Drain/Freez plugs

[Scotty]

I bought a piece of land that had an old side roll/wheele move on it. got new plugs but they are not working well. Any tips on how you got around the leaks. I thought about clamping the plugs shut.

 

[Earl Thigpen]

Can you be a little more specific? I don't know what a "side roll/wheele" is but if it's got freeze plugs I might be able to suggest something.

 

[Scotty]

Picture 4" pipe joints 20 ft long. In the middle of each joint there is a wheel approx 4.5 ft high. At the end of a joint there is a sprinkler and the other is just the end of the pipe. It is made so you can clamp them together . At the end without a sprinkler it has two holes with rubber plugs that seal off as preasure builds. When you trun your well off the unseal so you can drain and move the pipe. Also in the middle of all the joints it has an engine that move the whole machine.Basically hand move pipe on wheels. I am going to try and use clothes line pins to pinch them off.

 

[Earl Thigpen]

OK, gotcha, Scotty. They are some sort of check valve - supposed to seal when the water is on and open when its off to drain the pipe.

Maybe someone else out here who deals with irrigation equipment can help you now. I thought you were askin about Welch (freeze) plugs like what's used in an engine.

Have a good one.

 

[sjr725]

We run about 16 quarter mile wheel lines in additon to pivots - are they mushroom or butterfly drains? If they are butterfly drains and won't seal, you don't have enough pressure from pump - try replacing them with mushroom drains - they don't take as much pressure to close.

Just in case you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll try to explain - a butterfly drain has two squarish flaps sticking up from the center "stem" that sticks through the pipe; the mushroom drains have a round concave rubber on top of the rubber stem that sticks through the pipe - both have the same style of metal clips on the stem end to keep them from popping through the hole into the pipe. you should be able to find pictures online somewhere that will be better than my explaination I'm sure. Anyhow, usually when the drains don't shut tight it's not enough water pressure - you should have about 60 pounds at the pump for a quarter mile of wheel line to get the drains to work and get proper breakup on your water.

 

[Train]

Most likely the pressures not high enough like SJR says but if that's not your problem check for weeds and junk, especially if they're the mushroom plugs. A little crap gets wrapped around them on the inside and sometimes they don't seal well. Clamping every plug on a 1\4 mile line is going to cost you some time during your moves since you'd have to unclamp them and then reclamp them again before you pressure up.