Sprinkler System Services
Sprinkler Start up
This service includes turning the water on to your sprinkler system, checking for leaks and making sure that all the sprinkler heads are functioning properly. Late April into May is the usual time frame for this service.
Sprinkler Winterization
Each fall your sprinkler system needs to have the water to it shut off and all the water in the system blown out with compressed air. If you don't do this, pipes and sprinkler heads may freeze and break resulting in expensive repairs. This is usually done mid to late October.
Sprinkler Repairs
We repair your sprinkler system (replace heads, valves, controllers, fix broken sprinkler pipes etc.
Sprinkler Alterations
We also do small additions to existing systems and alterations such as moving sprinkler heads, etc.
Tips on Scheduling Your Sprinkler System
(For an established lawn)
These tips reflect my experience in working with numerous lawns in the Pullman area.
They are designed to help you conserve water and still maintain a nice, good-looking lawn.
Water one or two times a week (no more)
In the Palouse clay, the deeper the roots your lawn has, the healthier it is. You can promote this by watering deeper and less often. A healthier lawn needs less water to remain green during the summer, thus conserving water.
Water between midnight and nine or ten in the morning
Do not water during the middle of the day or early to mid afternoon. During this time of day, a great deal of water is wasted due to evaporation.
Use a Cycle and Soak strategy to minimize run off
A cycle and soak strategy means that you water, and let it soak in briefly and then water again, etc. This allows you to water deep. This means that you program your controller to repeat the whole sprinkler cycle two or three times. If you are presently watering for a long time each station, you may need to turn your station run times down a bit. This watering strategy often times can reduce the amount of water your lawn needs to stay green and healthy in hot weather.
Adjust your Controller according the the weather/season
Adjusting your controller based on the weather/season is very important to conserving water. It can be rather time consuming to go to each station and increase or decrease the time. If you are lucky, you may have a newer controller with a seasonal adjust feature. This feature allows you to increase or decrease your watering time (in 10% increments) simply by pushing a + or - button. However, if you do not have a controller with this feature, you can change watering time by adding or subtracting a watering day, or another start time.
