DIY: Build your own Office Irrigation System

Fairly recently I've been bit by the office plant bug.

To understand how this happened you'll need a little background. My office space is setup pretty nicely. I work with 4 others and we have one "community" cube, which happens to be in the corner of the building. So yes, we have lots of window space. Naturally plants started making their way in to the office, and pretty soon we even started growing peas, tomatoes, and even a patch of lawn.

I started off with something easy, an Aloe plant. From there I picked up a Jade plant, and then some Heather. I've always thought that you could make an automated system to water this stuff for you, and given the amount of foliage we have, watering has become quite a chore.

Thus the idea for an indoor office irrigation system was born. The key factor in getting a starter system was price. So far, I've only found one indoor system, and it's $60USD (w/o shipping). I am sure this would work just as well, but isn't in the DIY spirit, and with shipping, costs almost twice as much as the solution provided here.

Performance

This system is really pretty cool. The fountain is extremely quiet, and standard office noise will definitely cancel out any concerns about disturbing your neighbors. Again I'm fortunate enough to have a window as one of the walls, so it's far enough away from everyone that it isn't an issue. If I was forced to comment, I'd say that the spinning of your computer CD player is at least twice as loud as the pump. If you watch the video, you can hear the pump at first and then as we pan out you can't hear it anymore.

We currently have 4 plants being watered with the system, and I think we could probably double that. We're currently playing with time limits and number of drippers to get an ideal balance for daily watering. You'll have to do the same. One thing we've done is to have catch basins beneath each pot (which you should already have), so that if we over water it doesn't leak all over the place.

Future enhancements

Since price was a factor, I elected to get the smallest pump. Some obvious upgrades would be to get a beefier pump which would allow you to handle more plants. I suppose another option would be to just double or triple up on the "cheaper" pumps and explore the idea of having "stations" using a power strip and multiple timers.

Again, whenever you deal with water and electricity, be sure you aren't doing blatantly bad things such as having the water container directly above the power outlet.

I take no responsibility for your actions should you choose to do this project and end up destroying yours or others property.

If you'd like, you can see it in action [6.80mb mpg video]. Click on any of the images to see a larger view, full set here.

See the movie
[6.80mb mpg video]

Total Cost

$30-$45.00USD ($45USD as shown)

Master parts list

All parts for the project were purchased at Home Depot, because they were the closest.

Step 1: Water container placement

Again I want to stress the importance of dealing with electricity and water. You want to make sure that your [WC-B] water container is in a position so that if the worst case scenario happens (ie: your container tips over and spills) you aren't in any danger of dousing the electrical outlet with water. Make sure you have it on a solid, sturdy surface that is as out of the way of bumps and "brushing up againsts" as possible. Consider yourself warned.

The pump is rated to pump up to 1 foot in elevation. This isn't very much so you're going to want to try to keep your container at or around the same level as your plants. If you do have it lower you may experience a lower flowrate, so you'll want to adjust your timer settings and/or your pump flowrate.

Another important factor is that the pump must be submerged at all times while it is running. Failure to do this could burn the pump out. We now have a policy that if we see the water level in our container go below half that we'll go fill up a water bottle and put some water in. This will be important for long weekends, so make sure you have a container big enough to last.

Step 2: Place pump inside water container

The tubing and the 1/4" converter are the same diameter, so you can get around this by using one of your elbow connectors.

• Cut about 18" of tubing
• Put a [DS-A] elbow on one end of the tubing (be sure you have a snug fit)
• Put a [DS-B] tee (or [DS-A] elbow) on the other end of the tubing. Use the appropriate connector based on if you need to branch.
• Put the elbow end into the pump converter, and press firmly so you have a good connection.

Now put the [PT-A] pump into your water container.

At this point you can fill your water container if you want. If not, just be sure to do so before you power on the pump.

Step 3: Cut tubing appropriate to your plants

The next step is the hardest of them all.

You will need to cut the [PT-B] tubing based on distances between your planters. Be sure that the terminal plants don't use a tee, and instead use a [DS-C] button dripper so you don't have an end of tubing that water can just shoot out of.

For each plant:

• Cut tubing to go from pot to [DS-B] tee.
• Put a [DS-C] button dripper on one end of tubing.
• Secure [DS-C] button dripper (you can use the makeshift popsicle stakes).
• Connect other end of tubing to [DS-B] tee.
• Connect the other 2 edges of the [DS-B] tee to continue on.

Putting the [DS-A] tee or [DS-B] elbow connectors into the tubing can be a bit challenging, but be sure that the tubing is flush with the "limit" line so that you have a solid connection. This is important so that we don't have any leaks.

Step 4: Verify all connections are on securely and you have all ends of tubing with drippers on

Just go around and check all tubing to connector/dripper connections and make sure they're fully on. Also check that your drippers are going into plants. We're going to test next and we don't want to have water dripping everywhere.

Step 5: Setup your timer

Setting up the timer is pretty easy to do.

• Twist the timer until the arrow corresponds to the current time.
• From there you will want to set when the timer should go on. The timer we have can go on in 15 minute intervals.

Step 6: Testing it out

The moment of truth has arrived. It is time to test it out.

Again.. you MUST have water in your container, and you MUST not have your container in close proximity to any power outlets.

Plug the pump into the timer, and turn the timer on. You'll tend to notice air being pushed out in the beginning. This is normal. Verify that you don't have any leaks. If you do, fix them.

Happy watering.