In the course of putting in the fence, three sprinkler issues came up — and need to be fixed before we go beyond the post stage.
First off, of course, was the sprinkler feed line that we, er, augered into (GLURSH). That needs to be patched, and the wiring that ran along it repaired.
Plus, two sprinkler heads need to be moved from one side of the to-be fence to the other. That’s going to leave some space behind the fence that’s covered only by the fringes of some of the sprinklers there, but the space out front is in more sun and needs more help.
I dealt with the second part (moving the sprinkler heads) first, digging trenches from where the heads are now to where they need to be. In one case, it was a simple two foot jog. In the other, I needed to change the actual coverage, since it’s near the corner of the fence. (In digging that one, I discovered that another of our post holes came within an inch of tearing up another sprinkler line. Yikes!)
Then it was a matter of digging into the bore hole where we struck water and … behold! A white plastic (PVC) pipe. Bigger than the black poly pipe used for all the normal sprinkler stuff, I realized that must be what the supply lines all are, which makes sense since they are always under pressure.
Now came the fun part. What pieces do I need?
You’d think that putting together sprinkler lines would be like … well, like connecting tinkertoy or something. Hah. In reality it’s a matter of combining different sizes of pipe (3/4″, 1/2″, riser 1/2″ which is actually 3/8″), plus different fixtures for each joint, male threaded riser joints, female threaded riser joints, flexible tubing, and, of course, the various arcs and heights of sprinkler heads. It’s like a puzzle where there may be multiple ways of putting it together, but you may not have all the pieces you actually need to do so — and, in some cases, some combinations of pieces (3/4″ male pipe insert right angle to 1/2″ female riser opening) may not actually be even manufatured.
Throw in the new, added dimension of the white plastic pipe, and it’s all hugely exciting. Heh.
So I wrote down a list of what I needed, and headed off for the local sprinkler parts store. It’s closer than Home Depot, and it has a better selection, and the staff is definitely more knowledgable. On the other hand, I always feel like an idiot when I go there, even though the staff is also quite friendly and helpful.
So that’s where I learned that there’s a difference between 1/2″ poly pipe and 1/2″ poly riser pipe (the stuff that’s actually 3/8″).
Picked up everything I needed, and headed home.
Except it never quite works that way. I got home and discovered that while I could rebuild one of the sprinkler lines ….
… I didn’t pick up the right size of collars for patching the white feeder pipe (though it turned out I did have the right size of pipe in the garage to create the patch piece with).
… and it turned out that, dagnabbit, I was missing the one set of pieces I’d taken for granted — the little metal crimping sleeves that hold the PVC pipe to the joint fixtures.
So that’s tomorrow’s trip …