Sprinkler System: 

Sprinkler System  A residential lawn sprinkler system is a very convenient way to water your lawn. Not only that, it is also very efficient. Manual watering with hoses and sprinklers has some basic disadvantages. Obviously, it is labor intensive. The water is applied with very little accuracy – some areas may get too much water, some too little, some too often, and so forth. Most manual watering will occur during the daytime when loss to evaporation is the greatest. Properly designed automatic lawn sprinkler systems solve all of these problems. It may be difficult to confirm whether your sprinkler system is properly designed, particularly during the winter or if the system has been shut down for an extended period. One of the best indicators of system design when the system has been in use during the summer is to simply look for even growth of the grass across the lawn. Also look at the shrubs in the flowerbeds to see if all plants look somewhat equally vigorous. There are two types of spray heads commonly used in residential lawn sprinkler systems, the spray head and the rotary head. Flowerbeds sometimes have a flooding head, often called a bubbler. Occasionally there will be drip irrigation in some zones of a sprinkler system. In general, you should only find one type of sprinkler head in a single zone. The different types of heads have significantly different application rates, and mixing heads in a zone makes it practically impossible to set the system to apply the correct amount of water. A manually operated lawn sprinkler system will have valves in the ground that have to be turned on manually. Most systems today, however, have electric valves in the ground, connected by wires to a control timer. The electrical system in the yard is low voltage, minimizing any electrical hazard. However, the electrical connections must be secure and watertight or the system will not operate properly. There are several types of sprinkler system controls, but they all serve the same basic function. There will be an integral clock, and the control activates the system at a set time of day on a set day of the week (or number of days). When the system is activated, each zone is switched on, one at a time, for a set number of minutes. The sprinkler system control and valves should be tested occasionally by starting each zone in manual mode. As each zone is tested, visually check the spray heads to see that there are no broken heads (usually causes a geyser). Watch the rotary heads for a few seconds to make sure each one rotates. Also look for a large volume of water running out of the ground, or lower than normal pressure at all heads in a zone – these symptoms can indicate a broken pipe in the ground. Check each head to see if there are any obstructions to the spray pattern, such as overgrown grass or shrubs. It is sometimes necessary to trim the grass around each head with a string trimmer. Overgrown shrubs can be trimmed back, or sometimes a longer riser can be installed to extend the spray head above the shrubs. Probably the most important consideration with a sprinkler system is to prevent backflow of water from the sprinkler system into the water supply. Any water from the sprinkler system that comes into contact with the water supply can contaminate the water supply with fertilizers, pesticides, bacteria, and other harmful substances. Backflow is prevented with a special valve, the most common for residential systems is called a double-check assembly. It will usually be in the ground in a valve box near the water meter. It is a legal requirement that your sprinkler system has an approved backflow prevention device. [ Back to General Home Information ] Schedule Your Inspection Today