Sprinkler Systems Maintenance

When your sprinkler systems get turned on in the spring you will need to flush them out. This includes regular sprinkler systems and drip sprinkler systems. Sometimes during the winter small critters will use your emitters, sprinklers, tubes and sprinkler system pipes as their homes. They somehow manage to find their way in but find it difficult to crawl back out when spring arrives. To flush out a drip irrigation sprinkler system, the ends of the drip tubes need to be opened up and flushed out by turning the water on. For the regular sprinklers take off the nozzles from each sprinkler head at the end of each pipe and turn on the water. It would be even better to remove all the nozzles before releasing the water.  

After flushing with water, return the nozzles and run the entire sprinkler system. You want to look for any clogged nozzles or emitters and replace them with new ones. It will not take long to clean the nozzles but sometimes that may leave small scratches that will alter the spray pattern and cause dry spots on your beautiful landscape. You also want to replace any emitters or nozzles that are broken, malfunctioning, or missing. Calcium buildup is another problem to these sprinkler system parts but it can be removed by any calcium remover product that you use in the kitchen or bathroom.

Your sprinkler systems and their valves also need to be checked for leaks. The flexible seals will often dry out over the winter and cause the valve to leak as soon as the water is turned back on. If your water bill suddenly skyrockets it may mean you have a leaking sprinkler system or one of the underground pipes has sprung a leak.

Finally, check the controller, or timer, for each stations run time. Remember different plants have different watering needs; some areas will need more than others. It is a good idea to change your timer with the seasons so everything is getting the proper amount of water, not too much or too little. Most plants need less water in cooler weather because the water evaporates at a slower rate of speed. In order to save water it is best to turn off the sprinkler systems during rainy periods.

If your controller is equiped with a back-up battery, replace it in the spring with a new one. Most solid state controllers use alkaline batteries and will not work properly with other kinds of batteries. When in doubt always use alkalline. A few high-end controllers will have a built in battery charger and some come with non-volatile program memory and they will not need batteries.

You should test your landscape irrigation system occasionally to be sure it is operating correctly. You can do this at any time but a good time is when the time changes in the spring and fall, this way you will not forget. Check your sprinkler heads to sure they are watering your landscape only and not the sidewalk, driveway or street. You can adjust the sprinkler heads to be at right angles to the surface of the soil. Tilted heads will spray more water to one side creating dry spots. Be sure the sprinkler heads pop up above the canopy of the grass; you may sometimes find that you will be raising the heads a couple times during the year.

Regular sprinkler system maintenance will save you money on your water bills and sprinkler systems costs. A properly working sprinkler system also conserves on water usage so by using these tips will help in the long run.