Sprinkler Repair Company, Zone Issues (house, price, moving)

[marsui]

Can anyone recommend a good sprinkler guy, western Suffolk area?

I'm pretty handy, but recently one of my zones seems to have stopped working, almost like there is not enough pressure. I did all I could on my own, checking the valve, manually opening the zone, swapping the diaphragm, looking for leaks (wet spots in the lawn) but the issue still evades me. Used to work just fine, now the only way the one zone will work is if I take a head on the zone, and pump it up and down a few times (almost like priming it) and then everything starts working.

Its like the pressure just isn't enough to get all the heads up, but once they are up it starts working fine.

Heads all look good, no blow by or weeping, no visible cracks. It is possible that there is a line issue somewhere (either a a crack or maybe some roots are pressing on the line) but without digging up the whole thing I'll never find it.

[SC here I come]

Maybe something clogged in the line going towards that zone?? Try taking one of the heads off, turn on the system for about 30 seconds ( you will have water shooting straight up into the air like striking oil....yee hawwww) and see if that dislodges anything.

I used RainMan Ray in Suffolk. He's reasonable, and reliable. Good luck.

[marsui]

Woah, that's a really good idea! I'll have to try that! I guess I'll take off the last one in the zone.

The thing that really stinks is I Just reseeded that whole area, so I have to run this thing like 3 times daily to keep the seeds wet, and my poor wife has to go out and pump one of the heads like 3 times a day all while trying to feed our 2 week old baby lol

She's ready to kill me so I think I'll try your suggestion tonight and if not call that company.

Thanks!

[SC here I come]

How many heads are on that zone? 3? If the 1 head doesn't clear it up, try all three at once. This way you know the entire line is clean of any possible debris. I know, I know, it will flood that area for few mins, but it might $ave you a $ervice call to Rainman Ray.

[marsui]

6 heads. 5 are rotary, 1 is a pop-up for a flower bed. It only stopped working this season. Bought this house in 2011. Never made any changes to the system except replacing a broken head on a completely different zone.

A quarter of my lawn died this year, and it was because this zone wasn't running, which ofc I didn't notice until it was too late (I start the sprinkler very early in the morning before I'm awake)

[SC here I come]

Do you blow out the system each year?? If not, well worth the $50 IMHO.

[ovi8]

^ I wouldn't say it's well worth that much, but it's certainly better to blow out annually for peace of mind.

There are many videos out there (and threads here) to help you do it yourself so really just spend $100 on a compressor (black friday is coming) and you're good for decades of savings.

With regard to the the original issue, if the head moves up and down freely, perhaps there's a crack in the line somewhere causing too low pressure to the head. When I've had that issue, water pools above ground in that area (and has even sprayed out) so we know where the breakage is. Removing the heads in the zone to test pressure is a good idea at this point. If you have the time, there's also videos on fixing pipe leaks for < $1 in parts.



As for your seeding, put down some peat moss to help keep it damp and birds off the seeds.

Lastly, I've used this guy in the past - he works side jobs to his day job as part of a bigger company so you may get a good price.
Tom Mullins 631-379-8075

[marsui]

I do blow out the heads each year.

I searched for pooling of water, and found no evidence of a crack, that's not to say there may not be one somewhere - that is what worries me.

What I did as a quick fix, which thankfully worked, was cap off one of the heads with a 1/4" threaded PVC cap. It happened to be at the end of what I believe is a split in the zone, and now all the heads pop up. So either there is a pressure drop in the area, which not even the wee hours of morning seems to be enough pressure to run all 6 heads (again I never added any, it has been 6 heads for 4 years now) or there could be a small crack in the line which is undetectable.

I left a hole where the cap is so I can replace the head again once its time to blow out (or the water will be trapped in that section of the line). I think I'm going to have a sprinkler guy come next spring and re-do the whole zone. I don't think the zone was configured right, or I just need new lines.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations.