Anybody have a irrigation system? Questions
 

We bought a new house that has a irrigation system in the yard. What do I need to know about maintenance for it? Any ideas or help would be handy, thanks.

Are you on a well?

Does your system have a pump?

If so, what kind?

What type of timer do you have?

Valves?

How many zones.....what kinds of heads?

If you can reply with answers and/or pics, I can offer suggestions....

That said.....#1 maintenance item is usually making sure your heads are all spraying properly. Not clogged.....and pattern is correct...including distance and degree of circle.

Next in priority is to make sure your timer is programmed correctly.

Both the above items can be checked fairly easily.

In case you get busy and forget or something happens in between PM.......the symptoms of any issue will show itself via damaged or dying landscape area(s) or excess water laying on property or surrounding hardscape(s) (sidewalk, driveway, patio, street, etc.) or screeching noises coming from your pump...

Baz, I'll have to find out those things. How hard is it to blow out the system, can I do it?

If you go below freezing in winter bleed it dry beforehand.

They make a T-handle tool to extract broken risers. Some systems have 2 right angle threaded connectors below the head riser so they swivel and not snap off so easily.

Much more $$ here, at least for me. I close it down now but the first year I paid for the service and it was useful but not required. They had a turbo diesel compressor, impressive! Biggest time saver is they have a tool to remotely open each circuit, thats saves a ton of time.

Turn off the water, plug in the air and open 1 circuit. I walk around and monitor until the water is out. Back to the controller to circuit 2, rinse repeat. I have ~15 circuits. Replacement heads are pretty affordable and easy to swap. I dont like the random leak I see once in a while, I have an old system I guess.

Thats doesnt sound bad at all. My shutoff is in the basement, mushroom thing around the corner, control box ~100 yds away, heads... everywhere! Oh well. Thanks for reminding me to check out the irrigation system, its getting cold here.

Mushroom Thing = Backflow prevention Valve....

I blow my own each year and have installed a system in another house, it's isn't bad at all,

Yes the backflow preventer is the thing that (in Colorado) explodes in the middle of the night in January when you aren't at home. It's a rite of passage.

Weird, I have never heard of anyone blowing out the lines. I live in Oklahoma and I put in my own system 19 or 20 years ago. When I put it in I used automatic drains on every section and the main trunk line. We have had some cold winters in the years since I put it in. I have never had a freeze problem.

I do have a water well just for the irrigation system. The house is on city water. Since I have my own water well I did not use any back flow valves. There is no pressure tank. The system is programmed to open a section, then turn on the well. The next section opens up, then the last section closes. The system never gets pressurized past the pressure of the well running to an open section valve. The last section is the back flush on the sand filter. Each automatic drain slowly drains the section.

I don't have to worry about freezing lines but I did inherit a gigantic mess of landscape irrigation. We bought our new-to-us home (70's era) a few years ago and it seems I am digging up broken pipes and connections every other week. The PO didn't use quality pvc, in some cases opted for 1/2 plastic , all buried haphazardly around the yard. In some spots I have multiple risers spaced 2' apart. Crazy. I have 13 zones and most of the valves leak or do not reliably turn off when run from the control timer. I have slowly been converting everything to drip irrigation and found that the adjustable flow heads are worthless. They flow one day then don't flow the next. I now bypass all that mess and run unrestricted flow risers and use the measured emitter buttons at the end of the micro tubing. I bury all tubing ~ 1-2" deep so that creatures don't start rearranging the setup. It is all a giant PITA.

My last house after my first one froze, I plumbed it so I could remove the backflow Valve once I blew out the system. My ex still lives there and 15 years later still has the same one.

Use all the same brand of heads for any given zone. Buy the extractor tool. Buy several backup heads, buy assorted threaded pipe connections. These will help you tackle small repairs without going to home depot 100 times.

Keep track of the brand's that work or don't work. Test your system once a month and find out where all the heads/zones are. You also want to ensure you are adequately getting good water overlaps and that plants haven't blocked any of your coverage. You will be replacing, digging, testing again etc. Wear your swim trunks and expect to get wet making adjustments.

When your wife plans new landscaping, keep in mind what your system needs to do and add or plan around the existing heads.

If you are using a shovel in your yard chances are you will damage the pvc. There are kits that allow you to cut and patch in a section. Buy some to have on hand. You may need to get creative if you've damaged a crazy angle. It isn't hard to fix this stuff. If you can change a light bulb you can change a head. Don't pay someone hundreds of dollars to come out and do these things.

Thanks for all the info, I now have a better idea of things. . I need to look around and find out who put it in, maybe then I can get a better picture.