How to raise sprinkler heads + how to find them??

[cuoffroad]

Hello, I'm not really sure of the correct terms to use for my problem other than what I have in the title. I've searched on the net and here and find nothing. I'm sure I'm not using the correct terms 'cause I can't be the only one with this little gem of a problem. :laughing:

Situation I have is we had our sprinkler system installed 5 years ago before our lawn was put in (hydroseeded). At that time the sprinkler heads were at ground level and all was good.

Now, years later, as the lawn has developed the sprinkler heads, when they are down (or not in use) are a good 2.5 inches below the surface of the grass. They barley clear the top of the grass when in use. I can see in the next year or so where they will not "pop up" far enough to clear the grass at all.

Question is, is there a way to "raise" the heads (without digging up the entire lawn ) so they are level again with the grass? I hope that makes sense. The wife has the camera right now but when she gets home I'll try to take a picture of a head or two to maybe give a better idea. I would have 78 heads to do.


The other question in the title is regarding how to find heads that no longer "pop up". I have one complete zone that no heads pop up when the timer gets to them. I assume the lawn has overgrown the heads because I can not see a one of the heads in the zone. I've tried walking the zone and sticking a metal rod down in the ground to try and "hit" a head but it's like finding a needle in a hay stack and I have yet to find even one. :mur: Any ideas on how to find a burried sprinkler head?

Thank you.

 

[cuoffroad]

Here we go, a couple pictures of what I'm asking about.

Yep, that's the top of a sprinkler head down there.

 

[ragkar]

You might try using a metal/treasure finder. they aren't too expensive and I'll bet you've always wanted one.
Earlier this year I dumped earth around my septic tank clean-outs (polyethylene piping six of them) so that I wouldn't hit them when I mow. I also buried about a pound of iron metal in those locations so that when the grass grows and the earth covers them, I could find them once more.

 

[alchemysa]

Yes you can buy short plastic 'risers' that screw between the spinkler head and the T junction. Some are in fixed lenghts with a thread at each end, others have a type of continuous thread that can be cut to the required length.

If a complete zone is 'missing' i'd suggest its a timer problem or a faulty solenoid thats not opening properly. The solenoids usually have an adjusting screw on top that will manually open the solenoid and turn on the sprinklers regardless of the timer. Try that and see if you can find the sprinklers. Also make sure you have as much water pressure behind the zone as possible.

 

[cuoffroad]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will do a search on risers and see what I come up with. I'll also check the solenoid.

The thought had crossed my mind to cut up some quarter inch steel rod I have and tap a short section down next to each head....just incase. I don't have a metal detector currently but if we ever did need to get one I'm sure the kids would get a kick out of it as well.

 

[aczlan]

The thought had crossed my mind to cut up some quarter inch steel rod I have and tap a short section down next to each head....just incase. I don't have a metal detector currently but if we ever did need to get one I'm sure the kids would get a kick out of it as well.

Not really needed with a good metal detector, there are metal springs inside the head which will register on a metal detector.

Aaron Z

 

[cuoffroad]

Not really needed with a good metal detector, there are metal springs inside the head which will register on a metal detector.

Aaron Z

Thanks Aaron, that will save me some work.

Looks like this is what I need.

With 78 to do (I'm sure not all of them need it) this will be a long project.

 

[MossRoad]

You may also want to look at the flexible risers. They are a long piece of very flexible tubing with a fitting on each end. One goes on the pipe, the other goes on the sprinkler. It you hit the sprinkler with, say, a tractor, the head just gets pushed into the ground and it does not snap the rigid type risers.

Also, as someone else suggested, for that entire zone that is missing, you are probably not getting any water to the zone. Check that zone's solenoid first.

 

[cuoffroad]

Ouch! :shocked: The flexible risers are 4x+ the price of the rigid (on-line anyway). I'll have to think about his one. A good suggestion though and I thank you.

I found a landscape supply company pretty close to us that mostly sells to contractors or other businesses but said they will do walk in business also. I think I'll try to stop in there in the next week or so and see what they have. Can't hurt.

Now that I've gotten the correct termonology from you guys I'm able to find a lot more info on the net too. :thumbsup:

 

[atschirner]

While you are at the supply house look into a roll of 1/2" "silly" pipe. It's the flexible black pipe to go from the rigid piping to the heads. A 100' roll and a couple bags of fittings should cover your job. It will give you the advantages of the flexible risers without the expense.

 

[cuoffroad]

Thanks AT.

Like most projects, it seems like you have to become a mini "expert" on the subject to get the job done correctly.

All this info is for sure a great help! Not near an expert but I'm learning.

I appreciate the info and defenately will ask.

Not gonna lie....I dread this job, but it needs doing non the less. Beats paying someone else to do it....for sure. :thumbsup:

The faulty solenoid issue I still have to look into more. We don't have one centralized access pannel to all the zones. For whatever reason there are multiple pannels. Now I have to find the right one for this zone. More fun. :laughing:

 

[alchemysa]

Make sure you dig up or unscrew a sprinkler for closer inspection before you buy anything. The riser you illustrated has a thread at both ends. Most likely that will not be suitable on its own. You may also need to buy an additional joiner thats internally threaded. As I recall, my sprinklers have a female thread that screws onto the male T piece thats in the line. In that case a riser thats threaded at both ends is unsuitable without the additional female joiner.

By the way, you can cut those threaded risers in half and get two out of them if you are only raising the level a few inches.

 

[alchemysa]

Thanks AT.
The faulty solenoid issue I still have to look into more. We don't have one centralized access pannel to all the zones. For whatever reason there are multiple pannels. Now I have to find the right one for this zone. More fun. :laughing:

When you find the bank of solenoids, just loosen the small screw on top. That will trigger the sprinkler without having to go back to the timer box.

 

[alchemysa]

One other question is whether you even need risers. The couple of systems I'm familiar with used flexible black poly pipe in the ground, not that rigid white plastic shown in your pic of the riser. With the poly pipe you may only need to dig a foot or two either side of the sprinkler in order to get to get access to enough pipe to pull the whole sprinkler upwards a few inches. This sounds like hard work but actually it can be easier than trying to unscrew sprinklers and fitting risers without getting dirt in the pipes. Believe me thats a real pain.

(Using the method described above is very easy on sprinklers that are at the end of a line.)

 

[AchingBack]

I am an retired irrigation contractor. Many of the suggestions on here are valid, and helpful, but not entirely relevant. Here is how I would approach your problem. First, as to raising the heads. There is a very economical product called swing pipe, or funny pipe. It is not poly pipe, but it is black, and often has a blue stripe, think water. Swing pipe utilizes barbed fittings on one end, and a pipe thread on the other. A one foot section of swing pipe with two barbed x mipt, 90o elbows is all you need at each head. In layman's terms, that is male iron pipe thread. One of the male fittings goes into the female fitting in the ground, the other into the sprinkler head. You need to excavate around the fitting in order to give yourself enough room to rotate the barbed fitting, pipe and sprinkler head already attached, into the new fitting. I always assemble everything possible, above ground, (less stooping, and bending). You now have a flexible fitting that can be easily allow your sprinkler head to be set flush.

As to the missing heads, go to the valve for that zone, and manually activate the valve. If you hear water running, simply wait long enough to see a geyser in the lawn. The water will find the weakest spot in the lawn, and that head will be the first to create a mound that given enough time, (minutes), or in some cases, break through the soil.

Check you connections, as solenoids rarely go bad. To test them, when the circuit is turned on at the clock, touch the top with a small magnet. You should get an attraction. Also, you may take the solenoid from a good valve, and place it into the suspect valve, or vice versa.

 

[alchemysa]

Good suggestion Achingback. (You can't beat experience) . The point I think is that raising sprinklers using risers is not ideal. Its difficult to do it accurately, and you have no flexibily for future adjustments. Far better to put each head on the end of a 1 foot peice of tube thats lies to the side of the main pipe. Then you aways have a lot of flexibility to easily moved it up or down as required. Perhaps it can also be done cheaply with 90º poly fittings and poly pipe.

 

[AchingBack]

You can also do it with fittings known as street elbows. They are a 90o fitting with a male on one end, and a female on the other. You would use two of them per head. Excavate around the head to keep dirt out, install the two street elbows you have already screwed together, ( not teflon tape needed), into your female fitting in the ground. Flush the system to remove debris, and install the head. The stree els should have brought your heads to the proper level. If not, you can add as many as you need. Personally, I would use the flexible swing pipe with the barbed fittings. It isn't very expensive, and you are only doing this once over the life of the system. Believe it or not, due to the process of the development of thatch, your heads are seeminly going to sink into the ground over time. The heads won't have move, but the structure of the lawn will have raise. The swing pipe will easily allow you to excavate, and once again raise the heads. We are talking about several years before you should have to do this.

 

[cuoffroad]

Thank you for the info AchingBack. :thumbsup:

Agree, I don't think the heads have sunk so much as the yard has grown around/over them.

Is this common? I assume it is, seems like it's unavoidable....but I don't see neighbors out digging up their yards to fix the issue??

Sounds like I'll have to "fix" this problem every so many years (been 5 since the system was installed)?

If so...I've decided right now...I hate my sprinkler system.

 

[AchingBack]

I didn't notice if you mentioned the heads being the pop up type. If they aren't, change them over. If they are, how high do they extend? You should have at least a 3 -4 " pop up.

 

[cuoffroad]

I didn't notice if you mentioned the heads being the pop up type. If they aren't, change them over. If they are, how high do they extend? You should have at least a 3 -4 " pop up.

Yes, they are pop up and they do extend probably 4". But, now when the heads are down they are 2 inches below the surface so when they do pop up they are only 2 inches above ground.