Irrigation systems do most of their work underground and out of sight. That means problems can develop for weeks before you notice them. Here are the seven signs we get called about most often — and what they typically indicate.
1. Dry Patches That Won't Go Away
If one section of your lawn stays brown even after watering, something is wrong with coverage in that zone. The most common causes: a broken or clogged head that isn't rotating properly, a head that's tilted or sunken below grade, or a zone with insufficient pressure to reach the edges.
What to do: Run that zone manually and walk the area. If a head isn't popping up, isn't rotating, or is spraying in the wrong direction, that's your problem.
2. Soggy or Waterlogged Spots
Consistently wet ground — especially when the system hasn't run recently — usually means a slow leak in a lateral pipe, a stuck-open valve, or a cracked fitting. These leaks can go on for weeks without surfacing visibly.
What to do: If your water bill is spiking and you can't explain it, walk your yard after the system has been off for 24 hours and feel for soft, wet ground in unexpected places.
3. One Zone Won't Turn On
A zone that refuses to run on its own but works when activated manually at the valve usually has an electrical problem — either a bad solenoid on the valve or a break in the wire between the controller and valve. If it won't run either way, the valve diaphragm may have failed.
What to do: Check the controller for error codes. If there are none and the zone won't activate, the issue is almost always a solenoid ($15–40 part) or the valve itself.
4. Very Low Pressure in One Zone
If heads in a zone are barely popping up or not throwing water far enough, pressure is the issue. Possible causes: a partially closed valve, a broken pipe on that zone's main lateral, or a pressure regulator that's failing.
What to do: Check that the zone's valve is fully open. If it is, you likely have a pipe break somewhere on the lateral.
5. The System Won't Start At All
If nothing runs when scheduled or when you try to activate it manually from the controller, first check whether the controller has power. Then check whether the main shut-off valve at the backflow preventer is open. If both are fine, you may have a bad master valve or a blown transformer in the controller.
What to do: Reset the controller. If it's still not activating any zones, call a tech — diagnosing the master valve and controller circuitry takes a multimeter.
6. Heads Spraying in Wrong Directions or Spinning Wrong
Rotary heads can get bumped by lawn equipment or shift over time. They can also wear out — especially older gear-drive heads that lose their internal resistance and spin too fast or too slow.
What to do: Heads that are just misaligned can usually be adjusted by hand or with a small screwdriver. Heads that have physically shifted need to be pulled and repositioned. Heads spinning at the wrong speed need to be replaced.
7. Your Water Bill Is Climbing for No Clear Reason
If your outdoor water use jumps noticeably between billing cycles and nothing about your schedule changed, the system is likely running more than you think — either from a programming error or from a valve that's leaking water through even when the zone is off.
What to do: Check your controller's schedule to confirm run times are what you expect. Then do the soggy spot test mentioned in #2 to look for a leaking valve.
Caught early, most of these problems cost under $200 to fix. Left alone for a season, the same problems can damage your lawn, run up your water bill by hundreds, and require significantly more repair work. If you're seeing any of these signs and aren't sure what's causing them, call us — we diagnose over the phone and can usually tell you what it is before we even come out.