Bought a Fort Worth Home With a Sprinkler System? What to Check First

When you buy a house with a sprinkler system, you usually inherit it with no manual, no zone map and no idea how long it has been since anyone looked at it. The previous owner may have kept it in great shape, or it may have a leak that has been running for months. This article covers what to find, test and set up in the first few weeks at a Fort Worth home.

Find the Key Parts

Before anything goes wrong, you should know where these parts are:

• The water meter. Usually in a box near the street. You will use it to check for leaks.
• The irrigation isolation valve. This shuts off water to the sprinkler system only. It is usually between the meter and the backflow preventer.
• The backflow preventer. A brass assembly with two valves and small test ports, often near the house or the meter.
• The controller. Usually in the garage, sometimes on an outside wall.
• The valve boxes. Green or black lids in the lawn or beds, often near the house or along a fence.
• The rain and freeze sensor, if there is one. Often mounted on a fence, gutter or roof edge.

Valve boxes are the ones people have the most trouble finding, since they are often covered by grass or mulch. Our guide to finding buried valve boxes has tips.

Check for Leaks First

With no water running in or outside the house, look at the water meter. If the leak indicator or dial is moving, water is going somewhere. Close the irrigation isolation valve and look again. If the movement stops, the leak is on the irrigation side. Our guide on using your water meter to test for sprinkler leaks explains the steps in detail.

Run Every Zone and Make a Map

Run each zone from the controller for a minute or two. Write down which area each zone waters, what type of heads it uses and any problems you see. Draw a rough sketch of the yard and mark zones and valve box locations. This map will save time on every future repair. Our zone-by-zone system check lists what to look for in each zone.

Set the Controller for Fort Worth’s Watering Rules

Fort Worth allows residential irrigation systems to run twice a week on assigned days. Addresses ending in an even number water on Wednesday and Saturday. Addresses ending in an odd number water on Thursday and Sunday. No one may run an irrigation system on Monday, and systems may not run between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on any day.

The previous owner’s program may not match your address or the current rules, so check it. Clear old programs you do not understand and set a new one. Our guide to programming your controller for Fort Worth’s watering days walks through it.

Check the Rain and Freeze Sensor

Fort Worth requires rain and freeze sensors on residential irrigation systems installed on or after June 1, 2007. If your house was built after that, it should have one. Make sure the sensor is connected and turned on at the controller. Many controllers have a switch or setting to bypass the sensor, and it is sometimes left in bypass. See our article on rain and freeze sensors for how to test it.

Look at the Backflow Preventer

Check the backflow assembly for cracks, drips and missing parts. Note whether it has any kind of insulated cover for winter. If the assembly looks damaged or leaks, have it looked at before the first freeze. Any replacement in Fort Worth requires a permit and a test by a registered tester.

Ask the Seller or Builder for Records

It never hurts to ask for any paperwork the seller has: the original irrigation plan, a maintenance checklist, backflow test reports, or receipts for repairs. Fort Worth’s irrigation rules call for the installer to provide a maintenance checklist when a new system is installed, and it lists where key parts are. If you bought a newer home from a builder, ask them for it.

Watch the First Water Bills

Your first few bills are a baseline. If they are much higher than you expected for a house of that size, and you have ruled out indoor leaks, look closer at the irrigation system. Our article on high water bills and sprinkler leaks explains what to look for.

Plan for the Seasons

Fort Worth summers are hot and winters are usually mild with occasional hard freezes. Plan to adjust your run times through the year, protect the backflow preventer before freezes, and do a system check each spring.

If you would rather have a technician go through the whole system with you, our sprinkler repair service can inspect it, fix what is broken and show you where everything is.

Keep a Simple Record

Keep a note on your phone or in a folder with your zone map, the controller model, the backflow preventer location and any repairs you make. Add the date each time you do a system check. When something breaks later, that record tells a technician what has already been done and saves time on the visit.