22 July 2009

The Sprinkler Conspiracy

Although I haven't had a visit from the Men in Black, I have felt that something strange has been going on. You see, on Saturday I went to turn-on the sprinklers and when it hit the first station in the backyard, I noticed that the area by main line was gushing water. Okay, I changed the connection and everything was fine, right? Wrong! When the next station turned-on, I noticed the exact same thing was happening. Alright...I fixed that one as well. Today, When the last backyard station tuned-on, I noticed yet another break. So, what is the culprit behind these mysterious goings-on...a saddle tee. (A saddle tee, as shown in the picture below, is connected to the poly pipe and the screws or nuts are tightened down. You then take a reaming tool or just a drill and make a hole in the pipe. You can then add a riser and screw your sprinkler head onto that).

photo of a saddle tee

It was exactly ten years ago when I installed our backyard sprinkler system. Although in years past I had worked almost exclusively with PVC, I decided to go an easier route and use poly pipe. The connections were faster and it took next to no-time to lay the pipe. By using the saddle tees, I was able to be much more flexible in the positioning of my sprinkler heads and, I didn't have to cut-and-splice a compression tee in the line, which saved a great deal of time and aggravation.

Where is this all going? Well, I just wanted to advise any others out there that may have saddle tees that are getting-up there in age, to keep an eye out for this possible problem.

Now, I need to get cleaned-up just in case Agent Sculley decides to drop by.

6 comments:

  1. I understand what getting-up there in age means but don't know what a saddle tee is. I guess we'll hope there isn't gushing water in the backyard anytime soon! But if there is, won't my hubby be surprised when I tell him to check the saddle tees?!

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  2. BeadedTail: Sorry about that, I guess I should have explained what it is, instead of just showing a picture.
    You connect the saddle tee to the poly pipe and tighten the screws or nuts. You then take a reaming tool or just a drill and drill a hole in the pipe. You can then add a riser and screw your sprinkler head on that.
    I'll cut and paste this and place it in the article.
    Thanks for letting me know.

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  3. LOL, it's all greek to me!! Glad to hear you got it fixed though....

    And I have given you a "Major Award" over at my Soy Wax Candles Blog because your blog is very deserving!!

    Congrats!
    Kat

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  4. KAT: I wrote this late at night and my mind was already fried from working in the sun all day. I should have given a lot more detail as to what these connections do. Thank you for the award, I'll swing by and pick it up;)

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  5. I'm really glad I don't have to deal with sprinkler tees and other things because I'm getting up in age too. Thanks for the lesson Tim.

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  6. Mountain Woman: I guess these things only last about 10 years or so, because they seem to be all "kicking-the-bucket" all at the same time.

    ReplyDelete

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