Sprinkler Checkup

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Check your sprinkler system for spring in Houston.

As you can tell from the recent warm weather, spring is just about here for the Houston area. As a result, now is the time to take a look at your sprinkler system. Here are some tips that you can take now to ensure that your sprinkler system is ready for the upcoming heavy use season.

In order to properly check your sprinkler system, you need to turn on the zones. This is done by running each zone manually for a few minutes. Once you have a zone on look for the following issues:

1. Heads out of adjustment... This can be either the distance of the water is not correct or the arc is not correct. If you need help adjusting sprinkler heads click here. Make sure that you are getting water to the intended vegetation and you are not watering the sidewalk, street or driveway. Remember that sprinkler heads in general are very accurate and if your system is well designed, can be adjusted to water only those areas that you want.

Additionally, you want to adjust your heads to that you get the most uniform coverage. This means that you adjust your sprinklers to cover from one head to the next. This is called head-to-head coverage and is the most efficient way to get uniform coverage.

2. Broken components... Look at all of the heads and make sure that you don't have any broken components. These are usually very obvious to spot. You also want to look between areas that don't get head-to-head coverage because this may be a broken head that is leaking underground. Inspect all heads and replace the broken components. Most are available at Home Depot and Lowe's. If you discover a broken pipe, you can repair it yourself or call a professional but be careful where you dig and watch for control wires, telephone wires and cable in particular. If you are not careful, you can create a bigger job than a simple pipe repair.

3. Obstructions... When the sprinklers come on, look for heads that are being blocked by vegetation. This can be plants in your beds that have grown too high or grass that has grown over the head and is preventing the head from popping up. It is obvious that you need to keep these areas clear in order for the sprinkler heads to function the way they were designed. In the lawn, make sure that you have at least a 4' pop-up head and keep the area clear. In your beds, there are a few solutions. The first is to cut back the plants blocking the spray. The others are a little more complex which entails moving the head. You can either move the head horizontally to a better location (watch your head-to-head coverage) or you can move it vertically. The latter can be accomplished by replacing the head with a longer pop-up such as a 12" or you can install risers to lift the spray head up even when it is off.

One final note about obstructions... You can occasionally get obstructions in the nozzle itself. If you think you may have a sprinkler head that is clogged, simply unscrew the nozzle from the top of the sprinkler (make sure the water is off before doing this, unless you are very hot and are ready for a shower), remove the filter and clean both the nozzle and the filter and re-install. If this does not solve the problem, replace the nozzle with a new one from Home Depot or Lowe's. If the spray still does not look right, you probably have a pressure problem at that head and need to call a professional to analyze the problem.

We hope you have found this helpful. If you have any questions about this article you can email us and we will answer you within 24 hours. Also, if there is a topic that you would like to see on a future newsletter, please let us know. We are very committed to both water conservation and consumer education.