Irrigation Season Startup

Yes, it’s that time again in Texas. Time to start up the irrigation system. This year I started with advanced knowledge that one of my sprinkler heads needed to be repaired. This particular head is problematic because I changed the design to run 2 heads from that spot using a threaded T pvc joint. This allowed me to put 2 heads there. One is a 360 long throw that takes a lot of time to make a single cycle. This tends to leave a dead spot in the yard during peak summer because there isn’t enough water thrown in the duration I allow for that zone. I added a second 360 spray head to accommodate more water within that zone which largely solved my problem. However, the height of that head sits significantly above the ground and I have run over that head several times with my 0 turn mower.

I also discovered that my water line near the shore broke from the elbow bend at the top of the post all the way down to the a few inches out of the ground. I ended up having to dig that one out to get to solid PVC to splice in a coupler and new build. It didn’t take long to make that fix.

I also knew going into this season that I needed to replace a ball joint because the handle disintegrated from the sun UV rays. Because this ball joint is now over 4ft of water, it wasn’t possible to repair it so I just added a new ball joint at the end of the broken ball joint. Yeah, it sticks out some but I don’t think anyone will notice. Besides, chances are I’ll need to replace something next year in that area. There is always something to replace or fix.

What I didn’t know is that the entire output line from the pump prime point all the way down to the pump was compromised. I didn’t know until I attempted to prime the pump and water was going all over the place. Even though I had my pump drained, somehow water still collected and froze causing that massive break. I circled the breaks in the photo below.

I think that ball join must have been closed and created some type of vacuum hold on some of the water that didn’t drain as a result of gravity. Having water in that part must have caused the crack during our big freeze not long ago. That assembly cost about $35 to rebuild and a couple of hours of my time. The good news is I was able to get the sprinkler system running and there is only 1 head I need to replace that feeds the shrubbery line. I’ll take care of that soon.