SPRINKLER SYSTEM CONTROL
By
I just had a situation with
my sprinklers. One of my sprinkler zones did not come on early this AM as
scheduled. After thinking maybe a solenoid had gone bad, I thought I
would check the connections in my control box. After opening the control
panel cover, I had a wire to the affected zone hanging loose. I checked
all the other points of termination for the entire system and found all the
screws were loose. What causes this?
It is thermal expansion (everyday heating and cooling of metal causing
it to expand and contract thus loosening the screws). To see if this was
an anomaly of my system, I checked one of my neighbor’s box
since they are gone for a bit. Turns
out, he had the same loose screws. I highly suggest all residents to take
their Phillips screwdriver, open the control panel and
tighten every screw they see. This will help avoid a similar
problem. Here is the step by step to
check your system.
1. Open the
weatherproof box that houses your sprinkler system control panel.
2. Push the
snap lock to the left and swing the control panel open.
3. Using a
Phillips screwdriver, tighten all the screws.
If you have a wire hanging loose, reinsert it under the saddle attached
to the screw head and retighten the screw.
4. Since you’re
in the heart of the control panel, if you haven’t change the 9-Volt battery in
a while, put in a fresh one. This will
keep your programming in case of a power failure.
Doing this
very simple maintenance procedure may save you an expensive visit by the
sprinkler repair folks.