Did you know that one leaking sprinkler head can lose five gallons of water per minute? You might not realize it until you get a huge water bill. You may have clogged or broken sprinkler heads and not know it until your greenery is dead, resulting in a loss of your landscaping investment. This is especially true during the hot Texas summer months in areas that have watering restrictions. To avoid these unfortunate events, it is essential that you have your irrigation system audited and inspected on a monthly basis by a commercial irrigation maintenance professional. The audit assesses your system design and functionality while the inspection ensures that all components are functioning properly and efficiently. Both uncover watering issues that can make a big difference to your landscaping investment and your bottom line.
Monthly Inspections
For HOAs and commercial properties in Frisco and surrounding areas, a monthly inspection routine from March through October is very important. This is to ensure that your irrigation system is functioning properly throughout the long growing season in Texas. The goal is to provide the appropriate amount of water to your plants, trees and turf while also considering water conservation, which is necessary for both economic and environmental reasons. The commercial irrigation maintenance inspection includes an audit of your evolving landscape to evaluate the changes and additions of plants, trees and other elements, as well as the needs of maturing plants. These things often require adjustments and updates to ensure that the system design and functionality is ideal for your landscape.
Leave It to the Irrigation Professional
During the commercial irrigation maintenance inspection, the technician will run each zone of the system individually to observe water distribution and check all working components of the system. Many of the system components are not visible, making it difficult for a non-professional to realize when and where there is a problem. The sprinklers turn on, so you might think everything is running well when in reality, the system is leaking or using water inefficiently. Sprinkler heads are examined and adjusted when needed and system run times are changed as necessary. Broken or malfunctioning parts are replaced or repaired. If plants and turf are not receiving enough water coverage, this could indicate an irrigation system design issue that needs to be addressed.
Auditing the System
The monthly inspection includes an audit of the system design to check for common problems. Each zone is checked to ensure water efficiency and conservation. By watching how the system operates, the technician identifies how water is distributed. The functionality of all key components such as backflow preventers, rain sensors, controllers, and all irrigation heads is assessed. The technician identifies any zones that combine landscape beds and turf because these areas should be separated due to their differences in water requirements. Because plants need more water than turf, the best design is to have them in separate zones. Irrigation lines are checked to make sure they are buried to the proper depth. If they are too close to the surface, they can freeze if there is an early or late season temperature drop. If they are not buried at least 12 inches deep, they can be damaged by landscaping equipment such as edgers, shovels and aerator lines. The technician also checks to make sure that the appropriate type of sprayhead is used for each area that it covers. If water is pooling on the sidewalk or other inappropriate areas, the proper sprayhead should be used to avoid water waste through overspray. For landscape beds and plants, drip irrigation is the best way to water efficiently while rotary sprayheads are the best option for turf. Drip irrigation systems are often added to update and improve the efficiency of existing systems.
Don’t make the mistake of letting your HOA or commercial irrigation system run without routine maintenance. A monthly check-up will keep your system running properly and provide the most effective and conservative amount of water to your commercial landscape. Even small tweaks and modifications can make a big difference in water savings and the cost of your landscape investment.
If you are a commercial property or HOA manager in the Frisco area, contact us to talk about an audit and inspection of your commercial irrigation system. We are familiar with the specific regulations in our area and come highly recommended.
Check out the Frisco Water-wise Website
