Sprinkler System Troubleshooting and Lawn Irrigation Repair

Hiring a Tree Service

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 06:04:00 -0500

What to Look for When Hiring a Tree Service

Got a dead tree in your yard? Maybe some branches hanging over your roof that keep you up at night? Trees are great until they're not. And when you need help, you want someone who knows what they're doing.

But here's the thing: hiring the wrong tree service can turn into a nightmare. We're talking damaged property, injured workers on your lawn, or trees that look worse after the "professionals" leave. So let's talk about what really matters when you're picking someone to work on your trees.

Insurance Isn't Boring (It's Essential)

I know, I know. Insurance sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry. But trust me on this one.

Tree work is dangerous. Really dangerous. Guys are climbing 50 feet up with chainsaws. Heavy branches are falling. One wrong move and your car, your house, or worse—a person—could get hurt.

So here's what you need to check:

Liability insurance covers your stuff if something goes wrong. That tree they're cutting down crashes through your bedroom window? Their insurance should pay for it, not you.

Workers' comp protects you if someone gets hurt on your property. Without it, guess who might be paying their medical bills? Yep. You.

Don't just take their word for it either. Ask to see the actual insurance certificates. Then—and this is important—call the insurance company to make sure those certificates are real and current. Good companies will hand this over without blinking. Sketchy ones will make excuses.

If they hesitate? Walk away.

The Arborist Thing Actually Matters

A certified arborist is basically someone who went to tree school. Sounds funny, but it's legit.

These folks study tree biology, diseases, proper cutting techniques—all that stuff. They take tests. Get certified. It's like the difference between your buddy who "knows computers" and an actual IT professional.

You don't need everyone on the crew to be certified. But having at least one certified arborist on staff? That's huge. It means the company actually cares about doing things right, not just doing them fast.

The International Society of Arboriculture keeps a database where you can look people up. Takes two minutes. Worth it.

Check Their Track Record

How long have they been around? A company that's survived 15 years probably knows what they're doing. Fly-by-night operations come and go. Experience counts.

But don't stop there. What are people saying about them?

Hit up Google reviews. Check Yelp. Look at the Better Business Bureau. Yeah, every company gets some bad reviews—that's life. But look for patterns. Are they usually late? Do they leave a mess? Or do customers rave about them?

Ask the company for references too. Real ones, from real jobs they did recently. Then actually call those people. I know it feels awkward, but it's your property and your money. Most folks are happy to chat for five minutes about their experience.

Get Everything in Writing

Never—and I mean never—agree to work without a written estimate.

The estimate should spell out exactly what they're doing. Which trees? What branches? Are they grinding the stumps or just cutting them down? Who's cleaning up the mess?

It should also break down the costs. Not just one big number, but actual line items. This helps you compare prices between different companies. And if something seems way cheaper than everyone else? Red flag. They're either uninsured, inexperienced, or planning to cut corners.

Oh, and make sure the estimate covers permits. Some cities require permits for tree removal. You don't want to find out after the fact that you needed one.

Look at Their Gear

When they show up for the estimate, check out their equipment. Does it look professional? Well-maintained? Or does it look like they bought it at a garage sale?

Good tree companies have:

Professional chainsaws and cutting tools
Wood chippers
Stump grinders
Sometimes cranes or aerial lifts for big jobs

The equipment should look solid, not jury-rigged with duct tape and prayers.

Safety First (Seriously)

Watch how they operate. Do crew members wear helmets? Eye protection? The right gear for chainsaw work?

Do they rope off the work area? Put up warning signs? Take steps to protect your flower beds and lawn?

Safety isn't just about protecting their workers. It's about protecting your property and your family. A company that's sloppy about safety is probably sloppy about everything else.

Ask about their safety record. Have they had accidents? OSHA violations? A clean record shows they take this stuff seriously.

They Should Know Local Stuff

Trees in Florida aren't like trees in Colorado. Diseases that affect oaks in your town might be different from the next county over.

Good tree services know the local species. They understand what grows well, what diseases are going around, and when's the best time to prune different types of trees.

They should also know local laws. Can you remove that tree without a permit? Is it a protected species? What about HOA rules?

This local knowledge matters way more than you'd think.

Communication Tells You Everything

From your very first phone call, pay attention.

Do they call you back quickly? Answer your questions without making you feel dumb? Explain things clearly?

Or do they blow you off? Show up late? Talk over your head with technical jargon?

How they communicate before the job tells you exactly how they'll communicate during the job. And good communication makes everything smoother.

The Bottom Line

Look, hiring a tree service shouldn't be complicated. But it shouldn't be careless either.

Check their insurance. Make sure they know what they're doing. Read reviews. Get everything in writing. Watch for safety practices. And trust your gut—if something feels off, it probably is.

Your trees are part of your home. They provide shade, beauty, maybe even a treehouse for your kids. They deserve proper care from people who know what they're doing.

Take your time. Do your homework. Ask questions. The right company will welcome your thoroughness instead of being annoyed by it.

Because at the end of the day, good tree care isn't about finding the cheapest option. It's about finding people you can trust to do the job right, keep everyone safe, and leave your property better than they found it. To find the right company visit https://www.treeserviceorlando.net/

That's worth a little extra effort.

Sprinkler Repair FAQ's - An Irrigation Repair Tutorial Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Sun, 1 Oct 2017 09:18:00 -0500

Lawn irrigation systems are composed of many moving parts. Because of that, these irrigation systems often need sprinkler repair in Lake Mary Florida according to LakeMaryIrrigation.org. As with any system that contains moving parts these will eventually, due to age and wear and tear, start to fail. When a part of the irrigation system starts to fail the landscaping that depends on irrigated water is negatively impacted. Says the blog www.Sprinkler-Repair-Orlando.com that "regular maintenance and visual inspection is the key to protecting your landscape plants and turf from falling into decline." We will go through each of the major parts of an irrigation system and how to maintain and repair them, as well as improving the efficiency of the system as a whole. More at /g/11gv1523jd

Irrigation Controllers
Also known as a “sprinkler clock or timer”, its function is to control when the system starts, ends, and how long each irrigation-controller of the irrigated areas gets watered. There are few basic types of controllers.
1. Mechanical: Before digital timers came on the scene in the 1980’s, all irrigation clocks were mechanical. The day of the week, time of day and watering start times were dependent on motors turning gears. These are not as as accurate as the circuitry in digital controllers but “close enough” for the system to function. Due to the decay of the plastic gears used and the motors getting old the settings would change. Some of these such as the Richdel and Lawn Genie controllers would come with pins and six day watering settings where you could not set the watering to begin on a specific day of the week as now required in many municipalities. You were limited to every other day, every third day, etc. Another common type of mechanical controller is the “on|off” type used with indexing valves which are often connected to a well pump. As an indexing valve requires a delay in water pressure to rotate the disk, this type of clock sends a signal to a solenoid master valve which actuates the indexing valve. Using the multiple start time features on a digital controller the master valve in this type of setup can also be utilized.

2. Digital: Digital controllers provide far more accuracy and sophisticated programming than the older mechanical types. Some water districts no longer allow mechanical sprinkler controllers to be installed on newly constructed systems. A commonly used feature in these modern controllers is the “water budget.” This allows the controller run times for all the stations to be adjusted globally. You can decrease the zone run times across every station as a percentile from this one function. This is convenient for changing the amount of water applied to meet the landscape usage demand by season or time of year. These type of controllers are also very easy to program for multiple run times. Multiple start times are helpful in applying water in consecutive stages which can help to avoid run-off and deep percolation which concentrates the water use in the root profile.

Irrigation Valves

If you think of the controller as the “brain” of the system, the valves would be the “heart.” In order to supply water irrigation-valve to the sprinkler heads a valve needs to be opened. These can be solenoid activated, pressure activated (such as indexing types) or manual such as a gate valve or separate water meter. How manual valves work is obvious so we will concentrate on automatic valves.

1. Solenoid Activated: These are the most commonly used type of valves. They consist of three main parts; a body, a diaphragm and a solenoid. Hydraulic automatic valves do not have a solenoid and we will touch on these briefly later as they are not used as much as they once were. The basic principle of this type of valve is as follows: The copper coils on an electric solenoid are activated as a magnet when the controller supplies current to that valve via a common and station wire. This pulls the metal plunger up into the solenoid which then no longer covers the outlet port in the body. The upper chamber of the body, separated by a diaphragm, no longer has a slightly higher PSI than the lower due to its slightly larger volume. This change in PSI pushes up the diaphragm and the static mainline pressure in the larger chamber is now dynamic and fills the upper chamber which flows into the lateral PVC pipe. As you can imagine, a lot can go wrong here. There are many ways that a solenoid valve can fail, but the consequences are only three. The valve won’t open, the valve won’t close, or the valve won’t close all the way (also known as a weeping valve.)

a. Valve won’t open: This could be the valve, or it could be the solenoid, field wiring or water supply. It could also be a pipe or head break in the area (zone) covered by the valve. We are going to assume that you do not know where the valve is located, so before going through the trouble to find where it is buried we will check the water supply first. Will other zones turn on and from the controller? If so, more than likely it is not the supply. If you know the area covered by the zone look for leaks. Are any of the heads dribbling water? If so you may have a leak or a valve not fully opening. Once you rule those problems out, check the controller. Unhook the common and the station field wire and check the voltage at the wire terminals. Do you have 26 or more volts? If so it is not the controller. But just to play it safe, hook the problem valves field wires to another station terminal on the clock. If the malfunctioning valve comes on you have a controller problem. Check the ohms of the solenoid using common and field wire. They should read between 20-60 ohms (Rainbird solenoids tend to read around 50-60.) Much higher than that and you likely have a bad solenoid, a high resistance splice or cut or corroded wire. Now we need to find the bad valve. This is best done with a wire tracker, but can be done (sometimes) manually. See this article. Once you have found the valve, open it manually. This can be accomplished by either loosening a bleed screw or slowly turning the solenoid counter clockwise. This will release the pressure from the upper chamber. If the valve comes on the problem is electrical. Note that if you have a pump start system the pump needs to be running to do this, just turn on a working zone so that the mainline is pressurized. Often in electrical problems the wire splices on the solenoid have gone bad. Cut off the wire nuts, strip all the connecting wires back a half of an inch. Turn the valve on from the controller and check the voltage on the common and field wire. If they read 26 volts plus, turn off the controller and connect the wires without wire nuts and check again. If the voltage has dropped significantly you have a faulty connection electrically upstream. If your voltage and wiring are good you should hear a click when you connect the wires and the clock is sending voltage. If all your electrical tests read good, most likely you have a faulty diaphragm or clogged outlet port. Remember to never open a valve under pressure. The spring or plunger can fly out and hit you in the eye, besides losing parts in the lawn or mud.

b. Valve won’t shut off:: Almost always a bad diaphragm. However I’ve also seen loose solenoid or bleed screws, leaks where the upper chamber screws on the lower chamber (also known as the bonnet) and in rare cases a damaged controller sending voltage when not scheduled to turn on that zone. I’ve also been called out for a system “not shutting off” and the controller had re-set to the default time of day (12AM) and start time and of course the irrigation came on. Check your timer settings and either un-plug the external transformer from the wall or turn off the 120 volt breaker to the clock before assuming the valve has failed, and replace your back-up battery on digital controllers.

c. Weeping valve: Sometimes a valve won’t close completely and allows a small amount of water to continue flowing to the heads. This will show up as damp spots that do not dry up around the lowest elevation heads. This is caused by either a bad diaphragm or some debris caught up in the valve seat. Don’t just clean the valve, replace the diaphragm.

2. Indexing Valves: Basically all your zones run from one indexing valve. The valve is activated by water flow entering the top of the valve. The pressure from the water turns a rubber disk on a stem guided by a cam and slot mechanism to turn the disk opening and supply water to the lateral pipes. If it leaks, or doesn’t come on (after checking your supply line and/or master valve) just re-build it by replacing the disk, stem and cam assembly. Be sure to remove any roughness or build up inside the body as this can prevent the disk from fully turning. On some occasions I have been able to trim the outside of the rubber disk just a little with a razor to get the disk to spin. My advice though is if it fails in any way, re-build it. Don’t forget to replace the bonnet o-ring when re-building or it could start to leak.

3. Hydraulic Valves: Hydraulic valves are operated by water pressure not electricity. Instead of wires, each valve is connected to the controller by a tube. This tube is under pressure keeping the PSI higher in the upper chamber which keeps the diaphragm closed. The valve is opened when the controller release full pressure in the tube. Other than that the mechanics and repairs are very similar to electric solenoid valves. The main difference is that a tubing leak in the controller, at the valve or anywhere along the length of the tubing will cause the valve to open. It is for this reason and the difficulty in locating them in field has caused hydraulic systems to fall out of favor.

Irrigation Piping

Continuing with the biologic analogies, the pipe, whether PVC or polyethylene would be the “veins” of the system. Although I have repaired poly pipe laterals, all of my irrigation experience has been in the southern U.S., where PVC is almost always used for laterals and mainline. Polyethylene is generally used in colder regions where the ground freezes deeper than down here in Florida. The main difference is that poly is connected using barbed or pressure fitting, and PVC is “glued” using solvent welding. All multi-zoned sprinkler systems have both mainline pipe and lateral pipe. Mainline refers to the water supply pipe to the valves, and lateral pipe refers to the pipe feeding the sprinkler heads. In a city watered supplied system the main line is always under pressure unless a master valve is used. A master valve is upstream of all the zone valves and opened simultaneously with the zone valve to supply water to the heads. A third type of piping is the “swing joints.” This can either be flexible pvc, poly or in some cases nipples and street els that connect the lateral pipe to each individual head. This is a preferred way to connect the heads as it often avoids damaging the lateral pipe when a sprinkler head is run over by a car or hit by a lawn mower.

Sprinkler Heads

There are many types of sprinkler heads. To keep it simple lets go the basics; rotors, fixed sprays and drip.
1. Rotors: Rotors rotate, hence the name. Typically they throw water much farther and are designed to water larger areas using less heads. There are two basic types; impacts and enclosed gear drives. Impacts rotors are turned by having the water from the nozzle impact or hit a spring loaded arm which turns the head. When adjusted to less than 360 degrees a collar initiates a ratchet to return the head to its starting position. Pop up impact heads are more maintenance intensive than enclosed gear drives due to the mechanism being exposed to dirt and grass. Here if Florida the St. Augustine stolons will grow into the gears and keep the head from turning. In my opinion I think these heads are best used on PVC stand pipes where they are less exposed to debris. Gear drive rotors are turned using water pressure to move gears that rotate the heads. As they are enclosed dirt and debris are seldom an issue. However they also will stop turning over time just due to wear and tear. Over the last ten years or so “spray rotors”, or “rotating nozzles” have become popular. I’ll talk more about these in the water conservation part below.

2. Fixed Sprays: Also just called “spray heads” these heads spray a pattern of water and do not turn. There are many distances and patterns to choose from to match the area watered. These can either be “pop up” which push a barrel out of the body and then retract or just a nozzle on a piece of PVC using a “shrub adapter” sticking up behind the bushes. Popups range in size from two inch to twenty four inch. Although four inch popups are usually installed in the turf, I believe six inch is a better choice. This is especially true in St. Augustine grass where the accumulation of thatch raises the level over which the nozzle needs to spray.

3. Micro Sprays: Micro sprays are low volume, low distance nozzles attached to a stake in the ground or modified to fit into a popup body. These are most often used in low water requirement areas such as landscape beds as an alternative to drip tubing. Due to the small orifice size both a pressure regulator and filter should be installed upstream to avoid high pressure misting and clogging.
Conserving Landscape Water

A subject near and dear to my heart let me state this upfront; we use way too much potable water keeping our conserving-water landscapes green and nice. Poor irrigation efficiency coupled with lax enforcement of what few weak water restriction, pollution and regulatory laws we have in effect (at least in Florida) results in millions of gallons of waste. Water management districts play too much politics with legislators cozying up to big business ( got sugar? ) to the detriment of water quality. I know everybody hates “big government”, but as a regulated and non-renewable resource only the government, passing laws it is willing to pay to enforce can save our water. There is not enough reclaimed water to irrigate all the homes and golf courses in Florida. Just because water is pulled from a well on your property doesn’t make it “free”, or even “yours” as water migrates through and under the ground in the state aquifers. Safe “no fertilizer” buffers need to be enacted and enforced near both fresh and salt water. I’ve seen lawn companies in Sarasota fertilizing along the intercostal waterway seawalls splashing half the nitrogen pellets into the river. I still see sprinkler companies mixing rotors, sprays and drip irrigation on the same zones, whether in the sun or the shade, even though they know it’s wasting water, because it is “cost efficient.” I guess it depends on how you measure “cost.”

The Sprinkler Repair Business

Yes, even after ranting above, I’m in the sprinkler repair business. No, I’m not angling for sainthood by saying this, but I do walk away from jobs where wasting water is the “less expensive” alternative to doing the job correctly. I seldom do “swimming pool re-do’s” where a pool is being added to a yard. Why? Correctly zoning the irrigation to avoid mixing sprays, rotors and drip is more expensive in the short run. Homeowners don’t mind going with low ball and bad irrigation proposals because there are many contractors who either don’t know better or don’t care. The contractor just wants the check for more marketing. Whether it is landscaping, tree service or lawn care there are always business owners prefering a check over doing what is right. In the long run though doing it the wrong way does cost more because your plants won’t thrive, you’ll keep dumping more weed killer in the grass, more fertilizer on the shrubs, and it won’t help your yard, but it will hurt us all when the lakes and rivers are dead.

Manual Sprinkler Valve Operation

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Mon, 2 Mar 2015 08:36:00 -0500

My no. 4 spray zone has low water pressure. All the other 5 zones work fine. No construction or lawn service has been done recently. What could be some of the causes for this low pressure? Thanks for any help you might give.

Regards,

Bill

Hi Bill! Lets start with the basics. I would guess that 75-80% of the time the problem is a broken pipe. Because most of the pipes are underground they are not always easy to find. If you know the location of the #4 zone heads, start walking the area with the zone running. Especially look behind shrubs for broken risers. If you know the location of the solenoid valve, open the valve box and listen to it. If it is making a loud "schhhhhhh" type sound it may not be opening all the way. You can make certain by turning the bleed screw or solenoid SLOWLY counter clockwise. This will almost always make the valve open.

Sprinkler System Repair Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:48:00 -0500

I have been in the industry for about 13 years as a wholesale supplier (manager). In that time I have helped many contractors figure out problems, and have learned from their and my mistakes and victories over numerous problems. After twenty years the store is closing and i am going to start this business in about a month or two, my main business will be fountain installation and repair, I want the sprinkler and landscape lighting to cover overhead and more for the new business. As far as technical skills and know how I am good, and I will have a descent customer base, however i am open to any advertising advice you may have. I just want to know from someone outside my area that has tried different techniques and how they have worked or failed for them. Mailers, radio ads, web site, yard signs, television, etc.. what have you found to be the best bang for the buck.
Russ

Hi Russ,
Because you will not be doing lawn care/landscaping, my first approach would be contacting those that do. Go to the city hall and buy a list of companies that have landscape licenses. Call those guys up and offer them 10% per referral. Most won't call you back, but a couple of them will load you up with work. Before I moved from where I live now, I had two landscapers that gave me 50 hours of work a week!

The next thing you need is a website. More specifically, a Word Press blog that you can turn "static" later. 67% of all U.S. adults research the internet before calling a service business. Buy a domain that relates to your work, such as
BostonFountainAndSprinkler.com or whatever city you want to rank for.

I pay zero for advertising, everybody finds me online.

It's easier to get on the first page of Google for a regional search than most people realize.

Pollution Water: Saving Florida Water

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:08:00 -0500

I received an email today from a forum/networking thing I belong to.
The whole question was rating St. Augustine grass as a "drought tolerant" plant species.
Give me, and the State of Florida an f###ing break! Here's my response:

-->

I have to wonder if the “drought tolerance” of St. Augustine grass is the real question on this thread.

Shouldn’t the question be “why do we care how drought tolerant St. Augustine is, let’s use less water/fertilizer/pesticide?”

Other than obsessed HOA’s, whose ordinances can be changed using legislation, the whole point is using less water/fertilizer/pestacide. Right?

How about preventing HOA’s mandating St. Augustine? I’m a certified commercial CID. I could design an efficient system to water my Bahia grass and install the system myself.

But why? For the neighbors? For the good of Florida? I don’t understand why “Florida” grass is such a bad thing.

When it rains my Bahia grass is green. In the dry spring it’s brown, but then it greens up and grows like crazy in the summer. A natural process.

I use some Netafim drip on my flowers, and only when they droop.

Where did this idea come from that your yard has to be as green as the water it’s polluting, 24/7/365?

Sorry to beat a “dead horse”, but it comes from builders selling the “tropical wonders” of Florida to snowbirds.

When I lived on Casey Key (barrier island south of Sarasota) I’d watch landscape workers drop spreading fertilizer along the seawall, where the St. Augustine grew right up to the 18” concrete divider between the “Winter Home” yard and the inter-coastal waterway, with the nitrogen/pestacide “machine-gunning” the water of the Snook habitat.

It’s not the grass that’s the problem, it’s our lack of backbone in telling residents “it’s not your water, it’s our water, and you have no rights to it.”

At the point we are now, with half of the reefs in the Keys and the Bahamas either dead or dying, it’s time to get tribal.

St. Augustine drought tolerance is less of a problem than our idea of what “Florida” is.

We solve that, we solve it all.

Sprinkler Valve Won't Come On

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Sat, 7 Feb 2009 11:01:00 -0500

"We spoke on phone a few weeks ago. I did what you said and some how they still don't turn on from the timer. They get power and have new solenoids in. There has to be something I'm over looking. Can you give me some more help? Thank you for your time. Ben"

Hi Ben,
Try checking the power coming to the valve with the solenoid connected to the power and disconnected from the power. If you have power coming in while disconnected, but then the power drops off when connected, you have a partial connection somewhere electrically upstream that is constricting the electricity.

If you are sure that the power is good, then you have a frozen valve that needs replacing. If you are not that comfortable reading a volt meter, take a brand new valve and connect it to the power, if you here the solenoid "click", then its the valve thats bad, not the power. Good Luck!

Sprinkler Controller Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Sat, 7 Feb 2009 10:41:00 -0500

"Craig Saw your FAQ. Here's mine. I am a homeowner. I have a Hunter sprinkler system installed by a professional. When Hurricane Ike came thru Houston we suffered with some power outages, returns, surges, etc. When I try run the sprinkler system either thru the programmer or turning it to a manual start I get a "No AC" error message. I have changed the fuses and the backup battery, tested and confirmed power to the AC outlet feeding the control panel. I suspect the transformer/converter that plugs into the wall outlet may be kaput as a result of the power surges. What are your suggestions/recommendations? Should I buy and install a new transformer/converter or "immediately call a professional"? Thanks for your response/advice.
Jim"

Hi Jim,
First Test the 24 volt power going into the controller inside the controller panel. As you have a plug-in step down transformer coming from a 120v AC socket, it is not dangerous. You should between 26-30v. If you do not, then the transformer is bad.

I'm assuming that you have a Hunter digital controller. Sometimes digital controllers "lock up" and need to be re-set. To re-set it, unplug the transformer and disconnect the back up battery (which in Pro-C models is only used for programming when AC is not present). After 15 minutes plug it back in. If you have power from the transformer and still read "no AC" it's likely that the controller is shot. You can do this yourself and save a lot of money.
Read Sprinkler Controller Replacement How To

Sprinkler System Mainline Leak

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Mon, 2 Feb 2009 15:07:00 -0500

This from Scott:
"Craig,

I have a sprinkler system that was installed by Choate Irrigation. Choate is a large company that works in most of the metro areas in Texas and does most of the irrigation work for Pulte Homes which is who built my home. I have an area in my yard that is constantly wet even with the system off for several days. I dug in the area and found a leaky connection in one of the supply lines. My question and concern is that the pipe used for the supply line is not sch 40; it is much thinner, is this correct? I am not knowledgeable as to the "rules and regulations" so I would definitely appreciate your advice.
Scott"

Hi Scott,I doubt that there are any regulations as to using schedule 40 as a mainline for the system."Thin wall" one inch PVC is SDR regulated to a 200 PSI burst rating. If your system was over 200 PSI at operating pressure, when your system came on your yard would look like it was covered by a low hanging cloud!

The specific problem was a poor glue joint. It happens. The general problem is lack of irrigation training and design regulation in a world with a rapidly degrading water supply.

If Choate wants to stay in business, they must be competitive. Competitive to Pulte means "cheap." Cheap means "slam it in the ground guys, the margins are thin." I don't know anything about Choate Irrigation, but I bet they would prefer to bid on quality rather than price. The market (home builders) however does not give them the choice.

When the market is regulated by mandatory water audits for ALL new sprinkler systems, quality will go up. When the market is regulated by who is the cheapest, water waste will stay at it's sad level.

On the other hand, I've seen delivery men for irrigation suppliers kick pipe off of the truck as if pipe doesn't crack or break.

Maybe it was a bad glue job, maybe a defective pipe. Or maybe it is a symptom of something that needs to be changed.

Sprinkler Valve Repair Problems-again!

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:29:00 -0500

Hi Craig,

There are three sprinkler heads that are continuously leaking. There are three valves that control the section where the heads are. I checked the valves and identified that one of the valves may be defective. I am not a handyman but, I am encouraged by your generous instructions on your sprinkler systems problems website, to try it and replace that valve. Before I would replace it, I would like to shut off the section without shutting off the whole sprinkler system if possible. Would you be kind enough to please show me how to do it?

Thank you,
Eli Perdido

Hi Eli.
Unfortunately,to open/repair or replace a sprinkler valve, ya gotta shut down the whole system, unless you are on a pump start well system (on a pump start the main line is not continuously pressurized, BUT is under static pressure until there is a release.)
Assuming that you are on a city system or pressure tank, you HAVE TO TURN OFF THE WATER FIRST!!! Sorry to yell, but you would not be the first person to get hurt from flying valve parts when trying to open a valve under pressure.

What's the problem with turning off the system? It's only gonna take you an hour or so to replace the valve if your new to it (me? ummm maybe 20 minutes?)The plants aren't gonna die in that amount of time even if they are new.

If I missed something, and you absolutely need to replace the problem valve with the mainline pressurized, you could put in a isolation valve (ball valve/gate valve), but you would still need to un-pressurize the system to do that!

Sprinkler System Longevity

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:00:00 -0500

Hello Craig,

I saw your website on irrigation repair. I wondered about a few items, like "replacing rotors, repair leaks", "Replacing rotors, nozzles" etc... my landscaping company is all over the place on prices. And, they've been frequently finding things to repair - the system was put in 2003, so would you say that I'm at a breaking down point for rotors and such? What should I expect in terms of the old system wearing out? Is there a certain number of years to expect for rotors and such?

So, I thought I'd try to take a little control of the situation. How much expertise would I need to be able to replace rotors and repair leaks on a system. These sprayers rotate about 180 degrees and spray about I'd guess... 30 feet. I wanted to hear a bit from you about the DVD and your site to help me make a join or not decision.

Thank you for your time and consideration.
William, Phoenix Arizona

Hi William. A good quality rotor should last at least 10 years, although many last 20 years. By "good quality" I'm referring to 3/4" inlet rotors. Even some of the most reputable irrigation manufactures make some rather flimsy (in my opinion)1/2" inlet "mini rotors" that don't seem to last.

The same longevity mentioned above applies to the valves and the controller as well as the pipe and fittings.

Of course other factors can come in to play.

A "clean" installation that included flushing the system well before pressurization helps preserve the life span of the equipment.

Water quality can also affect the longevity of the sprinkler system. If you are on a well or lake pump, a sand filter should be installed. If you have re-claim water you should put in a re-claim filter (see the post below.)

As to the issue of leaks, again the quality of the installation matters.Poorly glued (solvent weld) pipe and fittings will be a problem forever.

All sprinkler systems require maintenance as even the best products need "tweaking" from time to time.

As to whether you need my DVD and membership site to repair leaks and replace rotors, the short answer is: no. Many homeowners do their own small sprinkler repair jobs oblivious to the existence of my website :)!

However, if you are "not handy" and would like to save yourself a lot of frustration and multiple trips to the hardware store, the DVD and accompanying manuals and power points will definitely shorten your learning curve.

Sprinkler Valve Repair Problems

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Tue, 9 Dec 2008 15:44:00 -0500

Hi Craig.
I've got a sprinkler valve repair problem.

The system is on reclaimed water and the water only gets turned on twice a week for a couple hours at a time. The system gets dirt in the valves causing them to have a constant dribble at the heads and stay on at times. Sometimes the valves will close fully and other times 2-3 valves will be leaking or even stay on at times. Owner stated she has had numerous companies clean and even replace the valves previously.

I had looked at the system and flushed the valves which fixed all zones but 1 that still has a slow leak. When the system is running everything checks out. How can dirt keep getting into the valves time and time again without a sign of a broken line anywhere? She said she had her sod replaced a couple years back if that helps with anything. I just don't want to replace valves and have the same problem down the road. Thanks for reading and any info will be greatly appreciated.
Brian

Hi Brian,
The 1st question is "how do we know that it is dirt?" I'm familiar with Alafaya Utilities that supply the water to that subdivision. Sometimes their re-claim tanks run dry (because a lot of people over water). When that happens all that re-claim water "gunk" gets in the supply line which ends up in the sprinkler valve. Nasty!
If this is the case (you did say that you flushed the valves)there are a couple of options.

1. Install a hose bib on the main line at the lowest point and really flush the main line.Even if you employ the other solutions, do this anyway.

2. Install a re-claim water filter upstream of the first valve. This is a common approach. However, they are not attractive (because they stick up out of the ground) and must be hidden with shrubbery.

3. This is the most expensive approach. Install all new "dirty water" valves on the system. Rainbird, Hunter and other sprinkler manufactures make special valves especially for dirty water.Proce the valves before you bid the job because they are much more expensive than your run-of-the-mill cheapo valves.

I hope all is going well with your sprinkler repair business.

Sprinkler Valve Repair -Stuck On Again?

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:12:00 -0500

Hi Craig,

One of the valves of my irrigation system was stuck open, so I replaced it. The new valve worked for about 3 or four cycles, but its stuck open again. I am trying troubleshoot the problem. Could you give me an idea of what could the problem ?
Thanks for your help.

-Sohail

Hello Sohail, that's big PIA! You already did the repair once, now you've got to do it again.
On the positive side, I'm sure you can do it quicker the 2nd time around :)!

I do not have a lot of information to work with, but my guess is this:
At some point in the recent past, you had a mainline break. Somehow some dirt or rocks got into the mainline system, and this debris is still causing a problem.

My suggestion would be to dis-assemble the valve again. This time dig a sump "12' deep hole) next to the valve. With the valve dis-assembled, SLOWLY crack open the water source (water meter,backflow, or slowly open the gate valve on the pump).

What you are trying to do is SLOWLY flush out the debris from the mainline. The sump hole is where you can bail out the water as the mainline flushes. A hand bailing pump (available at boat supply stores) makes that part of the chore very easy.

after flushing the mainline, re-assemble the valve.
Hopefully this will work for you.

Electrical Sprinkler Troubleshooting Cost

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:41:00 -0500

Hi Craig, I was wondering what to charge to diagnose and replace 4 rainbird peb/efb/pga solenoids? I also had to dig out a broken wire 4ft down that was repaired incorrectly by a janitor. Thanks for your lawn sprinkler diy course. I don't want to under or over price my work.
Walter

Hi Walter,
Electrical troubleshooting is the ONLY task that I price by the hour. My hourly rate is $85 per hour here in Orlando FL. This is the consistent standard used by my competitors. Your locale could be different. I know that in Atlanta it ranges from $95 to $125 per hour (harder digging in rock hard clay of GA than the lovely sand in Florida).

" what to charge to diagnose and replace 4 rainbird peb/efb/pga solenoids"

Once I find the valve ( I charge $50.00 for the first 1/2 hour of locating and then $85 per hour after that. You got to pay for the wire tracking machine.), and have determined with either an ohm meter or other methods that the solenoid needs replacing, I charge $40.00 for the solenoid, plus the hourly rate I once had a guy tell me that $40.00 was too much for a solenoid that he could buy on-line for $15.00. I told him "go order it, I'll just keep the one that I have on my truck, that took a half hour drive to the supply house and a half hour waiting in the parts store to make sure I had it with me. I'll wait". He paid me. Your diagnosis should ALWAYS start at the controller by using your ohm meter to test continuity. Once you locate the valve, check the solenoid with the wires disconnected. A bad circuit reading at the controller does not mean the solenoid is bad. It could be a wire connection.

" I also had to dig out a broken wire 4ft down that was repaired incorrectly by a janitor".

Do tell! It's $xx.00 per hour and a free kitchen mopping at your house! All jokes aside, wiring sprinkler connections correctly is not that difficult as long as you (or the janitor) understand that soil contains moisture. This REQUIRES silicone or gel filled wires nuts to prevent corrosion. The main problem that I always see is that the wires are stripped to short. Make sure that you have a good wire wrap and water tight connection and it should last for many years.

A last thought. Don't be the cheapest guy in town, be the best. On time, looking professional and not showing up "half-baked" like half of your competition. Being fair to your customer does not mean being the cheapest price. It means being the best value. If you're are honest and put your customer first, you'll get so much referral business that you will never run out of work.

How To - Lawn Sprinkler

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:57:00 -0500

Craig,

We just ordered your sprinkler system course. We are located in Austin, Texas.

I wanted to share with you that I almost didn’t make it to the end of your website because of all of the negative comments about lawn maintenance. It was almost as negative as the political campaigns!!!

Our company, ###### #### Lawn Care, specializes in residential lawn maintenance. Last year, we mowed over 26,000 lawns. We have already done that many this year. We grew 20% last year, and we are up 11% this year. That is good, considering we had only 1-5/8 inches of rain from June 1 to Oct 1. And we had 44+ days over 100 degrees. And, someone said there was a downturn in the economy this year. Not true with us. We will do about $1,150,000 in sales this year.

We are also licensed irrigators. We have never installed because that is too competitive, and requires an aggressive sales force, of which we have none.

We do sprinkler repair for our customers (about 300 with sprinkler systems). Your presentation indicated we could make a lot more money by pushing the lawn sprinkler repair. So, bring it on!

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

I do have a site that is negative, , but it’s geared toward guys that think they can quit their office job and go make loads of money in lawn care field. Unfortunately the lawn care industry is to a large extent price driven, versus quality driven. Every day I see the “cheap guys” cutting the St. Augustine grass at two inches with dull blades and “weedeating” the bed lines. I try telling the home owner that no amount of water and fertilizer can overcome poor horticultural practices and they reply “yeah, but they’re cheap”.

Here in Florida anybody that can yank a pull cord or change a spark plug puts out a shingle as a “landscaper”. And they fail at a very high rate. This is not to say that you, or Tru-Green or Valley Crest do not make a lot of money. However, I can say that during my five years at Valley Crest, the irrigation repair division consistently made a higher net profit than the other divisions.

My pitch to these “wanna-be” landscapers is that instead of throwing 15-20 grand at a lawn care start-up, just get some hand tools, some training and a four cylinder pickup truck and repair lawn sprinklers instead. As you know, running a successful lawn care business takes at least as much knowledge as repairing irrigation. Without training, these “newbie landscapers” go out and scalp the grass and trim every Ligustrum tree into a mushroom shape and all the shrubs into squares or spheres. Taking care of living things correctly is harder than repairing pipe and sprinklers.

I apologize if my sales copy offended you, but I stand by what I believe.

Sprinkler Repair Liability Insurance

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 06:02:00 -0500

-->

ANY SUGGESTIONS ON GEN LIABILITY INSURANCE. I AM HAVING A RIDICULOUS TIME GETTING ANYTHING WITH A PREMIUM OF LESS THAN $5000.00 A YEAR, USING THE SPRINKLER REPAIR CLASSIFICATION. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG. I AM TALKING TO 2 LARGE HOTEL CHAINS IN THE MEMPHIS AREA BUT THEY ALL NEED A COMM GEN LIABILITY POLICY.

MIKE.

Hi Mike, boy five thousand a year sounds quite high. I pay $500.00 a year for

2 million in coverage, $500,000.00 per incident (Florida)! My agent could not find any classification for "irrigation repair", so I'm listed under "landscaping".

My suggestion would be to make sure that your insurance agent understands that you are not installing irrigation, only repairing the lawn sprinklers. Can you shop around on-line?

Another thought. If you are going to be checking the lawn irrigation zones around busy hotels, an irrigation remote control could save you a lot of complaints from wet guests!

Sprinkler Valve Repair -Stuck On

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:50:00 -0500

Hi, great website.

I am wondering if you can suggest what the problem with my system might be.
Its about 2-3yrs old
last week the last 3 stations were all running at the same time and will not shut off.

It was installed by a professional but I did make a map of where all the valves were located before the grass grew over them

thanks for any ideas
Ken

Ken of course was referring to my sprinkler website. Boy, that could be a lot of
sprinkler troubleshooting issues, and I don't have all the irrigation system info that I need.
Let's start here.
1. Sprinkler valves stuck open. It is possible that you had three irrigation valves fail mechanically all at once, but not likely. You could also buy a scratch off lottery ticket and hit that too. So let's discard that for now.
2.Sprinkler Timer Failure. More possible than 3 sprinkler valves going bad at once, but still kinda rare.. Let's troubleshoot this lawn sprinkler problem. Have you unplugged the sprinkler controller? If so, and all three continue to run, then it is mechanical, i.e., sprinkler valve stuck open. If they all (the lawn sprinkler valves) shut down, then it is electrical, but not necessarily that the irrigation timer has gone bad. If you, one by one, disconnect the sprinkler wires from their terminals, and the disconnected sprinkler zones won't turn off, it means that the sprinkler controller is not the problem. From here it gets worse.
Let's say that zones 1,3 and 5 (out of a six zone system) still run together when the 3 and 5 wires are disconnected while zone one is on. That would appear to be "ghosting", where in the field (versus in the controller) some wires are touching. The first place to look is where the field wires exit the building. There could be a splice box, or it could be where a lawn guy was daydreaming while he shredded your wire casing and now they touch.
Another place to look is in the valve boxes themselves for poor wiring connections bleeding through the soil due to proximity.

Sprinkler Business Start Up Costs

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:30:00 -0500

-->

Craig – Could you give me an idea as to what the start up expenses are for a sprinkler repair business? I am certain that I can generate clients as we do that now with our bandit sign placement business and I’m certain it would be inexpensive to generate them.

It’s the other hard costs I have no idea about.

Thank you,

Greg xxxxxx

Well Greg, not much in comparison to buying a lawn care business.

You need hand tools (screwdrivers, pliers, drill etc), a truck and some sprinkler PVC pipe and parts. In the members section of my sprinkler repair website, I have a complete list of the parts you should have on hand on the way to your first job.

My list has a lot of different parts on it, but not a large quantity of each part. I believe it is best to just have the minimum number of parts until you do a couple of jobs. Then you will have the money to buy more.

At some point, you will need a wire tracer to find buried sprinkler valves. But at first I would hold off on that purchase because they are $600.00 and you can rent one from your irrigation supplier the first couple of times that you may need one.

So to put it in a nutshell, if you already have a truck and hand tools and shovels, you need about 500.00 dollars in parts and a $50.00 ohm/volt meter (which I show you how and why to use it on the sprinkler website ).

Lawn Sprinklers Do Not Turn On

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Fri, 3 Oct 2008 04:16:00 -0500

Greg Hall said...: My sprinkler system has had no problems for 12 years. I can't get any of my zones to pop up now to winterize. The wiring does not look like it is damaged. I think it my be my controller. How do I check to see if my controller is malfunctioning. The system was working good all summer.
Hi Greg,: When nothing works, check the basics. Is the water on to the system? Pump or city water? Have you checked the voltage coming from the controller? Do you have a rain sensor? Is the common wire well connected in the controller?
Using an ohm meter, check the continuity of the valve circuits. Place one probe on the wire terminal marked "com" (for common). Touch the other probe across the zone 1, zone 2. etc. wires.: If you a complete circuit you will get a reading of 20-60 ohms. If the readings are higher, you have a common wire problem. Do you have a wire junction under or near the controller? Check the common connection there first. If not, check the first valve electrically down stream of the controller. If the problem is the common wire, 90% of the time it will be a connection at or in between the first valve and the controller.

Replace a lawn irrigation sprinkler system timer/controller

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Mon, 1 Sep 2008 17:40:00 -0500

Hey Craig, I installed the clock today, a modular ESP-LX Rainbird, everything went well, but when I tried to run the system, a message came up saying that the master solenoid was open and listed about 6 others also as being opened. We think the original box was fried due to a near-by lightening strike, could this be the cause? Any input on how to go from here would be greatly appreciated. Walter

Hi Walter. I'm not on-site, but my guess is that that the controller is fine. It is RARE that you received a controller "out of the box" that was defective (it does happen, but almost never). I think that you may have inserted the common wire in the wrong spot. Make sure that you did not insert the wire into the slot marked "MV" (master valve). Generally, if all the wires read "open", it is a common wire problem. However, this is what I don't know:
1.Have you "ohm'd " the wires? Solenoids generally read between 20-60 ohms. Rain Bird solenoids read higher, at 54 ohms. Still, after 60 ohms, they will not work either. Since the original system was Rain Bird (?), I would guess that Rain Bird valves were installed (but not necessarily).
2. A lightning strike often burns/destroys the field wires.
3. Is there a rain sensor? Rain accompanies lightning. Disconnect the rain sensor and read the wires again.
4. Read the material and watch the Power Points regarding sprinkler system troubleshooting on the irrigation website that you belong too :)

So to capsule this post, use your ohm meter. It will DEFINITELY tell you where the problem lies.

Rain Barrel Watering to the Rescue

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Sat, 2 Aug 2008 00:02:00 -0500

Craig features a rain barrel water system set up in a back deck area of a home in Atlanta, Georgia. The homeowner re-uses the rain water collected from the gutter along his roof top, corralled into a plastic barrel fitted with a faucet for easy access in watering his plants along the deck. For more lawn sprinkler irrigation resources,

DIY Lawn Irrigation Ain't Always Easy!

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:30:00 -0500

Hi Craig,

Hope all is well with you. After a little bit of a slow start, things are picking up in a hurry and business is good! The manuals and information from your sprinkler system repair site have been very helpful - thank you. But nobody said anything about getting wet! :)~

I've got a couple of easy questions and just wanted to ask for your advice.

1. Using funny pipe and attaching a barb connection. Is there an easier/smarter way to get the barb end inserted? My hands are raw from twisting and pushing - put gloves on after getting blistered, got the barb in, but it still was an awfully tight twist. Tried vise grips, pliers, etc....It looks so much easier when you do it in your videos! What am I missing?

Fixing leak in sprinkler valve (photo above)

2. It seems silly, but I'm not sure how to go about fixing this without opening up a can of worms. I was going to cut out and replace the section of pipe where the leak is - there's only about 1/2" of pipe to work with there. If I do that, then I think I've got to replace the elbow which is glued to the T and so on and so on. I'm using this as my rookie question - can you please tell me the proper way to go about fixing this leak? It's at a rate of about 1 drip per second. Is there any kind of good wrap or sealant that would work?
3. This customer has a broken line under the asphalt. It's about a 40' span. I thought of seeing if I could pull out the old pvc pipe, but think it would be brittle and break apart. Not real anxious to cut into the asphalt and having to worry about getting it repaired, etc. Thinking it would be easier to run a new line, but it seems to far to use the pipe and garden hose. How would you go about running a line under a 40' span? I looked at a tool called a Borzit and wondered if that might work.
Thanks, Tom

Hi Tom, I'm glad you are getting the info you need from . Let's get to the questions!

1. Spiral barb fittings can wear a hole in your hand, especially if the "funny pipe' has been in the ground for awhile. A shot of WD-40 might help. If it is cold outside you can use a propane torch to warm it up, just like poly pipe. This may be a "duh", but take care not to melt it or set it on fire!

2. Sprinkler repair ain't always pretty. When you see installs like this (and I see 'em every day) you understand the consequences of "low ballers". In the pricing guide in the members section of the sprinkler repair site, I have the "standard flat fee rate" for a 1" valve replacement. This is not standard. You'll need to dig a BIG hole! I'm guessing 2.5 to 3 hours plus parts for this repair. My hourly rate is $85.00.
As to "wraps", I've never used them but I've heard some sprinkler techs swear by them. Your local irrigation supplier can get them for you.

3. The PVC pipe should be in a sleeve (conduit). Have you dug down to the pipe yet? It would be highly unusual to find a pipe under asphalt that was not in a sleeve. But, for the sake of argument, lets say it's not.
In that case, a borzit would work. The question is , how often would you use it? Can you rent one? Ask your local supplier if they know another contractor that has a boring unit. That would be my approach.

Manual Sprinkler Valve Operation

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:39:00 -0500

Craig, I understand that one can turn on a watering zone by operating the valve that controls that zone. How is that done?

Tom

Different lawn irrigation valves are manually operated in different ways. They have buttons or levers placed in different places. However, they will ALL open if the solenoid is loosened. Make sure that you have enough room to grip the solenoid at the top (the solenoid is the thingy that the wires attach to) and SLOWLY turn counter clockwise until you here the valve open and then STOP! You have to be careful because if you loosen it too much it will come out of the valve and you will have a big mess to deal with (and a muddy outlet port).

Sprinkler Valve Low Pressure.

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:05:00 -0500

Regards,

Bill

Hi Bill! Lets start with the basics. I would guess that 75-80% of the time, I find that a low pressure problem is due to a broken head or pipe. However, the problem is not always evident. You will have to search the area that the zone covers carefully looking for wet spots. Check behind the shrubs as this is a common place to find broken PVC pipe. If the problem is a spray zone, you can turn the nozzles off using the adjustment screw on top to force more water out of the break.

If a thorough investigation of the area reveals no leaks, it's time to move on to the valve.
Lawn sprinkler valves fail in a variety of ways, one of which is that the diaphragm in the valve will will not flex to a complete open position, thus constricting the water. In this case the valve either needs to be replaced or re-built. If you do not know where the valve is, you may need a
wire tracker to find it. Or you could read finding buried lawn sprinkler valves.

Sprinkler Valve Repair Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:44:00 -0500

Hi Craig. Found you via Google search. So here goes.

I have a system with 5 stations. 2 on the front yard and 3 on the back.

The front box has 3 valves (2 are direct wired to the timer) and the rear box has 3 valves.

Here is the issue. The 3rd valve in the front box is not getting a signal to allow the water to run to the back box to run the 3 separate stations, hence no rear sprinklers.

I know the 3rd valve connects to the white or common wire, but where does the 2nd wire connect?

All three valve wires are direct from the box through this box to each valve in the back box.

What am I missing?

Appreciate your help.

-->Eric

Hi Eric,

Every solenoid valve requires two wires to open electrically. One wire is the 'common” which connects to each solenoid, and a 'terminal' wire which connects to one of the numbered station terminals.

Except for the last valve on the electrical run, each common connection is a “3-way” splice, This means that the common brings power into, and out of, each valve until you reach the final valve where it ends.

If you have only one common wire in the controller, than this common will connect to all of the valves, front and back.

If the common wire goes to the front valve manifold first and then goes to the back valves, the problem is likely that the splice where the common wires leaves the front boxes and continues to the back is bad. If you don't know from which direction the common enters and leaves the front box, re-splice all the valves in the front box.

If that does not work, you may have a bad splice where the common enters the rear manifold so re-splice that as well.

If you still are not getting power to the back valves, depending on where the controller is located, you could run a new common from the front valves, or run a second common from the controller to the rear valves.

I hope this helps with your sprinkler valve repair.

Orlando Whole House Water Treatment System

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Borglum Irrigation Repair) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:17:00 -0500

Need a Central Florida water treatment system company? I did. Even though I work with water systems for a living, I know nothing about a well water treatment system.
So I called Fred at Total Water Treatment. He put in the system for the TV show called, uh, I forget whats it's called. You know, the "move that bus" people when they did the house in Orlando.

Anyway, he took my drinking water system from "yuck to yum". If you need awhole house water purification system Orlando, give Fred a call. He knows his stuff!