Ready to restart your irrigation system after the winter, but aren’t confident doing it yourself? Here are the steps for waking things back up and how irrigation services from The Parke Company can help ensure your sprinkler system is prepared for spring and summer.
First Steps
When spring finally starts, your irrigation system has a chance to start back up, too. Wondering how to start up an irrigation system in spring? You’ve come to the right place! We have tips for best practices and a walkthrough of how to do it yourself if you want.
An irrigation system might seem simple at its core, but it’s made up of many moving parts, and spring startup can be a bit of a chore to tackle on your own. That’s why it’s never a bad idea to consult your local landscaping company if you aren’t confident in the DIY approach. The Parke Company has been installing and maintaining irrigation systems for decades, and we also offer irrigation winterization and startup services if you’re looking for an easier option. But if you’re ready to take on the task yourself, you’re in good hands. While it’s always good to consult the manual (or the steps provided by your irrigation system installer) for the exact steps for your system, below you’ll find a guide for doing it on your own. Take this all with some caution, however, as all systems vary slightly, and your home’s water supply may also be difficult to track down if you’ve never done it before. Usually, it’s as simple as following the pipes in your basement or crawl space toward the sprinkler system on the exterior of your home, but everyone’s setups vary.
A Rough Outline for Irrigation Startup
Before we get any further in the process and turn the water back on, it’s important to do some inspections of the system first. Walk around your lawn and inspect the sprinkler heads, looking for any signs of damage or clogs. If a sprinkler head needs replacing or cleaning, it’s important to do that before running water through your irrigation system. Spring irrigation startup is essentially the reverse of winterization, so if you’ve done that before, this shouldn’t be too difficult.
First, find your vacuum breaker or system backflow. This is generally located on the exterior of your home. It comes up from ground level on your home, and is a collection of pipes that should be easy to spot. There are usually screws or ball valves located on this pipe. Turn those to “closed,” and then close the main water flow before heading inside or into your crawl space and finding the main water supply. This is usually in the basement of your home if you don’t have a crawl space. Now, head back outside and open the water flow into the vacuum breaker. If you’re not sure of the difference between open or closed with a ball valve, it’s simple: if the handle is parallel with the pipe, it’s open. Finally, at the vacuum breaker, you’ll find another ball valve or handle that should be opened. This is the pipe that supplies the irrigation system with water and leads toward the sprinkler system. Once this is open, find your irrigation system’s controller. Turn the controller to manual watering mode. Most systems have this setting, though some may call it simply “Run.” Ensure you select all quadrants or sprinklers if your system has those settings and run them for at least two minutes. Once you have the water running to all of your nozzles, it’s time to inspect everything once again.
Ensuring Proper Function
While the irrigation system is running, visually inspect each sprinkler to make sure that it’s spraying correctly. It shouldn’t be hard to see if things aren’t working right, but be on the lookout for any smaller issues like a single blocked nozzle. This can impede proper water distribution in the summer, so sussing it out now can save you from finding dead spots in your lawn later in the year. After the system has run and the sprinklers have visually cleared your inspection, check the valve boxes in your yard for any leaks. These boxes are usually dug right into the ground and have plastic or metal covers. Depending on the size of your lawn, you may have quite a few, so make sure you are checking each one thoroughly. Look for obvious signs like pooling water or even just some wet soil. It can help to open these valve boxes before running the water and checking them if your soil is particularly dark or already wet from rain; that way, you can spot the difference if a leak does occur. Once you’ve inspected the valve boxes, replace the covers and return to the vacuum breaker. Check for any leaks there. If you don’t see any issues, congrats! You’re all set and ready for the spring. Head back to your sprinkler controls and schedule your first watering.
Maintaining and Upgrading Irrigation Systems
With your irrigation spring startup complete, it’s time to look toward the future. Whether everything worked perfectly or you isolated some problems, it’s important to be proactive with your maintenance and upkeep. The good news is you don’t have to tackle these fixes or upgrades on your own. If you’re stressed about an issue with your sprinkler system or just want to get something a bit more modern to keep up with the dry summer months, The Parke Company is the premier irrigation service near you. While starting up an irrigation system isn’t that difficult to do on your own, it can be a bit time-consuming, especially if any issues are present. Proper winterization can save you from costly damage to your irrigation system, which makes it very important to get that done properly. In the event that you need repairs, we can provide them immediately upon isolating the issue during startup, which saves you time and gets it all done in one day.
Get Sprinkling!
Spring is here, and that means summer will be upon us before we know it. Plan to get your sprinkler system set up as soon as possible. Give us a call at The Parke Company to schedule irrigation system startup and maintenance today.