A sprinkler system fails quietly. The controller keeps running its schedule, and you do not notice until you see a brown patch, a soggy corner, or a water bill that jumped $40. Catch these signs early and a $5 part fixes the problem before it kills the lawn.
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Walk every zone with the system running. Any one of these is reason enough to schedule a check.
The stem is stuck or broken inside the body. Water still flows but goes underground or sideways. Spray pattern fails completely for that head.
A head sprays straight up instead of in a pattern. Usually a snapped nozzle or sheared cap from a lawnmower hit. Replace the head, not just the nozzle.
A specific section of the lawn is browning while the rest is fine. Either coverage has dropped (broken head nearby) or a zone is no longer running.
Wet ground 24+ hours after the last watering means a leak. Cracked pipe near a head, failed valve, or head that does not seat.
Heads dribble instead of throwing spray. Clogged filter, partially closed valve, or pressure loss from a leak somewhere on the line.
Pattern has drifted. Either the head has rotated or the nozzle has worn. Fix in 5 minutes with an adjustment screwdriver or new nozzle.
A $40–$80 jump in your summer bill almost always traces to a single broken head or a slow leak. The bill is often the first symptom, not the last.
The schedule advances but a zone is dry. Either the valve solenoid failed, the wiring corroded, or the controller program is misconfigured.
Not every sign is an emergency. Some can wait until your next sprinkler check reminder fires. Others need to be dealt with before the next watering cycle.
Geysering head, mainline leak with water bubbling up between zones, backflow leaking continuously, zone running by itself with the controller off, or any flooding inside a structure adjacent to the system.
Single broken head, weak spray on one zone, dry patches, misaligned spray pattern, soggy spot smaller than a foot across, or controller program oddities. Set a reminder for the same weekend.
A broken sprinkler head replaced in week one costs $5 in parts and 15 minutes of your Saturday. The same broken head ignored for a month wastes 6,000+ gallons of water, adds $30 to $80 to your water bill, and leaves a dry patch that takes the rest of the season to recover. The cost ratio is usually 1:10 or worse.
Walk every zone once a month during the watering season. Most signs reveal themselves in the first three minutes a zone runs. For the deeper checks that catch what monthly walks miss, see how often to check your sprinkler system.
Run the zone and watch each head pop up. Common failures: the head does not pop up at all (broken stem or stuck riser), water sprays sideways or straight up (cracked nozzle), water pours out around the base (cracked body), or the pattern overshoots the lawn onto pavement (misaligned or worn nozzle).
Yes, dramatically more. A broken or missing head can release 10 to 12 gallons per minute compared to 1 to 2 gallons per minute for a properly functioning head. Over a single watering cycle, that single broken head can dump hundreds of gallons onto your sidewalk.
A spike in your summer water bill almost always traces back to either a broken sprinkler head or a leak at a valve. The system runs on schedule, the controller does not know anything is wrong, and the bill is the first place the problem shows up. Walk every zone the day you notice the spike.
A residential underground sprinkler system lasts 20 years on average, with pop-up heads needing replacement every 10 to 15 years and controllers every 10 to 12 years. Backflow preventers last longer if maintained, but most need a rebuild kit around 15 years in.
A soggy spot that persists 24 to 48 hours after the last watering is a leak. The most common causes are a cracked underground pipe near the head, a failed valve diaphragm leaking constantly, or a head that no longer seats properly. Schedule a check that week. Do not wait.
Same-day: geysering head, mainline leak (water bubbling up from the lawn between zones), backflow leaking continuously, or any zone running by itself with the controller off. Scheduled within a week: dry patches, weak spray, single broken head, misaligned pattern, controller not advancing zones correctly.
Free. No account. A monthly walk-through reminder during watering season plus the seasonal start-up and shutdown reminders that anchor the year.
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