I discovered that I have 3 valves that are wrapped around a gigantic tree root; see picture. I noticed the dirt was moist. And I know that at least 1 valve is bad. Possibly 2 in this physical area.
I am getting a little worried that this is a job that may be require some advanced skills or a lot of man hours to fix. I am probably going to call a professional.
What should I be looking to do here? Reroute the lines? Cut the roots? Any tips or suggestions?
Part of the problem is that I'm finding it hard to find people that repair sprinklers. A lot of companies tell me they only do new installations. (North Texas area)
Best Answer
I don't leave my smartphone out in the rain. Under that same logic, I don't install GFCIs outdoors either. Outdoors is a hostile place to equipment.
Those poor valves there, seem to have wound up in Fangorn Forest. My first reaction would be to get them outta there.
I can see not wanting to mount them indoors because if they leak, you have a flood. However, you ought to be able to find a nice, safe location for a control cabinet... Somewhere you can keep these out of the weather, and far away from carnivorous flora. Where the valves can be manifolded and easy to cutout and swap, and where the wiring can be done "in a neat, workmanlike manner" like Code requires. When you need to get to something, you just lift a lid and it's all at arm's reach.
Obviously you'll need a bit more pipe, but by and large, pipe is fire-and-forget. The first you hear of a problem is when you get a boil of water instead of normal irrigation, then you dig up the pipe and lay around the problem. Won't happen very often.
Obviously, laying pipe next to tree roots is asking to have a problem later; don't do that at all.