Sprinkler maintenance is essential for ensuring the integrity of your system. The right plan can help avoid costly repairs and extend the amount of time necessary before it needs to be replaced.

We recommend going through each of the following steps to ensure that everything is in working order.

Check timer for seasonal settings

Often, sprinklers are designed to vary their water usage depending on the season. It's worth checking your seasonal settings to ensure that your landscape gets the water it needs throughout the year.

Check rain sensor

You don’t want your sprinkler on when it’s raining! At the same time, if your sensor falsely detects rain that isn’t there, your irrigation system may not water your landscape properly. You therefore want to check and ensure that the rain sensor is functioning properly.

Run system zone by zone flagging problems

Sometimes, it can be difficult to spot problems if you’re running the entire system at once. For this reason, we recommend turning one zone on at a time.

Clean grass away from sprinkler heads

Sometimes, grass blocks the water coming out of a sprinkler, stopping the water from reaching the landscape it needs to. Other times, grass may prevent your sprinkler heads from popping out at all!

Clearing the grass now prevents it from breaking any sprinkler heads.

Check spray direction of heads and adjust sprays

It’s important to ensure that your entire lawn is getting watered. If there are any gaps in coverage, you may simply need to change the direction of some of your sprinklers.

Check sprays for good coverage

If you’re seeing brown spots on your lawn, but the previous step didn’t help, your sprinklers may not be spraying far enough. In this case, you’ll need to determine whether the sprinkler is malfunctioning, or if there’s too much space in between some of the heads.

Replace any broken equipment

An irrigation system is comprised of thousands of moving parts, all of which need to function properly. The most important parts of a system that most commonly need replacement are:

It’s best to have these replaced by a professional, since your local hardware store may carry cheaper parts, which don’t last as long.

Looking for Sprinkler Maintenance Services in South Florida and the Treasure Coast?

O’Hara Sprinkler is happy to help. We’ve been providing sprinkler services since 1973, which means we’re familiar with what these systems need over their lifespan. Learn more about our sprinkler maintenance program today!

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