About one-third of all residential water use is attributed to landscape irrigation, totaling 9 billion gallons per day. The majority of this water goes through a sprinkler system. If you have one of these systems on your property, you enjoy easy landscaping maintenance but also increased home maintenance demands.
Follow these sprinkler maintenance dos and don’ts to keep your system in working order for a beautiful lawn.
1. Do: Check the System
The first step in sprinkler system maintenance is to check your system. Take a walk around your property while having each section of the system run. Look at each head to ensure they aren’t clogged.
Running your system with clogged heads can destroy your lawn. The system is designed to work with all of the heads. When one clogs, you will have dry and dead patches of lawn and over soaked and flooded patches.
Inspect the valves for leaks. The valves are plastic, so they can easily crack and break. As they age, they become more susceptible to breakage.
2. Don’t: Ignore the Obvious Issue
Sprinkler maintenance cost doesn’t have to be expensive, but if you ignore obvious issues, the cost can significantly increase. In addition, your costs will be more than just sprinkler line repair.
A faulty system usually means there are leaks, which means increased water costs. The system is also not providing the correct amount of water to your lawn and landscaping. This means additional costs for lawn and plant replacement.
3. Do: Be Careful of Their Location
The most common reason for sprinkler system damage is the homeowner. Someone heads out into the yard with a shovel or other sharp tool, and before you know it, they have cut a sprinkler line. This will require a call to a local sprinkler repair service like https://www.holmesutah.com/ to come out and fix it.
You need to know more than just where the sprinkler heads are. There are lines underground that connect the heads, and they aren’t very deep. So, you can easily damage them.
4. Don’t: Attempt a DIY Repair
Do not attempt sprinkler repair and maintenance on your own if you do not have experience. Sprinkler system issues can be deceptively complicated. You may think you’ve found the leak, but it was just one of many.
Your system may also need voltage or transformer testing. Always have a professional with the right equipment perform these tests. Water and electricity do not mix, which presents a potentially dangerous situation if you don’t know what you are doing.
Have Regular Sprinkler Maintenance Done
If your property has a sprinkler system, then these dos, and don’ts of sprinkler maintenance will help you keep your system in working order. You should regularly check your system by looking at each of the valves and how the water sprays. Never ignore any obvious issues and always have a professional do the repair work.
Check out our other home maintenance articles for more helpful advice on how to keep your home in tip-top condition.
