If one of your sprinkler heads is spewing water so high the neighbors are lining up with lawn chairs to watch, something’s wrong with your irrigation system.
That’s one way to add some excitement to your sort of boring street.
The thing is, not all signs of a broken irrigation system are that dramatic.
Some signs your sprinkler system needs repair are lowkey and sneaky, quietly boosting your water bill or even damaging your landscaping before you even realize anything is wrong.
This is Florida. The sun is a superpower. That means your irrigation system is working really hard out there. Stuff happens. Sprinkler heads wear out. Valves break. A whole zone might fail.
Then, your precious lawn and tropical landscaping aren’t getting the water they need.
Cue the ominous music.
How do you know if your sprinkler system is broken? Water is spraying erratically. An area of your lawn is brown. Your water bill is suddenly higher. Water is pooling around a sprinkler head. A sprinkler head stays up and won’t retract.
Let’s learn more about common sprinkler system problems, including:
First, Why Is Dependable Watering So Important in Sarasota?
Lawns and landscaping need regular watering to thrive, no matter where they are.
But here in Sarasota, we have a couple things going on that make dependable irrigation even more important.
First, it’s hot and sunny here much of the year. Yes, we have a rainy season, but the heat and sun can be relentless, quickly drying out your lawn and landscaping.
We also have sandy soil, which means that precious water quickly drains right through it.
Not to get too science-y here, but sandy soil particles are large and have large spaces between them, which means water passes through quickly and doesn’t hang out in the root zone for long.
Sandy lawns dry out quickly in the Sarasota sun and heat, which stresses out your lawn and landscaping without regular watering.
Short story: you want your irrigation system working to its full potential, all the time.
How do you know if your sprinkler system is broken? Check out these signs:
1. Uneven Spray Patterns
If your irrigation heads always miss the same spot, or several heads spray the same area, something’s amiss. Your sprinkler system is not working properly. Another sign: a really angry mail carrier who keeps getting doused by your wayward sprinklers.
When they’re working properly, your sprinkler heads should provide even coverage, hitting everything that’s growing, but not hitting things like your sidewalk or the side of your house.
If things are all wacky out there, your heads might just need adjusting. Or this could be a sign that heads are actually broken and need replacing.
2. Water Pooling Around Sprinkler Heads
Water should seep into the ground as you’re watering, not pool up as an invitation to happy ducks.
Pooling water could mean you have a leak, or too much water is spraying out. Or you might have a drainage problem causing water to collect.
3. Low Sprinkler Water Pressure
If your sprinkler heads don’t fully pop out of the ground or provide poor water coverage, you could have low pressure. You might have an underground leak that needs to be repaired. Or it could be a broken head somewhere robbing pressure from the rest of the system.
4. Your Water Bill is Higher Than Normal
Water bills tend to fluctuate depending on the season and how much you water your grass, but generally, you should have a rough idea of how much your water bill is each season.
Then, yikes, your bill is suddenly higher than normal, for no apparent reason. That’s a sign there’s a leak somewhere in your system. Or your partner has been taking way too many luxurious bubble baths.
5. Patches of Brown Lawn
How to know if your irrigation system is broken? Are some areas of your lawn brown, while other areas are green? Sounds like a zone problem.
If your irrigation zones aren't set up properly, you won't get an even distribution of water across your lawn. Or it’s possible a zone isn’t working at all, causing that unwatered area to turn brown.
6. A Pop-Up Spray Head Won’t Go Back Down
What goes up must come down — unless it’s a stuck sprinkler head that stays popped up. This means the spring mechanism is broken and the head needs to be replaced. If it stays in the up position, the lawn mower will hit it. Then you have an extra problem. (It’s always something, right?)
7. The Irrigation Controller Screen Goes Black
The display screen is usually the first thing to go on an irrigation controller. Your zones might be working perfectly fine out there, but your screen won’t tell you which one is on.
If it’s a Rain Bird system you might be able to just replace the face plate. But most other brands require you to replace the entire controller.
8. Weird Noises
Your sprinkler system shouldn’t be hissing, sputtering, gurgling, or clanking. (After you call your irrigation company, you might also want to alert animal control.)
9. Leaky Sprinkler Heads
If water is streaming from the base of a sprinkler head, you don’t need a genius to tell you something’s wrong. But you do need to call your irrigation pro.
10. Your System is Watering at the Wrong Times — Or Not at All
Sounds like a controller issue — and among the common sprinkler system problems.
11. Your Sidewalk, Driveway or Siding is Wet
Why are you watering concrete or siding? That makes no sense. If this water waste is happening, your irrigation heads or zones need adjusting.
12. Your Sprinkler System Waters When It’s Raining
Yikes, that’s ridiculous! And it’s not supposed to happen, if you have a rain sensor. The county actually requires you to have one. Its whole job is to turn your irrigation system off when it rains, then reactivate it again when it dries out.
If yours isn’t working, maybe you turned it off. Or it needs new batteries. Or its sensors are blocked by debris.
Get that thing back up and running.
Can You Fix a Sprinkler System Problem Yourself?
Maybe. You can check for dirt and debris that might be clogging a sprinkler head and clean it out, which is easy to do and might do the trick. Heads might be blocked by tall grass, plants, or other obstacles. If you’re feeling handy, maybe you can even replace a damaged irrigation head.
But if you start messing around out there with your irrigation system, you might do more harm than good. You don’t want to attempt to fix a damaged line, move spray heads around or get crazy trying to fix a broken controller.
Time to call in the irrigation pros.
Which brings us to…
Are You Onboard with a Sarasota Irrigation Maintenance Program?
Your irrigation system should be on a regular maintenance program, inspected by irrigation pros either once a month or once every two months. You don’t want your irrigation system suddenly failing during the hottest, driest week of the year. Your landscaping’s health is on the line.
When you hire a company for regular irrigation system maintenance, they’ll manually test your entire system and do a walk through to make sure everything’s working properly.
They’ll see if any parts need to be replaced, test each watering zone, and check your timers and sensors to make sure everything is working correctly.
If they find any issues, they should be able to fix little problems on the spot, but if the issues are more complex and require additional parts, they'll likely fill you in on your options and leave you with a quote.
When it comes to irrigation system repairs, the sooner the better. Timely repairs save money, conserve precious water, and protect your landscape investment. Those royal
palms weren’t cheap, right?
How to Tell If Your Irrigation System is Broken? Talk to Us
If your sprinkler heads are leaking, gurgling, spraying the mail carrier, sputtering, giggling or howling, you need Sarasota irrigation repair services. Better yet, prevent some of these pesky problems in the first place by getting onboard with a comprehensive irrigation system maintenance program.
Then leave the worries to us.
Regular irrigation system inspections means worry-free peace of mind for you. You’ll know irrigation pros are keeping an eye on things, noticing small signs of potential problems before your precious landscaping suffers. We’ll even set your controller. (We know that’s a big pain. Remember, your controller needs adjusting 6-8 times a year to allow for rainy periods and finicky temperature changes.)
Give us a call or fill out our form today! If your sprinkler system is driving you crazy, let our skilled, attentive crews handle it. We actually love this stuff.
