Your sprinkler system is designed to save you both time and money by providing an automated and efficient method to water both large swaths of grass and targeted areas that have more sensitive plants growing in them. However, a malfunctioning or broken sprinkler system can represent a massive disruption to your schedule and cost you more in repair and water bills. Knowing what a couple of the most common symptoms of a broken or malfunctioning sprinkler system are can help you determine when you should talk to a plumber or landscaper about repairing or replacing your current system.
1. Soggy or Flooded Ground
An obvious indication that your sprinkler heads or their attached pipes have become damaged and need professional attention is if spots in your yard are waterlogged or outright flooded. Standing pools of water or soggy ground both indicate that water is leaking out of your system when it shouldn't be. Damaged sprinkler heads, or seals around your sprinkler heads, are usually fairly easy repairs that simply require the replacement of the offending head, but damaged pipes will require the entire section to be dug out and replaced to stop the leak – which is both more expensive and damaging to your landscape.
2. Dying Grass
Another symptom that you require sprinkler maintenance is if you can spot signs of dried out or browning grass, especially if it forms a regular pattern or shape in your lawn. In this case, one or more sprinkler heads are likely clogged with dirt and other debris. Fortunately, you can fix this relatively easily by cleaning the heads themselves or having a contractor force water through your system at high pressure to blow the blockage out. In some cases, however, dry patches of grass are caused by low water pressure, which can indicate a hidden leak or some other issue with your sprinkler system, which will require a professional inspection and potentially replacement of certain sections of your system to fix.
3. Sputtering
Finally, the last thing that you should keep an eye out for is sputtering coming from your sprinkler heads. While a little bit of sputtering as your sprinklers first turn on is normal, constant sputtering points to too much air in your system, which can affect how well your sprinklers are able to cover your lawn. Most of the time, this is associated with low water pressure or damaged sections of plumbing that are allowing air to seep into your sprinkler system.
Contact a company like Colourscape Inc to learn more.
