Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - AWS with mini-float

elight · July 2, 2013

You are correct in a sense - it doesn't *need* to be... but if it's not, then it loses the self-priming property. By keeping all of the tubing below the water line, if the buckets (or reservoir) ever run dry, you just need to fill the reservoir back up again, and water will start flowing. But if any part of the tubing is above the water line, you'll need to prime it. The idea of sucking on the tubing that has been filled with stale, dirty water didn't seem too appealing to me.

So yes, I let gravity/atmospheric pressure do their thing to prime the line. But this only works if all of the tubing is below the water level.

Yes, the grommets do go on from the outside.

My recommendation: get a couple of grommets and some containers (cheap small plastic storage boxes work), connect them together, and simulate the different setups.

July 2, 2013	#51
elight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Allentown, PA Posts: 349	You are correct in a sense - it doesn't need to be... but if it's not, then it loses the self-priming property. By keeping all of the tubing below the water line, if the buckets (or reservoir) ever run dry, you just need to fill the reservoir back up again, and water will start flowing. But if any part of the tubing is above the water line, you'll need to prime it. The idea of sucking on the tubing that has been filled with stale, dirty water didn't seem too appealing to me. So yes, I let gravity/atmospheric pressure do their thing to prime the line. But this only works if all of the tubing is below the water level. Yes, the grommets do go on from the outside. My recommendation: get a couple of grommets and some containers (cheap small plastic storage boxes work), connect them together, and simulate the different setups.