2223 Irrigation Station
/Boy am I tired. When Jakki and I bought this house last year, it came with a non-functional sprinkler system. This weekend I finally got it mostly running. At first, I thought the only problem was that the water service was not hooked up to the 5 zone manifold.
Saturday-- first trip to Home Depot: bits to connect the water line and two new gear drive sprinkler heads (one to replace an obviously damaged one, and one spare). I got the service connected after much swearing at the pipe wrench and the half-assed previous owner. I went inside and hit the button. Water started to flow! Jakki and I mapped out the zones using walkie talkies and discovered new problems in the system. Mom and dad showed up and we went to dinner. The sun sets...
This morning (Sunday) I got up and was at Home Depot 15 minutes after it opened (7:15am). I got some couplers to fix a break and return the sprinkler heads I bought the day before, as they did not fit. At this point only zone 1 really works. I dink around with zone 2 and discover a dead solenoid on the manifold valve. One more trip to HD. I bought a new head for zone 2 and a new head for zone 5 plus some soaker hose for the newly discovered soaker head. At this point new sprinkler heads, buried under dirt and lawn are making their presence known. I fix two more breaks caused by the $%@*#^@ previous owners and head back to HD for more couplers because even more breaks have surfaced (starting with a swelling in the soil, ending in a full-on geyser). I think I've finally got it down, the service lines are 1" and the feeder lines are 3/4", and I have a new Oetiker tool for crimping on hose clamps. All zones produce water at this point.
The break I just fixed in the hosta bed in back has another break not six inches from it, and I'm out of clamps and couplers, so time to make the fifth and final trip to HD. That does it. I have plugged the mysterious end on zone 4 that appears to go to the neighbors, and fixed all breaks in evidence. I have a brand new racheting hose cutting tool at this point as well. Jakki and I do one final test of all the zones. Everything is working and and I'm the walking dead at this point.
That was 30 minutes ago, and after a shower and a nice couch to lie on, Jakki and I can make it rain in our world any time we like. Anyone want to start a irrigation installation company?
