irrigationpreparationsprinkler-system
Every spring some company comes out and "charges" our sprinkler system. Can someone explain what this is and whether or not this is something I can do?
It basically seems like they come out, turn on the water to the system, run each zone, and check if all the heads are operational.
What am I missing?
First thing to check: is there (or was there) a well? If your sprinkler system is attached to a well, then this is the first thing to check. Make sure it's on and operating correctly.
If it's not attached to a well, then it's just a matter of tracing the pipes, possibly from each end. Locate the main shutoff in the house and any lines running to unknown locations, particularly back outside. Make sure all valves are open. Then from outside, trace the line running back into the house and check if there are any access panels in the path that could be hiding a valve.
Finally, just an obvious check, check your breakers and make sure the system doesn't have a rain switch that has been activated.
The size and configuration of the entire piping system that supplies your irrigation setup, from point of entry to your property (usually the water meter) all the way to each sprinkler head, along with pressure, determines how much water is available. Pressure is just one piece of the puzzle.
If there is a regulator on your system it would typically be found on the main water supply pipe, between the main municipal supply/meter and your home (upstream of everything, basically). You should understand that regulators are installed for a reason; removing, bypassing, or adjusting it could cause complications up to and including failure of system components (i.e. flood). Normally, if high delivery pressure necessitates installation of a regulator, then all your neighbors would have one as well. It would be prudent to do some asking around. Regulators usually look something like this:
In the end, the cause of your problem is usually due to undersized piping. the fact that your neighbor used a different irrigation installer and seems to have no issues points to that as well. You would be surprised at how much more water flows through a 1" pipe compared to a 3/4" pipe:
By taking pressure measurements (both static and with water flowing) and noting pipe sizes and configuration, an educated layperson (and certainly a landscaping professional) could diagnose the issue fairly quickly.
Best Answer
This is absolutely something that you can do!
You will want to find he first / main valve box. It's usually the largest one and often rectangular. It's usually adjacent to your house, or to your water meter.
Open the cover, and identify all blowout valves. They are often quarter-turn ball valves. There are four brass blow out valves in this example with little black caps on their connections to keep dirt and bugs out:
Check that each of the blow out valves are solidly closed. It not, close it. You may need a straight blade screw driver.
Then, open the larger flow shut-off valves of which there are two in the picture above. The handle should be parallel with the pipe when it's open for every such valve I've come across. You should hear a brief 'whoosh' of water when you do this, and if you'll stay dry if all of your blow out valves are closed.
Then go to the controller and run each zone one at a time and look at the heads to confirm they're working properly. Adjust the heads if you want (though you could do that any time of year). If any are broken, flag them and call your sprinkler guy to fix (or head to his supply warehouse and buy the parts to do so yourself).
Charging someone to 'turn on' their sprinkler system in the spring is the biggest scam in the book. In my part of the country there's no annual requirement to check backflow on residential, and sprinkler companies don't anyway. I've helped out neighbors by turning their on, and It doesn't take me 3 minutes, in the dark.
Charging someone to 'turn off' their system is likewise also a huge rip-off, unless they're also going to thoroughly blow the system out to prevent freezing damage in applicable climates. Even then if you don't watch them do it they can easily do a partial job to save time, so I have never paid someone to blow my system out.
Biggest advantage to paying for sprinkler 'winterization' I can think of is there's an implied responsibility if they do it wrong and your system is damaged, but good luck proving it if they want to argue about it.
Also you need a very good (high flow rate) compressor to blow your system out, or to rent one made for that purpose.