Disclaimer: This post was originally posted by Hero Member, mjb8743. This user is located in Zone 7, South NJ, Garden State. This was originally posted on July 18, 2008.
I too have a sloped garden. It doesn't look very steep, but from a distance, I can see it right away. Where water is concerned, it's steep enough to cause problems. Since it's the distance between the AWS cup and the water surface that matters, from what I understand, there's a little flexibility here. There's a point when the valve will trip, so if the space increases slightly, it might mean the water level only has to drop a little to trip it. Conversely, if the box is tipped so that the space decreases, then in filling, it will just take a small amount to raise the water level and trip the valve again.
It's not really confusing. You can test the valve beforehand to ensure it's functioning properly by raising or lowering it in a glass of water. However, I'm trying to figure out a good, easy way to tell if the valve is functioning correctly once it's installed in the box. I don't want to wait until things start wilting to find out it's not turning on. If it's not turning off, that's easy... water will overflow.
Most of my boxes are set up the long way on the slope. One row has the tube on the low end, and the next row has the tube on the high end. A few boxes go across the slope on the high end of the garden, so their tubes are on the low end of the tilt.
I think I need to borrow someone's idea for a float/dipstick with marks for empty and full so I can monitor the situation.
Mickie
