ORLANDO, Fla. – If your sidewalk is flooding every time your irrigation system fires up, chances are you have a damaged sprinkler head (mowers love to eat sprinkler heads!). Swap it out for a new one in 15 minutes with a little digging.
We purchased:
- a new sprinkler head (this varies depending on your broken head)
We brought with us:
- latex or nitrile gloves
- hand shovel
Step 1
Assess. What’s actually broken? Does it look like it’s just the sprinkler head that’s gushing water? If so, the repair should be easy. If it’s your sprinkler pipe, that’s a bit more complicated (and we’ll save for a future Getting Results at Home segment).
Step 2
Dig. You’ll want to dig a hole at least a foot in diameter around the broken sprinkler head. A hand shovel is perfect for this and we recommend a pair of latex or nitrile gloves unless you want dirt shoved under every fingernail. Dig down until you can see the pipe where the sprinkler screws on and then clear the dirt away from the base of the sprinkler and the pipe where it attaches. The idea is you want to be able to screw off the sprinkler without letting any dirt fall into the pipe.
Step 3
Screw off the broken sprinkler. Make sure to hold the pipe so you don’t snap off the pipe and cause a bigger problem! Unscrew the sprinkler (lefty loosey) and pull it straight up and out of the hole.
Step 4
Buy a new sprinkler head. The best advice I can give you is to take your old sprinkler to Ace to find an exact match. They come in all types of sizes and do different things. Some are rotor heads that spin right to left (or even 360 degrees). Some are pop-up sprayers - but be warned that spray patterns differ! Some spray a corner (45 degrees), some spray a patch of grass up against a driveway (90 degrees), some spray 270 degrees and some are fully adjustable. Some are 4 inches tall, some are 5 inches. If you have your old sprinkler, you’ll know what you need. It’s OK to buy a different brand by the way - they all work more or less the same.
Step 5
Screw in the new sprinkler head. This is as simple as it sounds. Put the new head in the hole and spin it down onto the pipe threads. Make sure to hold the pipe!
Step 6
Adjust the new sprinkler head. You’ll have to aim the new head, adjust the angle of rotation and in some cases limit the spray distance. All sprinklers adjust slightly differently - some come with a key and some allow you to adjust with a screwdriver or by hand. Either way, read the instructions on the label pasted onto the sprinkler. You may have to adjust, turn your irrigation system on, turn it off, and then adjust again.
You just got results at home!
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