X-core irrigation system

water sprayer in the lawn

The plastic cap was blown off to the ground because of pressure from ice in winter.

I am planning to travel in two weeks and have been trying to turn on automatic irrigation X-core hunter system.  I have to admit that this is the first time I live in a house with such a system.  In winter,  I turned it off; so I think it will be a piece of cake to turn it back on; but I was wrong.  I studied the user manual of the X-core controller system located in the garage and water several youtube videos, located the valve control green boxes and manually turned on the valve. Still there was no water. The only thing I did was  to turn off fixtures outside the house in winter where it had an ice mountain forming because of water leakage.  So the culprit is the fixture outside the house —-pressure vacuum breaker.– I will need to replace the copper casing. It has deformed, unable to prevent water from leaking, so the water valve that controls water flowing into the irrigation system has to be turned off.

The youtube videos on home irrigation systems are helpful in their own ways. However, to solve the problem,  you need to put all the videos together combining your specific situation to reach a conclusion and get your irrigation system working. In order to help you avoid wasting time to fix your irrigation system, I am going to give an overview of how the irrigation system work.

1. Terminals—-You will see black plastic tubes (drips) hanging near trees or shrubs in your yard, or round plastic valves flat on the ground in your lawn. Those are terminals where water can drip or spray.
2.  underground pipes/connectors that are often buried, thus not visible.
3.  On the circumference of your house, often near the water meter, you will see some rectangular greenish plastic covers. Open them, you can see pvc pipers and wires that control water from the source to the pipes. You can manually turn on valves. If water source is connected to the pipe, water will start out from the terminals (irrigating your lawn, shrubs, and trees).  If no water comes out, you probably had turned off water source–often the valves—in the Pressure vacuum breakers.  In my case, I turned it off  in winter after noticing iceberg formed about it.
   
   

   inside the green box, you turn the knob with red wire manually–irrigation will be on if water source is connected.

4. Pressure vacuum breaker— the fixture is used to prevent water in the irrigation system back into the drinking water system in the house. By its name, it is a safety fixture just as circuit breaker. In my case, the copper casting needs replacement, not the whole system. The cost is around $20 if you buy from ebay, and more if buying from hardware stores or amazon.  It does not require you to replace the whole system–which will cost more than $100.
5.  The electronic system located in your garage is to turn on or off the valves in the green box (printed with irrigation valves) either manually or set up a scheduled automatic system—I have an X-core system–there are tons of videos on youtube. Following the manual is enough. Videos do not offer much additional information.  You can set up several schedules–for mine–I can have A or B schedule, which allows you to set up different watering time and schedule, say, for lawns /vegetable gardens, and trees/shrubs.
   
6. Winterizing—–you can pay professional to do it. Now after owning the house for nearly a year, I know I will need to turn off the controller in the garage and the water valves on the pressure vacuum breaker when Winter sets in.

What I learned for my irrigation system

1. I will need to replace the water pressure breaker–the metal casting and the cap to seal water so that I can turn the water valve on—-to feed the irrigation system. The cost is about $20.
2. Winterize the system before winter sets in—turn off the water valve in the pressure breaker in addition to turn the dial in the controller to off.