Despite the unimaginable amount of convenience that sprinkler systems have brought to homeowners across the world thanks to their intuitive and nearly human intervention-free function, they are not without their fault. As wonderful inventions of the 21st century as sprinkler systems may be, they are still susceptible to damage from all sorts of reasons.
Perhaps the most common issue that you may face would be a blown sprinkler line or a leak in the pipes. This is a problem that’s plagued residential and commercial owners alike for decades, and the troubleshooting and fix for it may appear to be too intimidating for the average homeowner.
I can assure you, though, that fixing this issue is as easy as can be. Let’s begin with what to prepare.
Materials and Tools
Here are a couple of tools and materials that you’ll be needing and using this endeavor. Be sure to prepare them all beforehand so as to make the entire process as seamless as can be.
- Hand Trowel
- Cloth
- Hacksaw
- Band Clamp
- Slip Coupling
- Screwdriver
Step 1: Finding the Leak
The first thing that you should do is to locate where the actual broken pipe. This can be done in several ways, all of which will require a lot of your patience because you will have to be looking for damaged pipes below ground.
Regardless, they’re relatively easy to spot so long as you look for irregularly wet sections of the soil. Check and see the puddle in it If you can see bubbles flowing from up underground, indicating that the water in the puddle is coming from underground.
Step 2: Dig, dig, dig!
After you’ve found the problem site, first turn off the sprinkler system to stop the leak. Then, with your hand trowel, dig very carefully around the area where you suppose the broken section of the pipe would be. Lift the sections of soil up and set it aside until you can very clearly see the pipe that has leakage. Clear a bit of the soil around it so you can move and work on it freely.
Use the cloth or any other rag to clean the pipe from any debris before you begin tinkering on it.
Step 3: Fixing Time
Now is the actual time to fix the leak. With the hacksaw, cut the section of your pipe that’s broken clean off, making sure that the slip coupling you have will fit in it. Then, place the band clamps on each cut end of the pipeline.
Insert the slip coupling and use the screwdriver to finish the job by tightening the band clamp and sealing the pipe.
Step 4: Job Well Done!
The last thing you’ll have to do—before you cover everything up to return it to how it looked before—is to turn on the sprinkler and check for a leak. That way, while the pipe is still exposed, you can see and make sure you’ve done a good job. Once everything is a-okay, return the soil to where it once was and tidy everything up—good as new!