using my PVC cutting tool that I had picked up on Amazon. As I’ve mentioned in other blogs, this creates a much cleaner cut than a saw and doesn’t leave behind all of the rough shavings and edges that a saw does.
Anti-Siphon valve cut to make room for another faucet
The next step would be to glue on the PVC adapter, but I decided it would be easiest if I screwed the adapter onto the faucet first, then I could just glue the completed assembly back onto the PVC giving me the opportunity to orient the faucet any way that I wanted to. Remember to use pipe tape on the male end of either the adapter or the faucet. Also, remember to use the PVC cleaner/primer before using the PVC glue. I bought them both in a handy two pack at Amazon. The faucet took much less space than the anti-siphon that was there before it.
Adapter and faucet added to the PVC pipe
After adding the faucet, I could start putting together the drip system. It was about 30 feet from my faucet to the fence. I wanted my drip emitters to start on the other side of that fence. Instead of using my more expensive drip tube to span this distance, I used a spare garden hose that I had in storage. I could cut it to the exact length that I needed it to be, and then add a hose thread to the end that was cut. I would feed the garden hose under the fence, and then convert it there to a drip system.
I used an old hose to span most of the distance.
I had purchased everything that I needed for my project at an online store called Drip Depot. I had done a few garden/yard projects in the past and found that this online store had the best prices with quality parts. They also had a fantastic online support system. Each time I emailed with questions, I would have them answered in a few hours. For this project, I even got back from them a diagram and parts list of what I would be needing. This matched up perfectly with what I thought I needed, and was a strong endorsement that I was on the right path.
To be sure, before starting, I layed out all of the parts, making sure that everything fit together as I thought they would. I then started assembling onto the actual faucet. I first threaded the back flow preventer onto the the faucet. This would prevent any sediment or dirt from backing up into our house water system. Since the faucet was higher than the hose, I wasn’t sure if this piece was necessary but decided it was worth the cost to be safe.
Faucet with back flow adapter
Next, I added a 25PSI pressure regulator. This made sure that the pressure in the system wasn’t high enough to damage the drip system. I could have also added these parts in reverse order. They all had a hose thread male/female side so their order didn’t really matter.
25 PSI pressure regulator added to the chain
Finally, I added the hose to the end of this chain. Note that there is one more piece that needed to be added before converting the garden hose to drip and that’s a simple filter. We want to make sure that the drip system doesn’t clog, and a filter should do the trick. I could have added it to the faucet assembly, but when I did, the whole thing looked long and awkward, and got in the way of the existing faucet. I decided to add the filter to the other end right before the hose/drip converter.
Finally the hose added to the pressure regulator
So, after feeding the hose under the fence, I cut the hose to the proper length. My pvc cutter did a fine job on the hose. I then attached a male thread from a hose patch kit that I bought from Amazon. Basically, I had shortened my hose, leaving several feet for my next project.
Hose patch kit used to shorten my existing hose
Next I screwed on the filter, and then the drip adapter. Both had standard hose threads so all you need to do is screw on the parts.
Filter added to the end of the hose
Half inch drip adapter threads onto the filter.
I needed my drip to head off in two directions at a 90 degree angle so I used a T connector to do that.
Half inch T splitter allows my line to follow 90 degree angles
The final hose to drip conversion looked like this. One line of drip tube followed the house, and the other moved off in a 90 degree angle along the fence.
Final drip side configuration
I used a drip hose terminator where the hose ended along the house. You can find a number of cheap hose terminators but I liked this one since you could unscrew the end to drain the hose in case sediment starts to clog your system. The part was only $1.68 at Drip Depot so it was a cheap investment.
Threaded end cap will allow us to flush the line later.
Finally, an elbow part was added where the fence turned along the sidewalk to the left. A length of drip tube was attached to the elbow to follow the fence line.
Elbow joint to handle fence corner
I had to change strategies along the fence. I had originally bought 5GPH bubblers, but since the narrow strip is sloped, the water quickly ran off onto the side walk. I changed these out to be 2GPH emitters instead.
Final drip tube follows along fence line
Everything turned out great. I now have water coverage in an area that I didn’t think I could get to. We put in some new plants in this area and they are now thriving!
I just thought I would write a few additional notes to this article. We put in a Morning Glory plant along the fence in front of a trellis that we had restored. Up until now, we would hand water the plant whenever we remembered to. After adding the drip system, the plant really started thriving!
Consistent drip watering helps our morning glory to thrive
A few of our Video References
Here are a few videos that were useful as I added the outdoor faucet for my drip. I really didn’t find a video on connecting a garden hose to your drip system. I basically just found the parts online and confirmed that it would work with the consultant at Drip Depot.
This video was really useful. He used the hose to relocate his faucet. I used my hose to extend my drip line. So, my set up was slightly different.
Another example of someone moving their faucet to a different location which is much more work than I needed to do. Also, he uses a galvanized riser which I didn’t bother with since I’m in California.
