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Solar watering · Buying guide
Hozelock Solar Select: Will It Suit Your Pots and Water Butt?
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Hozelock Solar Select suits a group of pots near stored water when you have a sunny position for its controller and can fit at least eight drippers. It pumps from a water butt or separate container, so you do not need an outside tap or garden mains socket. Choose it for a compact layout that fits its branch and height limits, with a watering programme you can check while at home.
Its manually selected rain delay is useful when you want to pause watering for one, three or five days. A shaded controller position, just two small pots or a widely scattered collection can make a different arrangement easier. The kit’s twenty outlets are a connection allowance; the amount of water your plants need still decides the reservoir size.
If that basic fit is right, check the Solar Select 100-101-033 kit on Amazon UK. The verified listing includes the controller, rechargeable batteries, twenty drippers and twenty metres of hose; provide the water container separately.
Choose around the pots you actually need to water
| Your arrangement | Purchase decision |
|---|---|
| Eight to twenty outlets in nearby pots at broadly similar heights | A plausible Solar Select layout, subject to sunlight, storage and branch limits. |
| Only two or three small pots | Its minimum eight-dripper arrangement may be unnecessarily awkward; hand watering or another small-pot system may fit better. |
| Pots with different water needs | Allocate more than one outlet to a thirstier pot, within the total limit, and check the compost in each pot. |
| Pots on several high shelves or far apart | Draw the route before buying. Twenty metres of supplied hose must cover the intake, branches, rises and detours. |
| A usable outside tap and little room for a tank | Compare a tap timer and suitable drip kit before committing to stored-water solar irrigation. |
Hozelock requires at least eight drippers in the complete system. Its manual limits a chain to ten, with eight recommended for best performance. Twenty drippers therefore cannot simply be connected as one long chain; split them into appropriate branches.
Count outlets separately from pots. Two outlets in one pot use two of the twenty supplied drippers and increase that pot’s share during the common watering cycle. Plants that need different watering frequencies may need separate care rather than just a second outlet.
Check sunlight and height before the kit contents
The controller’s solar panel needs direct sunlight. Hozelock specifies an initial eight hours in direct sun with the dial at OFF when you are not precharging the supplied batteries with a compatible separate charger. The controller stays outside the water in a ventilated position.
Measure the layout at the lowest water level you intend to use. The manual’s diagram 7 separately shows a maximum one metre between water surface and controller, a maximum two metres from controller to highest dripper, and a maximum 2.5 metres from controller to the submerged filter.
Keep outlets at similar heights where practical: Hozelock warns that higher outlets can deliver less. The manual recommends keeping the overall rise from the lowest water level to the highest dripper below two metres for best performance.
The supplied anti-siphon valve belongs on the outlet side, more than ten centimetres above the maximum water level. Allow space for it even when all your pots are on the ground. Our Solar Select setup guide explains that arrangement and the branch checks.
Size the reservoir from the chosen programme
Use the average volume per dripper shown in the operating manual’s programme table, then check actual delivery after installation. For example, its fifteen-minute daily setting is listed as an average 150ml per outlet per run. Eighteen outlets over seven daily runs calculate to 18 × 150ml × 7 = 18.9 litres before any allowance.
That is a planning example, not a watering prescription. You need usable water above the intake, plus an allowance for delivery variation and changing conditions. A container labelled twenty litres may offer too little usable storage for that example. Keep it stable, covered and accessible for refilling.
The supplied drippers are labelled 2L/h, but Hozelock’s programme table gives different operating volumes for the complete system. Do not calculate this kit’s reservoir by treating that component rating as measured delivery. Its own programme table and a catch test of the installed outlets are the useful starting points.
Decide whether rain delay solves your problem
Rain delay pauses the automatic programme for one, three or five days after you select it. The controller is not detecting rainfall or measuring moisture in your pots. Sheltered pots can remain dry during rain, so decide which plants actually need the pause before using it.
Solar Select also provides a twenty-minute manual watering cycle that you can stop early. This leaves the automatic programme unchanged and can operate while a rain delay is active. Check the tank and battery charge before adding extra watering.
If you need remote control, individual schedules for different pots or an automatic moisture response, those are separate requirements. Do not assume that a solar panel or rain-delay button provides them.
Compare AquaBloom and tap-fed alternatives
Compare GARDENA AquaBloom 13300-20 when you want a solar kit with twenty pressure-equalising 0.5L/h inline drippers. Its supplied tube is 4.6mm, while Solar Select supplies 4mm hose; keep each system’s specified fittings rather than assuming the parts interchange. Our existing AquaBloom and AquaBloom L buying guide explains the uniform-outlet and mixed-output choices, including their storage consequences.
Compare the available programmes, your intended outlet layout and the relevant installation instructions before choosing. The dripper ratings alone cannot tell you the volume each complete system will deliver on a chosen setting. Solar Select’s documented manual rain delay is a concrete feature to weigh if that pause is part of your routine.
Where a tap is already available, our watering timer comparison covers mechanical, preset and programmable controls. A solar drip kit is also a different job from a water-butt pump used with a garden hose or spray gun; use the water-butt pump buying guide for that decision.
Sources checked 17 October 2026: Hozelock Solar Select product information, its 100-101-033 manual (diagram 7 and English pages 6–8), and GARDENA’s AquaBloom 13300-20 specifications.