I'm sure I am not the first one to think/ask this question, but does anyone here have experience or advice regarding chemical injection into their lawn irrigation system? I installed a booster pump on my system and was thinking I could much more efficiently get some Nitron down if I were to inject it into my irrigation line. Actually, inject is the wrong word. I was thinking I could install a tee, valve and plastic pipe on the suction side of the pump and suck it into the system. I do have a nice Watts double check valve installed, but I am just curious if any of you have comments on this. Obviously, my biggest woory would be from a safety aspect.

Thanks.

Search for the terms "EZ-FLO" and "fertigation" on the site. It's been a topic lately.

Yep, done it. By law, and by good sense, you must have a backflow device on the system. Pressure loss and pulling Nitron back into the house lines would be...bad.

The EZ-FLO makes it simple, but a good Hozon siphon system would be fine, too.

Thanks for the comments. Just looked up the EZ-FLO? Just curious how much those things go for? I don't want one because I think my concept will work if I just install a tee on the suction side of the pump with a valve for throttling and controlling the amount of solution sucked up and distributed. Just curious about the cost of those.

I guess my real question was whether a lot of people are doing this sort of thing. I do have trust in the double check valve, but I just would like to hear what others have to say. Please do let me know if I am crazy to even think of this.

Not crazy at all. I use mine regularly to inject stuff into the lawn and gardens. Prices run about $55 for the hose-end tank and connections (the 3/4 gallon size).

If the tee works, more power to you. As long as a reasonably metered amount is going and what you're using doesn't require a precisely metered amount, no problems. The EZ-FLO allows for pretty precise adjustments, but I don't need it myself. Nothing I use is all that touchy, as long as I'm at recommended dilution or greater, so I tend to set it either at the minimum dilution or wherever I know I'm diluted more than required.

Just wanted to let you guys know, this worked great! Took about 1/2 hour to solder in the tee, valve and install the plastic pipe. It's slowly sucking the Nitron now and I can control it via the throttling valve.

I am very much liking this as opposed to running around with a sprayer. Any info on liquid fertilizers that I could apply in the same manner?

That question came up recently and the consensus was that coverage wasn't even enough for fertilizers. And almost all fertilizers that are water-soluble are fast-acting fertilizers.

I'll put my 2 cents in here even though I typically do way more asking than answering. I have an EZ-Flo attached to my sprinkler system and Andy's right (again) about the coverage on the sprinklers being uneven. I would also say that the price for liquid fertilizer is obscenely expensive compared to dry. As a lover of my broadcast spreader (that's for you Andy), I can tell you from experience that there are some things you simply can't do as well with an injector system. That doesn't mean it doesn't have it's place. As Morph suggested to me, it's a great way to do other things like add soil conditioners.

+1 Jake. I do use it to inject fertilizer into my gardens, but those are small and the coverage is balanced to be even at every point that has plants (easy to do over 2,000 square feet). You can use a dry fertilizer (like Miracle Gro) for that as well, so instead of obscenely expensive, it's merely expensive...