Capping Off Sprinker

[Chrstine]

Hello,

We have 11 zones. There are 2 sprinkler control boxes in the front yard and 2 in the back yard. We only use 2 zones in the front and we did not activate other zones for several years. However, I always ask sprinkler company to test all zone to make sure that there is no water leak.

After our sprinkler company activated our system this year, we experienced water leak from one of the control boxes in the back later. It seemed that the PVC pipe was broken so they repaired it. And then, we found another leak in the same box a few days later and it was another part of PVC pipe. Now, our sprinkler company wants to just cap off the connection to the sprinkler boxes because we do not activate zones in the back.

However, someone told me that it is not good to leave it capped off like that permanently because of air pressure and I should repair the whole system in the back.

Is it true that it is not good to leave it just capped off?

 

[Jadnashua]

It think you'd be better served with installing a valve where that line branches out from your normal house plumbing. Having a long stub of essentially stagnant water under pressure isn't ideal even though code requires a special backflow valve to it. That way, you could drain down (probably require blowing it out with an air compressor) the line and never worry about it unless you wanted to put it back into service.

 

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[Chrstine]

It think you'd be better served with installing a valve where that line branches out from your normal house plumbing. Having a long stub of essentially stagnant water under pressure isn't ideal even though code requires a special backflow valve to it. That way, you could drain down (probably require blowing it out with an air compressor) the line and never worry about it unless you wanted to put it back into service.

Thanks for replying.

I already went through so much trouble installing new PVB a few years ago and I cannot install something different at this point because I will be away very soon for several months so I do not have enough time... ( I only have 2 days to fix this problem...)

I may consider your suggestion in the future but these are my only options for now according to the sprinkler company: Either keep the sprinkler capped off or replace the whole system in the back. Should I not keep the sprinkler capped off and just replace the whole system? I wonder whether replacing the whole system will even work, because we invest on the system that we will not use and still keep the air pressure for future same problems...

 

[Jadnashua]

Normally, there is only pressure up to the zone control valve. On many systems, when it is shut off for the season, there's another shutoff in a controlled area that can be shut off, the exterior piping can be drained, so that there's no possibility of the lines freezing and cracking or splitting something. Being in NJ, your frost line is probably down a ways, and your piping probably doesn't run that deep so the leak could have been caused by this past winter's long, cold spell if there was enough water in there - it doesn't take much.

Maybe someone else will have another opinion. Personally, if I were not using the system, I'd not really want to spend money replacing it; I'd just try to isolate it so you don't waste water (which can get quite expensive!) and not very good environmentally, either.

 

[Chrstine]

Thanks for the reply.

We winterized last year so I do not understand why we had leaks...

We just installed a faucet/valve where it was capped off, because our sprinkler guy told me that it is difficult to winterize if we just leave it capped off. I hope this was the best solution and we do not have any more water leak issue.