Automatic sprinkler systems are incredibly convenient; they allow you to maintain your yard without having to worry about remembering to water the lawn, or having to stand out there with a hose for hours at a time. But those buried sprinkler lines can leak sometimes, and when they do, it can be difficult to even detect the leak, much less repair it. How do you find and repair a leak in your yard’s irrigation system? Keep reading to find out and learn more about our leak detection and plumbing services in Sacramento.
Finding a Leak in Your Irrigation System
Water Geysers
This is probably the most obvious sign of a problem in your irrigation system. If you turn on one of your sprinkler zones and spot a tall spout of water spraying up out of your lawn instead of a gentle spray, then you probably have a missing or broken sprinkler head. This is generally an easy fix, and as long as you can ensure you purchase the proper replacement head, you can usually repair it yourself.
Flooding around Sprinklers
If your system is off, but you still notice flooding around the base of a few sprinklers, you might have a valve that’s not shutting off properly. When flooding occurs around several sprinklers in the same area, there’s a good chance that the issue is with a valve to that portion of the irrigation system and not with individual sprinkler heads. This is most common with older valves.
Flooding between Sprinklers
If you notice flooding between sprinkler heads instead of around them, there’s a good chance that you have a leak in an underground line. The severity of that leak can vary. If water is spraying out of the ground between heads, then the pipe has probably burst entirely. If you’re seeing puddling between the sprinklers, then it’s probably a smaller, slower leak in the underground line, but it still needs to be repaired as soon as possible.
Spurting Water from Sprinkler Base
If water spurts out of the base of a sprinkler, this is probably a broken seal. The seal is usually located where the nozzle meets the supply line underground, so it may even look like water is spraying up out of the ground where your sprinkler head emerges. Again, this is often a repair that a homeowner can fix if you do your research properly. However, if you’re not confident in your repair capabilities, hire a professional.
Low Flow to Sprinkler Heads
Oftentimes, when an underground line breaks, the sprinkler heads farther down the line won’t spray properly or will have a very low flow. If you notice that some of the sprinklers in a zone are operating just fine, but others seem to have low water pressure, there’s a good chance that you have a leak somewhere underground between a functioning sprinkler head and a nonfunctioning one. This makes it a lot easier to detect the exact area the leak is in. Most likely, there will also be a wet spot in this area; if the leak is bad enough to impact the water pressure of sprinklers farther down the line, then it is probably bad enough to cause noticeable moisture accumulation in that part of your lawn.
Wet between Watering Cycles
Do you have wet spots in your lawn, even between watering cycles? Then you probably have a leak in one of your underground lines. Even a slow leak can lead to wet, soft soil in areas of your yard, which would be noticeable when walking over the grass. If it’s been a while since you watered, but part of your lawn is still wet, then you need to have someone out to inspect your sprinkler lines. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to take the time to check for other possible causes of the moisture, like a neighbor’s sprinkler that sprays over the fence. However, if there’s no other cause that you can find, you’ll need to have your lines checked by a professional.
Get Professional Leak Detection
Of course, none of these methods is a foolproof way of finding a leak; even if you find one leak, there may be another, less obvious one elsewhere in your irrigation plumbing. If you suspect your sprinkler lines are leaking for any reason, contact Bullseye Leak Detection. We offer professional leak detection and plumbing repair in Sacramento for all types of home plumbing and water lines, including swimming pools and sprinkler systems. Once we are able to pinpoint the location of the leak, we can dig up only that portion of the pipe to repair it, minimizing the amount of damage to your yard. Contact us today to speak to one of our experienced leak detection experts and get the services you need to find and repair your sprinkler line leaks quickly.
