Do you know how much water does a soaker hose use? Probably it’s a question that might not sound too important or easily neglected by a tube user. But it is actually very important as it has a great effect on our daily water usage. Hoses are used in various applications, such as watering your indoor gardens, filling up your pool, or even extinguishing fire etc.
For example, if you are using a small sized tube to sprinkle your delicate flowers, you can’t use the same arrangement to fill up your pool. Well maybe you can, but you wouldn’t want to spend days filling up your pool do you? Or let’s say there is an incidence of fire, you can’t use that low-pressure garden hose to extinguish the fire right?
Soaker hoses are very popular because of their efficient use of water. However, different application requires different pressure and water usage. You need an adequate supply of water in your garden, for your animals, or building your new house. So how much water does a soaker hose use? Let’s read to find out.
Calculating Your Water Needs
The amount of water flow per minute can be calculated depending on the pressure of water and the size of your soaker hose. Using 100 feet ½ inch sized pipe with a pressure of 40 psi, the rate of flow is 6 gallons per minute. The longer the hose, the flow rate decreases. If you use a 100 ft 5/8 inch hose with same pressure, you 11 gallons per minute flow rate at 40 psi. The flow rate increases or decreases based on the hose size, length & pressure. You can easily check the flow rate in online calculators. Pool water, you can easily find out how much time it will take to fill up a pool. Firefighters use a very high-pressure hose, usually between 116-290 psi. These hoses are robust, hard rubber non-collapsing types with a length between 50-100 feet. But you will get soaker hose of 25ft, 50ft, 75ft or 100 ft as per your requirement. Every length tubes have adjustable adapters, times, pressure regulators and other fittings.
In households, you need 50-100 gallons of water per person per day. A standard dishwasher requires 7-14 gallons per load, a cloth washer needs 25-50 gallons per load, garbage disposal requires 4 gallons per day, bathroom sink needs 2 gallons per minute etc. But the daily water requirement varies for person and person, the efficiency of the system and the supply. Usage also depends on different seasons.
In summer, there is a high requirement of water for you, your family and your pets. We tend to drink more due to dehydration and also take a frequent shower. In contrast, we don’t use much water in winter. Naturally the cold climatic condition discourages us and we also don’t get dehydrated in the winter season.
How Much Water does A Soaker Hose Use
This question does not have a straight forward answer because it really depends on the plant size, the volume and types of plants and the structure of your garden. For proper watering of your garden, there are basically 2 types of soaker hose used. The most common is the ½ inch and the ¼ inch tubes.
The ½ inch soaker easily connects to the standard hose fittings. Gardeners can easily cut them with sharp pruning shear to make the length adjustable to their needs. There is a flow regulator connected inside the hose. This pipe is more tolerant to algae & soil in the water. The ¼ inch also very commonly used, but in order to avoid leaking and popping of fittings, you should get an in-line pressure regulator.
Pressure regulators are important because soaker hoses work best at 10 psi, but higher pressures, say 50 psi, can cause the pipe to burst. When you are trying to moisten your small plants, you need to make sure that your water pressure is low. So, that your plants are not damaged or uprooted.
Soaker hoses are very popular for many applications, especially gardening. Every application requires different water pressure and water usage. Soaker hoses come in different length, size and capacity and you will be able to enjoy using them, saving your precious time and money.
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