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Landscape Design Irrigation Plumbing

Looking for a irrigation system leak sensor? Is there such a thing?

ivan_turbinca_2

last year

last modified: last year

I have an Orbit Wifi B-hyve controller and a three zones manifold (three inline valves). I am looking for a way to determine if the water flows through the irrigation system when it should not (ex one of the valves fails or there is a crack in the system and the water leaks through that) I am not very comfortable with the idea that I will have PVC in the ground parallel with my house. This could leak and cause a basement flood before I get to know (I night time leak or while I am away could be disastrous not for the amount of water wasted but for water leaking into the basement (old house -might have foundation cracks I do not know about) What is a standard solution in situations like this ?

Comments (4)

klem1
last year
Once in a while I have to ask "are you serious"? If there is a device that can determine whether a line will bust or develop a leak in the future I'd love to know where to buy one.
ivan_turbinca_2
Original Author
last year
Received a more constructive answer somewhere else: install a main valve, connect it to the pump terminals of B-hyve. Then you have redundancy and a smaller probability that two things will break at the same time
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I disagree a controller is a great way to save water and to control water waist. The issue here is that the sprinklers were not coming on at a good time to irrigate. You should always run your sprinklers in the early morning. The wind is not blowing in the early hours and also it will reduce the chance of fungi infecting your lawn. You can always add a rain sensor and a wind sensor that will turn off your controller in those situations. Here is a link that might be useful: when should i water
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hoyess, I would first ascertain that there is no leak. Observe the water meter when there should be no water usage anywhere in the system. If it records usage, that would indicate a leak anywhere in the whole system. If you can eliminate all other sources, then the leak is likely to be in the irrigation section. That can account for the "green" area around some of the heads either because they get more water or there is algae present in the constantly wet area. You indicate that the system is aged and it may well be time to clean or even replace heads. Where flow is a problem throughout a whole zone, this is likely to be a blocked supply line to that zone. You can try removing the sprinkler at the end of that zone and running the zone to blow out the line.
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Oh I forgot to tell you that I broke one of the small pipes when I tried to remove this part. I was lucky that my neighbor (mechanic) helped me out for free to fix it for less than $10 by using 3/4" CPVC Thread Slip x Slip Coupling Fitting and JB Well. If these auto-drain parts break again, I will block those two pipe holes permanently. I don't mind to pay the cost of these two auto-drain parts; but I don't want to pay high water bill when they break down. Another thing after the fix, I noticed that the water came out from each sprinkler head stronger than before. Again thank you for your help.
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kudzu9
last year
Or you can just regularly take a look at your water meter, which will show movement with even the tiniest leak.
ivan_turbinca_2
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
if the failure happens when I am not around (vacation) then the above recommendation can't be applied

Having a main valve that is failing at the same time with a pipe or manifold valve failure is very unlikely.

The main valve will make sure that even if the system fails downstream of that valve the system will be off excepting the short time when the watering program kicks in. I can live with that risk which is far smaller than having the irrigation system all the time loaded and under pressure (when there is no main valve for the system)

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