Placing drip outlets

The Drip Outlet tool places an irrigation drip outlet—linear drip lines, or rows of drip lines within a defined area, which allow water to seep out. (This is different from the drip tubing type of the pipe object, which does not leak water; it transfers the water to drip emitters along its length.) The parameters for the drip outlet come from a selected manufacturer or can be placed as a custom drip outlet with parameters that can be specified after placement.

1. Click the tool, and then click Insert mode from the Tool bar. Click Outlet on the Tool bar. From the Resource Selector, double-click a resource to activate it. Select from one of the manufacturer libraries, or select the custom outlet from Custom.vwx and set its properties after placement.

2. Click the appropriate mode from the Tool bar to specify the creation method of the drip outlet object.

The Object Properties dialog box opens. Select the default drip outlet settings. The Drip Outlet tool uses these preferences until they are changed again, or until Pickup mode is selected, which changes the settings to those of a selected existing drip outlet.

Parameter	Description
Drip Outlet Name	Names the object, which is useful for labels, irrigation schedules, and other worksheets
Note	Adds a note about the object, which is useful for labels, irrigation schedules, and other worksheets, and also for making notes when saving red symbol definitions
Use Default Trench Depth	Uses the default trench depth specified in the irrigation settings; deselect to enter the trench depth manually
Trench Depth	Displays the default trench depth, for informational purposes; when Use Default Trench Depth is deselected, enter the trench depth
Graphics
Show Pressure	Places a pressure label on the drawing
Show Flow	Places a flow rate label on the drawing

4. Click once to set the drip outlet location. If placing the drip outlet over an existing pipe or irrigation pipe network, the connecting pipe is highlighted and the drip outlet is automatically connected to the network.

● For drip outlets placed in Drip Line mode, draw the drip line polyline, clicking at each vertex. Double-click to finish drawing the drip line. Only the start end of a drip line can be connected to an existing pipe.

● For drip outlets placed in Drip Area mode, draw the outline of the drip line area, clicking at each vertex. Double-click to finish drawing the drip line area.

Adjust the position of any pressure and flow labels by dragging the label control point.

Adjust the orientation of the drip line rows in a drip area by dragging its control point. The connection point also has a control point; when the drip line area is not connected to a network, the connection point is indicated by a chain link image.

For a different style of drip area display, deselect the Show Drip Lines parameter and use a fill (such as a hatch) selected from the Attributes palette.

Parameter	Description
Save Drip Outlet	Saves the selected drip outlet as a red symbol definition in the active file; this would typically be done for a custom drip outlet, or an outlet with modified catalog data
Drip Outlet Name	Names the object, which is useful for labels, irrigation schedules, and other worksheets
Note	Adds a note about the object, which is useful for labels, irrigation schedules, and other worksheets, and also for making notes when saving red symbol definitions
Drip Outlet Type	Indicates either Drip Line or Drip Area for the type of drip outlet
Configuration (Drip area)	Select the drip area configuration: ● Snaking: Calculates the drip area as one continuous line with one start and end point ● Branching: Calculates the drip area as several lines that branch out to fill the area; this configuration will not generate “Exceeds Max Line Length at Pressure” warnings. Because the drip area’s layout cannot be determined exactly, calculated values are approximate. ● Custom: Allows the Input Pressure and Flow values to be manually entered, for situations when the expected pressure and flow values are already known by the designer; this configuration will not generate “Exceeds Max Line Length at Pressure” warnings
Length (Drip line)	For drip lines, provides the length of drip line required
Row Spacing (Drip area)	Sets the spacing between the rows of drip lines within the drip area. For the Custom drip area Configuration, this value is for reporting purposes only and is not used for calculations.
Estimated Length (Drip area - Snaking)	Displays the estimated length of drip line required for the area
Override Estimated Length (total tubing) (Drip area - Snaking)	Changes the estimated length of total drip tubing to a different value
Length (Drip area - Snaking)	Enter the override value for the length of tubing required
Est. Avg. Line Length (Drip area - Branching)	Displays the estimated average length of each branch of drip tubing in the configuration
Use Default Trench Depth	Uses the default trench depth specified in the irrigation settings; deselect to enter the trench depth manually
Trench Depth	Displays the default trench depth, for informational purposes; when Use Default Trench Depth is deselected, enter the trench depth
Display in Drawing	Select either Design Information or Calculated Information to affect the display of all calculated values and coverage zones in the drawing; see Concept: Design and calculation parameters for irrigation
Design Information
Input Pressure	Specifies the optimal input pressure for the drip outlet to perform as designed Enter this value manually for the Custom drip area Configuration.
Flow	Displays the drip outlet’s calculated flow rate based on the design Input Pressure. If you are modifying catalog data, this becomes editable. Enter this value manually for the Custom drip area Configuration.
Calculated Information
Input Pressure	Displays the input pressure based on the entire system’s calculated parameters
Flow	Displays the flow rate based on the entire system’s calculated parameters
Catalog Data
Get From Catalog	Opens the Catalog dialog box, for obtaining catalog data for the selected object (typically, this is for adding catalog data to a custom object that has none). See Concept: Using the irrigation catalog.
Data	Displays the catalog data
Modify Catalog Data	Makes the data fields editable; modify the data, which can then be saved as a custom entry in the catalog
Save In Catalog	Opens the Catalog Item Edit dialog box, where the custom data can be further edited and then added to the catalog
Graphics
Show Drip Lines (Drip area)	Represents the drip area as a set of parallel lines; deselect the option to use the Fill Style from the Attributes palette instead
Attach Tag/Label	Automatically attaches a Tag/Label object to the object. The last selected tag/label for the object type is applied; click the tag/label to edit its properties (see Adding labels to irrigation objects).
Show Pressure	Places a pressure label on the drawing
Show Flow	Places a flow rate label on the drawing
Vertex parameters	Edits the vertices of the path object that the drip outlet is based upon; see Editing vertex-based objects

Mode	Description
Insert	Inserts a drip outlet according to the selected placement mode
Pickup	Sets the default drip outlet settings to match those of a selected existing drip outlet; see Transferring outlet attributes
Mass Creation	Places drip outlets over a valid irrigation object (pipe or polyline) by clicking on it; see Transferring outlet attributes
Outlet	Opens the Resource Selector to select a drip outlet resource for placement; double-click a resource to select it. Select from one of the manufacturer libraries, or select the custom drip outlet from Custom.vwx and set its properties after placement.
Drip Line	Creates a drip line along the drawn polyline
Drip Area	Creates an area with rows of drip lines
Polyline creation options	Selects the method for drawing the polyline upon which the object is based; see Creating polylines
Preferences	Sets the default preferences for the drip outlet object