Sprinkler Hell

This is day three of trying to work on a set of sprinklers in my front yard. So you get an accurate picture, this section of front yard is about 40 square feet. Considering the other section, it's small. I am going to change this section from grass into drought tolerant plants.

There is a Raindrip product out there that states you can just outfit your current sprinkler system into drip irrigation...don't even think about it, it doesn't work. Changing your sprinklers to drip irrigation pretty much requires an overhaul, so the easy option will not work. Trust me, I tried it. Granted, I learned a LOT about sprinkler systems that I otherwise wouldn't.

I had some parts leftover from that conversion system and tried them out. They attempt to block the water coming out of the sprinkler head. Essentially you remove the guts and install a plastic device that prevents the water from coming out. What they fail to mention is, this doesn't work on normal water pressure sprinklers. You have to put a pressure regulator at the beginning of the line, then it should work.

Day One
Installed sprinkler plugs, watched water slowly seep out of sprinklers. Figured out it was still less water coming out than when I "turned off" the sprinkler at the head...I hate the Orbit brand, by the way. Found out there was a"new" sprinkler that was covered by 4 inches of grass and dirt. Swore a lot.

Day Two
Decided I was actually going to go ahead with my plan on the drought tolerant garden, in order to save money every month on the water bill. (I live in California. Once the actual gold rush was over, they decided to make water more valuable than gold.)

I dug up what I thought would be the beginning sprinkler head in the system. An hour later, of digging up cement-like dirt, I found out that it was NOT the beginning sprinkler. I also found out that it didn't seem to be connected to the other sprinklers...at least in a way that would make sense.

I dug up the next sprinkler in line, thinking this would be the one! It wasn't, and it seemed to be going towards the sprinkler that didn't seem connected to the others?! I swore a bit. I decided that maybe it connected to the third sprinkler and started digging the pipe up. Another hour later, the pipe turned AWAY from the third sprinkler.

At this point I got out my pipe cutters and fixed both sprinkler heads forever, they are capped off underground. Dirt is filled back in. Only two more sprinklers to go!

Day Three
Began digging up the fourth sprinkler (and the random sprinkler that is attached to the flower garden; don't ask, I have no idea), because it is close to another garden and a sidewalk. It's location seems the most likely to be the source of water. Ha ha ha....

Fortunately this dirt was nice and soft, once you got around/through the tree roots. I discovered that there was a small leak in the pipe and we were personally responsible for watering this awful tree. (My neighbors keep trying to kill the thing, but evidently I was watering it. Oops.)

I was so excited to finally dig out the pipes feeding the sprinklers!

When I dug down to the pipes and discovered not only were they not the inlet, both were leading away from any other attached sprinkler, I actually sat down and cried.

I started digging along the line in hopes of finding the inlet. After about two hours, I found where the pipes turned...one went toward the other random pipes and the other was a T junction. So now I have at least 4 pipes that somehow have to attach to an inlet source, and each other, but don't...yet.

However, now that I'm away from the leaking pipe, the dirt has turned back into cement consistency and I have run out of energy/muscle power. Since I am an optimist, I keep telling myself that I'll find the inlet in the next foot of dirt. (I'm wrong a lot - but only when it comes to my optimism.) I tried to get the kids to help, but I think after they witnessed me sit down and cry, they seem to think they should stay far away from this project. (Even the 8 year old neighbor girl, after looking at the pipes, told me, "Those don't look right.")

In response to my optimism being continually smashed by the sprinklers at this house I've decided that my following thoughts are justified. 

I have just reserved a special spot in hell for the sprinkler installer, who previously worked on my home. (He will share company with the person who used so many carpet staples when they installed the carpet padding.)

Every time this person needs to go somewhere, he has to dig up cement-like dirt in order to find the pipes. Once he finds the pipes, he can only travel in the direction that the pipes lead. At some point, he should be able to figure out what is a straight line and an acceptable way to lay pipe.

As for the carpet stapler guy....every time he needs to take a step, he has to remove the carpet staples from his shoes. At some point, he should figure out that 100 staples per square inch is overkill.

Now I need to go finish digging up my lawn. I can't leave the holes in the yard. The HOA would probably not like it, and some idiot would step in and break something. Wish me luck!