Does my sprinkler system have leaks?

Question

I recently installed my own sprinkling system. When we turned the water on, we found some small leaks, which we fixed. It got me a little paranoid that there might be more that I didn't catch. Last night, with the main turned on, I went downstairs and looked at the small red dial on my water meter. It was still. I went upstairs, ironed a shirt, and came back down. The dial still had not moved. Am I probably good to go?

Answer 1

You're probably good to go David, however leaks can be so small as to only drip every now and then, and in such a case you would have to wait a long time before ever seeing a change in your water meter.  Large breaks and leaks on the other hand cause obvious problems, such as flooded areas.  It's almost always easier to find a large leak than a small one.

Be aware that watching a change in the water meter (with your irrigation system shut off) would only indicate a leak within the main irrigation line up as far at the electronic valves.  This section is always under pressure and so it is most important to have good connections.  However leaks do occur past the electronic valves and the only (actually easiest) way to locate these is with the system running.  You will have to run each zone and search for problems.  Pay attention to the sprinkler heads and their connections, since these are typical problem areas.  Valve manifolds in addition often have problems, usually because people have a tough time constructing them.  If you've already buried your pvc or poly lines, then with the system operating I would walk each line on each zone and look carefully for bubbling up areas, or unusually muddy spots.  Hopefully you can do this on a warm sunny day!

By the way, it's a bit of work, but with most sprinkler heads you can either shut their flow off completely, or at least reduce their radius.  If you do this and run your system, all or most of the area over your lines should remain dry.  Not having the sprinklers getting things wet, including you, often helps to locate problems.

Answer 2

do this test

its called a drip test.

make sure the irrigation is completely shut down with a ball valve.

leave it off for at least 10 minutes.

watch the water meter's drip indicator (the small triangle)

and turn it on.

if the dial even flinched a hair, you have a leak.

it should stay pressurized and not budge when you turn it back on.

good luck and hope this helps.

Answer 3

Probably, next time blow out the lines in the fall to prevent freezing.