Soda Bottle lawn sprinkler
 

Soda Bottle Sprinkler

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The other day, it was over 100 degrees. My wife gets over-heated easily as is, and the little girl needed some fun.

We’ve been in a drought and the lawn was looking dry and yellow. What would really be handy is a lawn sprinkler to cool down with! But I didn’t have one!

Heading to my recycling bin (a good place to start on nearly any project) I spotted a 2-liter Coke bottle. Too bad the threads on a soda bottle don’t match up with the threads on a garden hose! Hmmmm…. what would. I noticed that I had a garden hose spigot kicking around. The back end of it is designed to thread right onto a 3/4″ pipe, and the nose goes right to a garden hose!

I threaded the Coke bottle into the end of the spigot, and a double-eneded hose to the front of it. (This is a special hose, with a female connectors on both ends.)

I punched three holes in the bottle with an awl, and turned on the water. Instant summer fun! The little girl loved splashing around in the Redneck Soda Bottle Sprinkler, and the “waste” water helped keep the grass from dying!

I've now improved the design.

I realized that all I really need to do is MODIFY the bottle threads to fit a hose.

Soda bottle plastic is formed by heat and blow-molding, so it figured that if I just added a little heat, I should be able to soften the plastic, and then use the threads on the hose as a mold to make the bottle fit perfect.

Sure enough, with just a little heat, the threads matched up perfect! Poke a few holes in the bottle, and turn on the water for some low-tech, recycled, backyard summer fun!

DIY Soda Bottle Sprinkler Version 2 - YouTube

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Full directions on my blog:
http://ecoprojecteer.net/2012/07/sod...-even-simpler/

So what was the reason you didn't just use a sprinkler? Was it that you didn't have one?

1) Didn't have a sprinkler
2) Didn't want to waste money buying a sprinkler
3) Didn't want to waste gas driving to a store to buy one
4) Didn't want to send my money to China where they are manufactured
5) Enjoy the fun of doing something myself
6) INSTANTLY having a sprinkler - I could actually build one faster than it would take me to go to a store to buy one.
7) It makes me feel good to reuse "waste" materials.

I bet you that bottle was made in China.

;)

Completely possible. My thought though is that I ALREADY HAD THE BOTTLE. It is something that was already paid for, already shipped, and already used.

Instead of just being "garbage" it gets a new life doing something fun.

It's not a bad idea for a sprinkler to run around in and have fun but if you do use this for watering the lawn, please do it at night, the thin mist you are getting from this increases your evaporative losses and less hits the ground to water the grass. This is why manufactured sprinklers use a heavier stream but only just enough misting to spread the water evenly. This is why I like the rain train style of watering because it's not shooting the water high into the air and misting it but rather spreading it more directly on the ground.

It's not a bad DIY project but you'll be using more water than a well designed sprinkler if you intend to keep the grass green with it on the dry days.

I'm just teasing man...I couldn't help myself.

This sprinkler was really designed for human cooling and fun.

The sprinkler gives a combination of mist and water streams, which really cools you down. The only lawn watering that I have been doing with it is the "waste" water that happens to end up on the lawn when cooling the people.

I completely hear what you are saying about when and how lawns are watered. I live in a suburban area, much of it rather wealthy, and I am AMAZED at the trouble that people put into their lawns - particularly mowing too often and too short, and watering in the hottest part of the day, when so much of the water is lost to evaporation.

This is a great idea for those who does not have a water sprinkle on their garden. Such a great invention, I must say! Bravo!