THE UPDATED NEW AND IMPROVED SODA BOTTLE HYDROPONIC GARDEN SYSTEM
As part of starting back up on the Dog Kennel Greenhouse, I had to turn my attention to the old soda bottle hydroponic garden system I planned on installing within the greenhouse. I already constructed the framework that would support the HP gardens, which also includes the two large PVC pipes that would make up another version of the Double Barrel Hydroponic Garden. One of the things I would have to do is redo the coupling system that attaches the soda bottles to the ports on the PVC manifold that makes up the hydroponic garden system. I had two of these manifolds that I built approximately 20 years ago. The ports were set up with the bottle caps glued in place in the threaded ports of the manifold. The glue used degraded every summer, causing me to have to re-glue the caps before using the system again. The bottle caps had large holes drilled in them to allow water to flow up into the soda bottles. I wanted something different for this setup. I planned on using regular reducer bushings in the ports on the manifolds, then redoing the soda bottles to allow for easy and quick disassembly of the systems. The soda bottles would have 1/2" PVC pipe inserted into the bottle neck, with a coupling pressed on the pipe from the inside. Glue was applied to the 1/2" pipe before it was inserted, so the glue would seal around the inside of the bottle neck. This bottle/pipe assembly would allow me to press the 1/2" pipe into the reducer bushings with ease. Removal would be just as easy.
The bottle caps were removed and the female threads of the fittings that make up the ports were ground out with a grinding wheel on a rotary tool to widen the opening enough to accept a 1"x1/2" reducer bushing. Note how the right manifold has the bushings in place to accept the soda bottles, which are also modified.