On my property, but really close to the property line (like 2 feet into my property) I discovered a valve box. The box itself was full of sand, and I excavated 4 sprinkler solenoid valves. They are connected to an underground wire that goes *somewhere*. The box was close enough to the neighbors that I thought it might be their box... I tried applying power to the solenoids, and got "clicks", but nothing happened. I heard no water flow.

Now I'm starting to wonder if I have sprinklers! I bought my home as a foreclosure, and the previous owners "stole" the garage door opener, and anything they could remove, so it would not surprise me if they took the sprinkler timer box with them as well.

I guess it's probably common to have a master shut off valve for the irrigation somewhere. Where might I find that? In the water meter's box?

Does this home have a crawl space? If so, I'd look there. If not, grab a shovel and start digging.

Got any friends with one of those metal detector things. Might save a whole lot of your lawn.

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Ron

No, no crawl space. I wish I had a metal detector!

The main shutoff valve should be located downstream of your water meter. Not sure where your water meter is located but up here in the frosty north it is located in the basement. Will be a takeoff with valve leading to the sprinkler solnoids located outside. If the the PO took the timer box you should have a low voltage wire sticking out of the wall somewhere in the garage. This wire will run to the valves outside.
Hope this helps

quote Originally posted by CanFiero: The main shutoff valve should be located downstream of your water meter. Not sure where your water meter is located but up here in the frosty north it is located in the basement. Will be a takeoff with valve leading to the sprinkler solnoids located outside. If the the PO took the timer box you should have a low voltage wire sticking out of the wall somewhere in the garage. This wire will run to the valves outside. Hope this helps

I'll have to take a picture tomorrow... The water meter is located near the curb. If you ran a straight line along the edge of my property for 50', you'd hit this valve box. I can't see any manual valves in there, though it is still filled with a lot of sand, so I might try some more digging tomorrow. I checked the water meter box, and couldn't find anything interesting in there either. (Other than the main shutoff for the house/meter)

There *should* be a wire sticking out somewhere, but the bank patched up and painted the garage, so it would not surprise me if the wires are buried in the wall somewhere.

Perhaps you should see a doctor?

Hey just my two cents but if you have a sprinkler systen then after the main water line shut-off valve to your house there should be a box with access to a back-flow preventer. May municipalities require these in case a sprinkler head or line gets busted and sucks in crap into the main line. Look for one and around there you should find the master cut-off valve for the system.

Shelby

I don't see a secondary box. There are two meters in the meter box, though I'm not sure if I am sharing with the neighbor....

If should have a very obvious anti-siphon valve sticking up a foot or so above ground level, if it was installed correctly. Usually there is a gate valve on the same riser.

There should be an access point someplace on the house between the main line tie in and the valve box (needed for service, mainly to blow out the lines) - this usually looks like a general outside water tap that you would screw on a watering hose. Yes there is usually a master shut off (usually a 1/4 turn valve that feeds a 1" pipe) - this would be anyplace after your water meter. Now living in a northern climate this is usually located inside the home, but you people in Florida do things a bit different.

The controller is usually placed inside the home/garage to keep it out of the weather (although weather proof ones are available) - there would be a 110v plug nearby as the controller would need to be plugged in if it was an electronic type (very few mechanical ones exist nowdays).

Worest thing is that you will have to use a shovel as already suggested, just be careful as the line is usually plastic and can easily be damaged.

Okay, here's some more details.



The box with pipe orientation drawn in blue... The main water shutoff to the house is in red, and the water meter is in yellow.

The main water shutoff to the house:



Inside the box:


(Not much there...)

The underground cable IS going towards my house as best I can tell. Which is promising.... I think I just need to keep digging? Thoughts??

Edit: could it be that one of the solenoid valves is the master water control? Would they do it like that, or would there always be a manual shutoff valve?

Edit 2: I tried turning the solenoid controls all "on" and nothing. Also note that the flow direction arrows all point towards my house (which I also think is a good indicator that this box is indeed mine) There must be another box or valve somewhere.

[This message has been edited by ryan.hess (edited 07-19-2011).]

Hmm, well I'm out of my area of expertise on this one. Never had a sprinkler system. But, here's a bump for your thread. Surely someone here knows something about them.

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Ron

From the looks it seems that it is a 4 zone system. It is possible that one of the valves is a master shutoff, but i'd think if one was the main feed for the other zones, it would be a larger diameter pipe. The system I have has a manual shutoff near the anti siphon valve. Whoever put the system in looks like they did it right, so I'd look for an anti-siphon valve somewhere in the yard. That would be proof positive that the system is yours.

Your master shut off for the house looks like the master shut off on my system. I've never seen a master shut off for a house on the outside like yours... Odd.

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: Okay, here's some more details. The box with pipe orientation drawn in blue... The main water shutoff to the house is in red, and the water meter is in yellow. (Not much there...) Edit: could it be that one of the solenoid valves is the master water control? Would they do it like that, or would there always be a manual shutoff valve? Edit 2: I tried turning the solenoid controls all "on" and nothing. Also note that the flow direction arrows all point towards my house (which I also think is a good indicator that this box is indeed mine) There must be another box or valve somewhere.

[This message has been edited by topcat (edited 07-19-2011).]

There should be a main shut off valve for the irrigation system where it connect to the water supply I don't think the valve at the wall is the main shut off but I could be wrong. Check around your water meter. There should also be an irrigation control panel that controls the solenoids to activate the different irrigation zones, 1 solenoid per zone. The control panel will have a programmable time clock feature to allow you to set up the time and duration for the operation of each zone. I would expect to find this near the water meter too.

Nolan

Your main water shut off valve, fittings and piping all look fairly new. How old is the house, wonder if the water line to the house has been replaced and the PO never bothered hooking up the main sprinkler feed line? There is always a manual isolation valve installed on the main line to the sprinkler control valve mainfold. How did you try turning the valves on?

quote Originally posted by CanFiero: Your main water shut off valve, fittings and piping all look fairly new. How old is the house, wonder if the water line to the house has been replaced and the PO never bothered hooking up the main sprinkler feed line? There is always a manual isolation valve installed on the main line to the sprinkler control valve mainfold. How did you try turning the valves on?

Actually the water line to the house was replaced (according to the realtor). It's entirely possible the main sprinkler line was disconnected. I'm starting to wonder if I should start digging around the main line to the house to see if I can find any pipes...

I tried applying 18V to the solenoids and also tried turning the solenoids themselves (they're rainbirds that have an on/off direction marker like so:

[This message has been edited by ryan.hess (edited 07-19-2011).]

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: I think it's strictly a florida thing. I asked the home inspector the exact same question.

Yep, I'm just guessing here but suspect you don't even have a freeze line established in you plumbing codes. Here in my area (KY), waterlines must be at least 30 inches below surface level and must resurfaced from under the house. So, I suspect you have no freeze line way down there.

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Ron

quote Originally posted by blackrams: Yep, I'm just guessing here but suspect you don't even have a freeze line established in you plumbing codes. Here in my area (KY), waterlines must be at least 30 inches below surface level and must resurfaced from under the house. So, I suspect you have no freeze line way down there.

It looks similar to the one I had in Phoenix. No need for freeze protection but there was a code for anti-siphon or backflow preventer that had to be 12" above the highest sprinkler head. The water heaters were also commonly in the garage and sprinkler systems were tapped into the cold line near that cause the pipes are exposed there.

The system on our Reno home was much different. The pipes were buried much deeper and they had to be drained back before winter.

[This message has been edited by spark1 (edited 07-19-2011).]

There has to be an easier way to do this... I'm going to end up digging up the yard....

Just open up the pipe feeding the manifold (cut out a two foot section), glue on a female hose connector on the source side, attach it to your garden hose, turn on your faucet and look for a wet spot. edit: If it holds pressure, it's probably still plumbed in somewhere.

That’s the same way to find the location of your sprinkler heads; just reverse the flow toward the manifold and open one valve at a time.

Snip, snip.



Glue on. Might be easier to screw fitting on to hose before gluing. After test, just snip it off, then unscrew from hose.

[This message has been edited by spark1 (edited 07-19-2011).]

Normally inside the valve box you have your valves with one side the header and the other feeding out to you separate zones. You would only have the one feed coming into the box, which would then be split through a manifold to each valve and each zone. You would have to clean out the box to see what is what.

The bad part is your valve box is a long way from the home, so there would be a lot of digging to follow the line back to the main shut off plus you would have to figure out where the control wires go. BUT, your main shut off for the sprinklers should be between your meter and main line feeding into the home and that does not look too big of an area to dig up (or probe). There has to be another box on your property that has the main feed shut off (it could be round in shape). Of course if the line to the home is new, they could have not plumbed the sprinklers back in.

header manifold in the top part of the box:

[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 07-19-2011).]

is it possible the neighbors might know if there is a system installed? Would the PO have pulled a permit for having one installed? Any signs of sprinkler heads at the corners of the property that might be hidden?

quote Originally posted by Mickey_Moose:

Fix that leak, it's costing you money. Well, so is watering your lawn.....

Brad

most of us are on wells for sprinklers in fla

city water costs way more then well water
city water also includes a huge fee for sewers if you have a sewer

the few who use city water to sprinkle use 2 meters one only for lawn watering
and that one is NOT billed for sewer if you have a sewer

so first look at your water bill
are you being billed for two meters ?
if not count meter to houses numbers
if you have two meters is the second one open ?? both valves [one in front and one behind the meter]

then look for a well or pump or power hook up for a well [ maybe they took the pump]
look at you fuse or breaker panel is there a well or sprinkler labeled spot or extra unknown one ?

btw you can't trace or detect pvc pipe only metal pipe
but you can trace wires

[This message has been edited by ray b (edited 07-20-2011).]

Some more info...

I bought a mechanics stethoscope and tried to trace the path of the pipe by hitting the pipes and following the sound...



The stick and red arrow follow the path of the pipe. I dug at the red arrow and found this:



Not one, but four pipes. I'm guessing the sprinklers primarily water the front lawn. One of the pipes made an abrupt right turn towards the house, and I got excited when it was around where the hose spigot is... Well I dug it up and it magically turned into black pipe.



I'm not 100% positive this pipe is the same as one of the pipes in the bundle, but at the very least it's carrying the sound from one of the pipes. *shrug*

I'm going to keep trying to follow the other pipes towards the meter, but it's a lot harder for some reason.

Edit: I guess it makes sense to run the main lines in PVC and the laterals in polyethylene?

[This message has been edited by ryan.hess (edited 07-20-2011).]

Disconnect one of your sprinkler heads and hook a hose to it and turn it on, put power to both solenoids that you have found. watch for a spring near your house or a waterfall in your garage.

The odds of me finding a sprinkler head is zero... Over the course of a year and a half, the vegetation and lawn took care of that. Maybe with a metal detector, but no local place rents 'em.

Well, there are companies that look for leaks, as they have special equipment. I am not sure of the cost, but it may be worth the effort. Or instead of water, you could connect up air to the lines and listen for the leak. With water connections, you will see/feel/hear water also. Just some thoughts.

quote Originally posted by jaskispyder: Well, there are companies that look for leaks, as they have special equipment. I am not sure of the cost, but it may be worth the effort. Or instead of water, you could connect up air to the lines and listen for the leak. With water connections, you will see/feel/hear water also. Just some thoughts.

Good idea. I do have a portable air tank, and the bleeder screws on the valves would be a good place to hook the air............

What about using a pipe snake? If you can disconnect at one point you might be able to figure out how far a straight pipe goes before hitting a sharp corner...

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: The odds of me finding a sprinkler head is zero... Over the course of a year and a half, the vegetation and lawn took care of that. Maybe with a metal detector, but no local place rents 'em.

Disconnect at the solenoid valve and hook up water there.

quote Originally posted by twofatguys: Fix that leak, it's costing you money. Well, so is watering your lawn..... Brad

...no leak, I opened the manual valve earlier to flush that line out.

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: Good idea. I do have a portable air tank, and the bleeder screws on the valves would be a good place to hook the air............

You will need alot more compressed air than a portable tank is capable of producing.

Probably the best way has already been mentioned - dig up the valves that you found, you can then remove the valves (assuming they used couplers and not glue) and feed either water or (lots of) compressed air into each line and see where it ends up.

On a side note, do all your outdoor taps work?

BTW - a metal detector may not work if the heads are plastic (not sure if the spring inside is enough to be picked up).

[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 07-20-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Mickey_Moose: ...no leak, I opened the manual valve earlier to flush that line out.

Cool beans.

Brad

I've been probing the soil with a metal rod, and I can follow the pipes up until I get to the mini palm tree. Then there are so many large roots that I don't know what's what. That said, however, the mystery deepens, because one of the pipes branches off and goes towards the house (near the hose bib). I completely forgot about it, but there is a PEX-type elbow sticking out there underneath the dryer vent.

It's not a condensate drain for the AC. Edit: turns out it's the water heater pressure relief. Blast.

[This message has been edited by ryan.hess (edited 07-26-2011).]

You're much more patient or determined than I. By this point, I've have rented a Bob Cat and tore up the yard. Or, given up and moved on to something else. Regardless, here's a bump for your thread.

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Ron

I found a place that rents ground penetrating radar for $225 an hour. Minimum 3 hours.

But that won't necessarily solve the problem of how do I turn on the water. Plus at that expense, it would be cheaper to plumb a new line.

Not sure about FL but, in KY, we can call a free service that will mark all lines running through a property. Keeps us from cutting phone, electric and fluid lines and saves everyone a lot of money. Only qualifier I'm aware of is you have to have a planned digging project.

Ron

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Ron

quote Originally posted by blackrams: Not sure about FL but, in KY, we can call a free service that will mark all lines running through a property. Keeps us from cutting phone, electric and fluid lines and saves everyone a lot of money. Only qualifier I'm aware of is you have to have a planned digging project. Ron

Thought about that...

quote Water and sewer companies locate main water lines in easements and rights-of-way and lines to a water meter, but may not locate the water facilities from a meter to a home or sewer laterals. Electric companies usually locate their lines to homes and businesses, but not those running to swimming pool pumps and heaters, irrigation systems or another building on the property. Private underground facilities can be located by hiring a contract locator or keeping a detailed drawing of where you placed the private lines.