Rain Bird BT50/4PKS Drip Tee Fitting, 1/2", 4-Pack

This review is for a variety of products all in one. This spring (2013) my wife and I put in 2 4'x20' raised bed gardens in the back yard for growing flowers and veggies. We live in Tennessee and the middle of the summer is hot and dry. I wanted a way to keep the plants watered and decided to convert a "spray zone" of our irrigation system to drip. I set up the garden with short rows that run the width of the boxes. I designed the garden with lots of short rows that run the 4' width of the boxes. Imagine a railroad track. The rails are the "feeder lines" that run the length of my setup, and the drip lines are the railroad ties that cut across the width of the garden (parallel with the rows of plants). I needed "feeder line" to bring the water to the drippers, and a variety of connectors to put it all together. I planned it all out on paper first, and then made sure I purchased enough parts. I purchased the following products for my setup: Rain Bird Landscape Dripline System 1/2-Inch Emitter Tubing With 18-Inch Spacing - 100-Foot Roll (5 stars) Rain Bird BT50-4PK Landscape Dripline System 1/2-Inch Barbed Tees, 4 Pack (5 stars) Rain Bird BE50-4PK 1/2-Inch Barbed Elbows (5 stars) Rain Bird EC50-Rain Bird GS50-10PK Landscape Dripline System 1/2-Inch Galvanized Wire Secures, 10-Pack (4 stars) 2PK Landscape Dripline System 1/2-Inch End Closure Fittings (5 stars) Rain Bird Landscape Dripline System Spray Head To Drip Connection Kit (5 stars) Rain Bird T63100-BULK 1/2-Inch 100-Feet Landscape Dripline System Blank Tubing Roll (5 stars) These parts were all high quality, and I am extremely pleased with the setup. I cut all the tubing to size and layed it all out prior to putting it all together. It is very difficult to fit the tubing over the barbs, but once on it stays in place and doesn't leak. My hands ached after putting a bunch of the tubing together, so I ended up using leather work gloves which made things go a lot better. A few things to note: 1) I don't have a rainbird setup, and this kit fit in great with my existing irrigation system. 2) The tubing is a bit stiff and can kink easily, but works very well, so be careful when connecting things. 3) The tubing and barbs are not the same inner diameter as stuff you can get at plumbing supply or home improvement centers. That means you can't mix and match, which is ok with me. 4) I used some teflon plumbers tape when attaching parts that screw in.

Connectors works great no issues. Better than the off brand which are harder to install.

How I arrived at my overall rating: ***** (5 star) Value ***** (5 star) Purchase price: $6.08 Quality/Durability ***** (5 star) Duration of use: 2 years Ease of Use/Assembly/Install: ***** (5 star) Was skeptical that it would work as well as compression connectors, but these have held up great! These even work better than the connectors with the screw cap over the barb. Usefulness/Appearance/Fun Factor: ***** (5 star) LOVE that these fit different tubing diameters! Ultra useful Would buy these again.

They are fine as long as you use Rain Bird polytubing,. If you use a generic polytubing, (Dig, Home Depot, Drip Depot) you'll need hose clamps. RainBird Polytubing is slightly smaller in diameter. Rain Bird Polytubing: ID 0.540 / OD 0.630 Metric ID 13.71mm / OD 16mm DIG / Generic ID 0.600 / OD 0.700 Metric ID 15.24mm / OD 17.78mm Even though they are fine, I do not recommend them anymore for use in gardening. They are OK for generic irrigation (landscape, bushes, etc) but for gardening they are a bit of a pain as you'll most likely need to remove them. For this reason I now use exclusively Perma-Loc , they are removable and will never leak whether you use a Rain Bird polytubing or a generic one.

I connected 4 of these over the weekend and none of them leak. One issue with these is they are very hard to put on (see the other reviews where people think they aren't the right size). I found a good way to put them on after the 3rd connector, although it was a little late for my wrists and elbows at that point (a few days later, they are mostly fine again). I started using a heat gun to warm up the ends of the tubing before putting these on, and they went on very easily. You may want to do it on a practice scrap piece of tubing first to learn how much heat you can apply. You don't want the heat gun to change the color of the tubing, or worse, warp it. It needs to be just warm enough to soften it a little bit and it goes on very easily. I also started using the heat gun to remove emitters. I would imagine you could get the same results from a hair dryer if that's all you have, but I haven't tried it.

Great product! I used it to extend my Rainbird irrigation system that seems to have been discontinued since I bought and installed it years ago. This was an ideal fit and easy to install.

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These are the first connector I've used that will provide a leak proof connection regardless of the brand of tubing I'm using. I've found myself with a few different brands of tubing strung across my yard and a bucket full of connectors I can't remember fit what. I will say for sure, there are many connectors that will either leak or completely blow off when used on the wrong tubing. Unfortunately, until I tried these, I can't say for sure which ones will or won't do this. These look nothing like anything else I have laying around. I don't have to worry about coming out in a day to find my connection blew apart and literally sprayed my plants right out of the ground. I honestly didn't find them overly difficult to use either. I didn't warm the tubing or anything like that. I do wear nitrile work gloves most of the time in the garden, so it's possible these give me the grip to easily push these together. Without the gloves, I've often struggled to attach even 1/4" line onto the barb fittings without pain, So maybe it's the gloves that made it possible. These were actually easier than any of the ones I've used that push "over the tubing". These slide inside and just work....

I ordered a RainBird drip irrigation system, part by part, to water my vegetable garden (with large raised beds). One of the challenges we face is that we move the vegetables from bed to bed each year, and so it used to take a lot of time to adjust and rebuild our old system as the plants changed places. With my new RainBird system I was able to set up a single long 1/4" drip tubing (with 6" hole spacing) for each bed so that it can be laid out quickly around all the plants, the closer the spacing the more water etc.. The backbone of the system is a 1/2" main line where I used a bunch of T's and L's to smoothly run the main pipe under the soil, popping up a branch over the edge of each raised bed. I used 1/4" barbed coupling fittings (get the purple RainBird tool for these!) to connect the 1/4" drip tubing to the 1/2" main line branches. All connections went together really well, the pieces are consistent, I have not found any leaks, and best of all I was able to install on my own in under 2 hours, including burying the main line pipe! I am very satisfied, and would strongly recommend this product.

Rain Bird est une belle qualité pour les système de goutte à gouttes

These T connectors work with 1/2” and 5/8” water supply tubing as well as drip lines. Great addition to our garden irrigation system.

Works for 1/2 rainbird brain drip tubing

Works well with the existing Rainbird system.