A backyard misting system? (Howe, Cool: amusement parks, house, maintenance)

[Chatterbot]

Does anybody have experience with a misting system in a largish yard? I've seen a few, but most seem to be geared towards covering just a couple of dozen square feet around the patio and such. Would one that sprays from trees around the yard give us a bit more useable time and space outside during the summer, or is it pretty much a waste of time and money?

[Sushi cake]

Like ones in amusement parks, can't be too expensive. Cool idea!

[jdallas]

The key is getting enough pressure. Anything more than a patio requires a booster pump due to the length of the run and the nozzle pressure required to keep the water at a mist as opposed to just spitting on your guests. If you are doing an entire yard, you will need a couple pumps depending upon the layout and length of the runs.

[Willsson]

... a misting system in a largish yard

That seems a bit curious as a misting system might water within a small radius. Is it your intent to water a largish yard or to mist certain areas spread around that yard.

My yard is fairly large with small garden spots spread around. I've started using the Drip system which has components available at the big box hardware store. With a hundred feet of half inch polyvinyl tubing ($10), I'm able to run the system to both sides of my detached garage as well as over to the back side of my house across to a side fence. One outside faucet controls it all. Drip allows for small misters, drippers, sprayers, and soakers attached to that poly hose with quarter inch tubing for those attachments. It all is above ground - well, excepting for small lengths I have buried.

Right next to the Drip stuff is the more permanent install type equipment. You can attach the two or run independently. With the more permanent stuff you'll have to bury a pvc line but is looks fairly easy to DIY.

I did get an attachment for the single faucet which has four options to attach the poly hose or a water hose. Now I can turn on the one faucet and switch from one hose to the next just by turning on/off the individual attachment. No chasing hoses and faucets all around the outside.

[Chatterbot]

What I had in mind was running the misting pipes to trees strategically chosen around the yard. It was my hope by having a sufficient number of "misting points" you could lower the temperature in the entire yard (or good-sized portion thereof, say 3000 sf). Or would I end up with just two foot circles around the trees where it's cooler and the rest of the yard would be just as hot as before?

[jdallas]

you want to cool down roughly 3,000 sf of unsheltered, outdoor lawn space? Going back to your original post, it would be a complete waste of time and money to attempt this with a misting system.

[Chatterbot]

Originally Posted by jdallas

you want to cool down roughly 3,000 sf of unsheltered, outdoor lawn space? Going back to your original post, it would be a complete waste of time and money to attempt this with a misting system.

I would say it's shaded - from the trees - does that make any difference?

[Willsson]

Originally Posted by Chatterbot

What I had in mind was running the misting pipes to trees strategically chosen around the yard. It was my hope by having a sufficient number of "misting points" you could lower the temperature in the entire yard (or good-sized portion thereof, say 3000 sf). Or would I end up with just two foot circles around the trees where it's cooler and the rest of the yard would be just as hot as before?

Actually, I kind of like that idea.

I would run my half inch tubing to/and up the tree (or the quarter inch up the tree) then using the quarter inch to run misters (or soakers for drip, or other attachment) out onto the branches. When running the water, the output would finally drip to branches and leaves and ultimately onto the yard.

Or using the quarter inch tubing, dangle misters from the lower tree branches. Add some twinkling outdoor lights and it's a party...

However, weather depending, you're likely to create something of a humidor in that space, but worth a try. I suspect getting the water from the faucet to the trees is going to be half the effort. You could run 1/2" pvc underground and branch that to various trees. Then attach the poly tubing at the base of the tree.

[jdallas]

If it were for landscape irrigation, that would be a different story. For addressing human comfort levels, I maintain it's a bad idea due to expense, waste of resources and high maintenance.
Buy a couple evaporative coolers instead.
Evaporative Coolers & Swamp Coolers | Portable Evaporative Coolers | Port-A-Cool® Evaporative Cooler - GlobalIndustrial.com

[Chatterbot]

Originally Posted by jdallas

If it were for landscape irrigation, that would be a different story. For addressing human comfort levels, I maintain it's a bad idea due to expense, waste of resources and high maintenance.
Buy a couple evaporative coolers instead.
Evaporative Coolers & Swamp Coolers | Portable Evaporative Coolers | Port-A-Cool® Evaporative Cooler - GlobalIndustrial.com

I thought about it as well, but as far as I know swamp coolers trade higher efficiency for higher levels of noise. Given that the point of the yard is to enjoy R&R, being surrounded by noisy fans is not very appealing.