How to Fix a Sprinkler System

Practise-information technology-yourself solutions to irritating irrigation problems.

Time

An hour or less

Complication

Beginner

Cost

Less than $20

Introduction

These simple backyard irrigation arrangement fixes will solve ninety percent of the common breakdowns. Yous'll salvage on repair bills and continue your backyard lush and dark-green. No special skills needed.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Band clamps
  • Replacement heads and other parts
  • Tubing repair parts
  • Waterproof wire connectors

Project step-by-step (11)

Step 1

Replace a Sprinkler Head

  • Dig effectually the sprinkler head to expose the riser.
  • Unscrew the broken sprinkler head from the riser.
  • Install the new head, turning information technology tight with your easily.

Caution: Before you start digging to access the cloak-and-dagger water lines, electrical wires or spray heads, dial 811 to have your clandestine utility lines identified and marked.

Replace a Sprinkler Head

Footstep 2

Clean and Reset Heads

  • Disassemble the sprinkler head past unscrewing the top from the canister.
  • Rinse away soil and droppings in a saucepan of water.
  • Remove the screen handbasket from the bottom of the head, then make clean it with water.
  • Adjust the watering range of the sprinkler head before installing it. Make terminal adjustments with the water running.

Step three

Check the Valves

  • If you're experiencing depression h2o pressure, cheque the sprinkler system valves on the backflow device to make certain they're open.
  • Turn the valve on the horizontal piping outset, and then the vertical pipe valve.

Check the Valves

Footstep 4

Notice and Repair Leaks

  • Before making the repair, make sure the organisation is turned off at the controller.
  • Cut out the damaged section of line.
  • Place a clamp on one of the line ends, insert a slip coupling, then tighten the clamp.
  • Place a clamp on the second pipe end, expand the coupling while inserting the nipple into the pipe, then tighten the clamp.

Stride five

Repair Crushed Pipes

  • Dig along the water line until you find the damaged department. If the line runs near a tree, start your digging there.
  • Once you locate the damaged department, cut information technology out with a hacksaw.
  • If the line was damaged by tree roots, reroute the line by digging a new trench away from the tree.
  • Cut a new section of pipe to supersede the damaged 1.
  • Then replace the department of pipe, connecting it at each finish with regular couplings and band clamps.

Repair Crushed Pipes

Pace 6

Bank check for Depression Voltage

  • Your watering system is divided into a series of zones.
    • Generally, if you lot take a zone that'south non turning on, you have an electrical trouble.
  • Make sure the zone wires are firmly attached to the terminals in the controller, the transformer is plugged in, and the circuit billow at the main panel is on.
  • Next, test for voltage to the nonworking zone, using a multimeter.
  • Turn on the nonworking zone at the controller.
  • Turn the multimeter dial to voltage and place one lead on the mutual terminal.
    • The common last will be marked "c" or "com"
  • Place the other lead on the concluding of the zone that's not working.
    • Refer to your owner'southward transmission to come across whether the voltage reading falls within the required range (usually 24 to 28 volts).
      • If it doesn't, the controller needs to be replaced.

Check for Low Voltage

Pace seven

Test the Transformer

  • Test the transformer voltage by placing the multimeter leads on the transformer terminals marked "24 vac" with the transformer plugged in.
    • If the reading is less than 22, replace the transformer.

Test the Transformer

Step viii

Replace Sprinkler Solenoid

  • Disconnect the wires and unscrew the defective solenoid from the control valve. Insert a new 1 and turn information technology until it's finger-tight.

Step 9

Reconnect the Wires

  • Connect the two wires on the new solenoid to the mutual wire and a field wire, using waterproof connectors.

Reconnect the Wires

Footstep 10

Waterproof Connectors

  • Special connectors are filled with silicone to make the connections waterproof.
  • If the controller, fuse and transformer check out OK, test the resistance "ohms" between the common last and the nonworking zone.
  • Plough off the organisation, turn the multimeter to test for ohms (the omega symbol), and place the leads on the common concluding and zone last, just as y'all did to test for voltage.
  • Compare the ohms reading with the range listed in your owner'south manual (usually 20 to 60 ohms).
    • If the ohms fall below the required corporeality, the switch (solenoid) that operates the control valve for that zone is defective and needs to exist replaced. The defective solenoid will exist continued to the aforementioned color wire equally the zone wire at the controller.

Waterproof Connectors

Pace xi

Repair damaged wires

  • If the ohms reading between the common terminal and nonworking zone terminal is also high, the problem is a severed or bad wire to the control valve.
    • If just one zone isn't working, the field wire is damaged.
    • If none of the zones in a control valve box is working, the common wire is damaged, although the field wires could also exist bad.
  • To find a bad wire, bypass each in turn by temporarily substituting a fourteen-gauge wire for the original that y'all run above ground.
  • Brand the wire connections with the controller turned off. Then turn the controller back on.
  • Test the field wire start.
    • If the zone turns on, the old field wire is bad. Replace it with an eighteen-gauge wire rated for underground burial. Bury the wire at to the lowest degree eight inches cloak-and-dagger.
  • Follow the same procedure to examination the common wire.