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How To Find Underground Sprinkler Lines

How can I find my sprinkler lines without digging?

If you prefer to locate the lines and heads of your system without digging, rent a valve locator or even a metal detector and mark areas once found – better yet, call call 811, a federally mandated service, and ask someone to come out and locate the system for you.

How deep are underground sprinkler lines?

Dig for Your Sprinkler System The trenches will be relatively shallow, usually 6 to 12 inches deep, depending on your area’s freeze cycles and frost severity. The trench must also be deep enough to allow the sprinklers to retract underground to prevent breakage from lawn machines.

How do I find buried sprinkler heads?

Many valves have metal parts you can locate by running the metal detector over the surface of the ground. Valves are located directly under sprinkler heads. Look for large, dry, brown spots in your lawn. This can indicate the location of a buried sprinkler head.

Where are PVC sprinkler lines?

If you don’t immediately hit a pipe, insert your probe rod a few inches to the left and then to the right until you find the pipe. Sprinkler pipes are often 8 inches below the surface, but main supply lines can be up to 18 inches below.

How deep are lawn irrigation pipes?

Mark the sprinkler locations with flags or the stakes. Typical trench depths range from 6 to 12 inches. To run pipe under existing walkways you can “drill” using water pressure.

Can you find sprinkler valves with a metal detector?

A metal detector is unlikely to work because the valves are most likely to be plastic with very little metal in them. If you don’t have any luck probing small low spots near the begining of the zone, it may require someone to do a wire trace for the valve.

How many sprinkler heads can you put on a zone?

At different pressures, the sprinkler head and nozzle will consume different amounts of water. For example, at 35 pounds per square inch (PSI) the 5000 Series Rotor using the 3.0 nozzle will use 3.11 gallons per minute (GPM). If your home’s water capacity was 10 GPM, you could place 3 heads per zone.

How do you find sprinkler heads without turning them on?

Pull a metal garden rake gently over the area of the grass where you suspect sprinkler heads are located if you cannot turn water on to the system. If the sprinkler heads are buried, you may need to apply greater pressure to the rake so it digs slightly into the soil.

How far apart are sprinkler heads?

Types of Sprinkler Heads Because of the lower PSI the distance of the spray rarely exceeds 15ft. Meaning that spray heads should never be placed further than 15 ft. apart as this would create dry spots (i.e. dead grass) in your lawn.

How do I find a buried plastic pipe?

Acoustic pipe locating — Plastic pipe can often be located when it has a leak by using traditional leak noise locators. Most who have used an acoustic leak locator can find the pipe by the leak sound. The leak locator will show peak sound when directly over the leaking pipe.

How much does it cost to find sprinkler valves?

Sprinkler System Repair Cost by Type of Replacement Type of Replacement Average Replacement Costs (Parts and Labor) Valve Box $75 – $125 Filter $75 – $150 Solenoid $85 – $150 Valve $85 – $150.

Where is master valve of sprinkler system?

A master valve is an automatic valve that is installed at the point where the irrigation system connects to the water supply. (Sometimes this circuit is called a “pump start circuit”. Both types of circuits work identical, and can be used for a pump and/or a master valve.).

Where is the main sprinkler system valve usually installed?

In newer lawn irrigation systems, the valves should be installed in valve boxes. These can often be seen easily. There is a single valve box located near where the irrigation pipes enter the ground in small yards.

How many sprinkler lines do I need?

With your 10 gpm flow rate at your spigot, you could run two sprinklers at 5 gpm each. The best set-up is to run two hoses from the spigot–each to one sprinkler. Suggested sprinklers for this set-up are the Residential Sled Base Sprinklers or the Tripod Sprinklers.

How close can sprinkler heads be to each other?

Current fire safety codes require sprinkler heads always to be a minimum of 6 feet apart from one another to avoid cold soldering.

How do you find the number of sprinklers in a given area?

3) Find the number of sprinklers per branch line. This is given by the length of the demand area (vertical distance in figure 1) divided by the distance between sprinkler heads.

How do you get a sprinkler head to pop-up?

If this is the case, all you need to do is turn on your sprinklers and then press the pop-up riser on the sprinkler head down with your foot so that it is pushed all the way back down into the body. Then, pull up to release the pop-up riser.

How much water pressure is needed for a sprinkler system?

Water pressure is measured in pounds per square inch – also called psi. The average water pressure for most homes and businesses is between 30 psi and 50 psi; most sprinkler systems are designed to use pressures of around 30 psi.