SPRINKLER MASTER REPAIR, Troubleshooting guide



Many sprinkler problems are simple to understand and repair.  I have successfully talked many 'would-be' customers through the process, enabling them to make the repair themselves.  To make this work, I have found that we need to be calling the different parts by the same name.  One customer called me in a panic saying that her husband had hit the stop-n-waste with the lawn mower and water was gushing all over.  The stop-n-waste is usually 3 to 5 feet under ground.  Once we identified the right part, it was easy to help her.  So let me list some parts as I will refer to them.  This list will be mostly in order of their appearance, as the water flows.

  • CULINARY WATER, is the drinkable city water.  Still used for sprinkler systems in cities where they do not have Pressurized Irrigation.
  • PRESSURIZED IRRIGATION (PI), is irrigation water provided by the city but not culinary quality.
  • CITY VALVE, is the valve that the City uses to turn on or off your water supply.  This is usually on the City side, before the water meter.  They do not want you or I to touch anything on their side.  They need to be called to turn on or off your water supply at this point.  If the valve were to break while you were turning it, you would be responsible for replacing it.
  • CITY METER, is the meter that measures your water usage.  You may have two.  One for culinary water and one if you have PI.
  • STOP-N-WASTE, is the valve that you use to turn your sprinkler water on and off.  Culinary systems have the valve down 3 to 5 feet down a tube.  PI systems usually have it in a valve box.  Not all PI systems have a stop-n-waste, some just have a ball valve.  The stop-n-waste is designed to drain the pipe way down underground.  When it is turned off a hole lines up on the bottom allowing drainage.  This is a brass valve with a small bar on top that is used with a slotted key on a long pole to open and close it.
  • BALL VALVE, is a valve that is usually in-line with a lever or handle to turn on and off.  It does not have a drain feature like the stop-n-waste.
  • PI FILTER, is a filter to catch some of the crud that comes through the PI.  It has a drain to open to flush out debris caught in the filter.  It can be taken apart to clean the filter element.
  • BACKFLOW PREVENTER, should be found on all culinary sprinkler systems.  This is usually piped above ground, but sometimes in a valve box on older systems.  This device keeps contaminated water from going back into the city water supply.
  • VALVE, is what stops the water in the main line until it is opened to water a specific area.
  • FLOW CONTROL, is in the center of the valve to manually close the valve. Not found on all brands. 
  • BLEEDER, is on top of the valve, off center.  opening the bleeder will open the valve manually. 
  • SOLENOID, is the thing attached to the top of the valve with the two wires coming out of it.  This is what opens the valve when the timer sends a signal to it, and closes the valve when the time is done.
  • FUNNY ELBOW, is a plastic elbow that threads into a pipe fitting and has a barbed insert that goes on funny pipe, and on the other end into the sprinkler head.  
  • FUNNY PIPE, is a flexible poly pipe that allows the sprinkler heads to be easily positioned.  
  • POP UP HEAD, is a sprinkler head that pops up when the valve opens to deliver the water.  Rotor heads also pop up but they are referred to as 'rotors.'  
  • ROTORS, are sprinkler heads that rotate back and forth and cover greater distances than do the pop ups.  
  • TIMERS OR CONTROLLERS, are the electronic controllers that are programmed for time and days to automatically water.






    Sprinkler Master Repair can help you with sprinkler repairs, new installations, or winterization blow-outs.  If you want to do-it-yourself or need reliable, expert, professional service, we can repair heads, valves, pipes, timers or solenoids in Utah County.
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