New RDWC DIY

NVGrower

NVGrower

Well-Known Member
jijiandfarmgang said:
those hoses are going to clog. Maybe not first grow, but they will clog. When they clog it will be bad.

- Jiji
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You have experience with 1/2 in tube clogging? Wonder why they have such great reviews and Hydrofarm sold everything including the pipe, valves and fittings. And the systems I looked at all used 1/4 drip lines or 1/2in to circulation.
 
jijiandfarmgang

jijiandfarmgang

Well-Known Member
NVGrower said:
You have experience with 1/2 in tube clogging? Wonder why they have such great reviews and Hydrofarm sold everything including the pipe, valves and fittings. And the systems I looked at all used 1/4 drip lines or 1/2in to circulation.
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If you grow decent sized plants the roots will clog it.

There's nothing wrong with the tubing, its the application your using it in. I used 1/2 vinyl tubing in the supply lines in the grow in my sig.

Tons of growers have had problems with using that size tubing and clogging in ebb and flow buckets kits such as CAPS ebb and grow.

Think about it, all it takes is one clog in one spot, or partial clog. Your moving water at a pretty fast rate and giving it no alternative route.

- Jiji
 
NVGrower

NVGrower

Well-Known Member
jijiandfarmgang said:
If you grow decent sized plants the roots will clog it.

There's nothing wrong with the tubing, its the application your using it in. I used 1/2 vinyl tubing in the supply lines in the grow in my sig.

Tons of growers have had problems with using that size tubing and clogging in ebb and flow buckets kits such as CAPS ebb and grow.

Think about it, all it takes is one clog in one spot, or partial clog. Your moving water at a pretty fast rate and giving it no alternative route.

- Jiji
Click to expand...
I agree it'll probably clog at one point. But like you said not the first grow and I also didn't add the weld on. I bought some clamps instead. Plus the way I have all the valves setup I can take each section off and clean it out.

I couldn't find ANYTHING that was 1 to 2" that wasn't for something else. I'm sure I could have build a full PVC system but this was a lot less work.
 
NVGrower

NVGrower

Well-Known Member
I've learned I can trim off 1/3 of the roots in hydroponics. As long as the plants getting enough water they won't keep searching. This should solve my issue of 1/2 in tube.

Buckets are still leaking. So I went ahead and applied 100% waterproof clear silicon caulk to the outsides of the bucket around the gromets thick and did a second coat a few hours later.

The leaks are so small that this should fix my issues. If not I'll do one more spray of flex seal on the outside around the gromets and it should be 100% leak free.

I'll have lights on in a few more days with new autos ready to grow from their wooly cubes.
 
loftygoals

loftygoals

Well-Known Member
Hi,

The reason you're getting leaks is because your holes are not perfect circles. Any slight irregularity in shape will cause a leak. I built a similar 16 site RDWC with rubber grommets and drilled holes in the plastic with flat wood drill bits. Out of 16 buckets... 5 had small leaks and I worked out the issue was in not having drilled perfect circles. I had to disassemble the system and buy another 5 buckets. Then carefully drill new holes in those buckets. I screwed up 2 again. Then redid those and now have a leak free system with no external sealants.

There is a technique to getting perfect holes. With a flat wood drill bit loaded up you need to set the drill to as slow a speed as it will go. Then very lightly and carefully start drilling in your desired location. Advance the drill slowly forwards so that the drill is skimming fractions of a mm of plastic each time and there is not too much pressure. Then carefully clean up burrs with a sharp stanley knife; careful not to gouge out the plastic and create a leak. You will cut a perfectly round hole which will not leak.

The problem comes when you drill too quickly or with too much pressure. The drill bit catches on the plastic and takes a tiny chunk out. You won't notice unless you really look for it very hard. That is where the grommet will leak from. If you try it out on a bit of scrap bucket or a lid or something you'll see what I'm talking about.
 
NVGrower

NVGrower

Well-Known Member
loftygoals said:
Hi,

The reason you're getting leaks is because your holes are not perfect circles. Any slight irregularity in shape will cause a leak. I built a similar 16 site RDWC with rubber grommets and drilled holes in the plastic with flat wood drill bits. Out of 16 buckets... 5 had small leaks and I worked out the issue was in not having drilled perfect circles. I had to disassemble the system and buy another 5 buckets. Then carefully drill new holes in those buckets. I screwed up 2 again. Then redid those and now have a leak free system with no external sealants.

There is a technique to getting perfect holes. With a flat wood drill bit loaded up you need to set the drill to as slow a speed as it will go. Then very lightly and carefully start drilling in your desired location. Advance the drill slowly forwards so that the drill is skimming fractions of a mm of plastic each time and there is not too much pressure. Then carefully clean up burrs with a sharp stanley knife; careful not to gouge out the plastic and create a leak. You will cut a perfectly round hole which will not leak.

The problem comes when you drill too quickly or with too much pressure. The drill bit catches on the plastic and takes a tiny chunk out. You won't notice unless you really look for it very hard. That is where the grommet will leak from. If you try it out on a bit of scrap bucket or a lid or something you'll see what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...
Wow great advice. I butchered the holes with a drill and a wood hole drill bit and pressure to make the holes bigger slowly.

If they're still leaking after this I'll have to go get new buckets.
 
loftygoals

loftygoals

Well-Known Member
NVGrower said:
Wow great advice. I butchered the holes with a drill and a wood hole drill bit and pressure to make the holes bigger slowly.

If they're still leaking after this I'll have to go get new buckets.
Click to expand...
Yeah, first time I just went for it as fast as I could. Loads of pressure and had the speed cranked up to get the job done ASAP. Regretted it! I examined the buckets to find the leaking points and then took it all apart... found the tiny gouges. With rubber grommets they need to be perfect. I haven't read anyone explain that on any guide or forum but it's important for your sanity! You can't trust the grommets to fill out any irregularities.

Here's what my holes looked like in the end with flat wood drill bits, slow speed and light pressure:



If you're using bulkhead fittings you can drill any old wonky hole and they'll be leak free. You see some pictures of the shitty holes people have made for their RDWC and think WTF how is that not leaking?!

Also get into the habit of using a ratchet pipe cutter to cut all your hose/pipes. They make clean cuts which are less likely to leak.
 
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