I've got an underground sprinkler that stays on all the time. It looks
like we have seven zones in the yard. We found a buried control box for
four zones, unfortunately not the one that controls the suspect
sprinkler. We've been all over the yard and can't find a second control
box. Any suggestions on how we can locate the second control box is
greatly appreciated. As you may surmise, we're not the original owner
of the home.
Thanks in advance.

wrote in message
ups.com...
I've got an underground sprinkler that stays on all the time. It looks
like we have seven zones in the yard. We found a buried control box for
four zones, unfortunately not the one that controls the suspect
sprinkler. We've been all over the yard and can't find a second control
box. Any suggestions on how we can locate the second control box is
greatly appreciated. As you may surmise, we're not the original owner
of the home.
Thanks in advance.


I had that same problem, I called the original owner and asked them.
Jim

Thanks. Unfortunately, they've passed away. They had kept good
documentation on the house in general but unfortunately the sprinkler
layout wasn't part of it.


On Jan 26, 11:42 am, "Jimi" wrote:
wrote in oglegroups.com...

I've got an underground sprinkler that stays on all the time. It looks
like we have seven zones in the yard. We found a buried control box for
four zones, unfortunately not the one that controls the suspect
sprinkler. We've been all over the yard and can't find a second control
box. Any suggestions on how we can locate the second control box is
greatly appreciated. As you may surmise, we're not the original owner
of the home.
Thanks in advance. I had that same problem, I called the original owner and asked them.
Jim

On Jan 26, 10:37 am, wrote:
I've got an underground sprinkler that stays on all the time. It looks
like we have seven zones in the yard. We found a buried control box for
four zones, unfortunately not the one that controls the suspect
sprinkler. We've been all over the yard and can't find a second control
box. Any suggestions on how we can locate the second control box is
greatly appreciated. As you may surmise, we're not the original owner
of the home.
Thanks in advance.


If the previos owner is available , contact him and ask. You can
sometimes make a guess by making a map of the sprinkler locations and
control box. Once you have the chart of the known 4 zones and the rest
of the sprinklers.

Other than that is there a master valve at the house for the entire
system. ?

On Jan 26, 10:37 am, wrote:
I've got an underground sprinkler ...looks like ...seven zones ...found a buried control box for
four zones [but] can't find a second control box. ...

If the suggestions of the previous owner or the logical plan/layout
don't pan out, the underground wire tracer is the next best bet. I'm
fortunate to have a friend who did the sprinkler stuff for a while and
had one to borrow, you may find one at a rental or might just bite the
bullet and call a service company to help locate it the first time.

I've no idea whether could find one to rent---that's also a
possibility. Haven't looked into how inexpensive a current one might
be had for, either--others likely can also provide that info.

"dpb" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jan 26, 10:37 am, wrote:
I've got an underground sprinkler ...looks like ...seven zones ...found a
buried control box for
four zones [but] can't find a second control box. ...

If the suggestions of the previous owner or the logical plan/layout
don't pan out, the underground wire tracer is the next best bet. I'm
fortunate to have a friend who did the sprinkler stuff for a while and
had one to borrow, you may find one at a rental or might just bite the
bullet and call a service company to help locate it the first time.

I've no idea whether could find one to rent---that's also a
possibility. Haven't looked into how inexpensive a current one might
be had for, either--others likely can also provide that info.


Do you need a building permit to install underground sprinklers? If so, I
wonder if the location of all items might be listed, particularly since
there would be concern about installing near gas & water lines.

On Jan 26, 11:17 am, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"dpb" wrote in ooglegroups.com...
....
...the underground wire tracer is the next best bet.
....
Do you need a building permit to install underground sprinklers? If so, I
wonder if the location of all items might be listed, particularly since
there would be concern about installing near gas & water lines.

Nowhere I'm aware of, certainly. The depth of a lawn sprinkler system
barely scratches the ground, nothing close to the depth of any utilites
so the interaction there is of minimal concern at most.

"dpb" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jan 26, 11:17 am, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"dpb" wrote in
ooglegroups.com...
...
...the underground wire tracer is the next best bet.
...
Do you need a building permit to install underground sprinklers? If so, I
wonder if the location of all items might be listed, particularly since
there would be concern about installing near gas & water lines.

Nowhere I'm aware of, certainly. The depth of a lawn sprinkler system
barely scratches the ground, nothing close to the depth of any utilites
so the interaction there is of minimal concern at most.


How deep are the pipes under the soil?

On Jan 26, 12:55 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"dpb" wrote in ooglegroups.com...

On Jan 26, 11:17 am, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"dpb" wrote in
ooglegroups.com...
...
...the underground wire tracer is the next best bet.
...
Do you need a building permit to install underground sprinklers? If so, I
wonder if the location of all items might be listed, particularly since
there would be concern about installing near gas & water lines.

Nowhere I'm aware of, certainly. The depth of a lawn sprinkler system
barely scratches the ground, nothing close to the depth of any utilites
so the interaction there is of minimal concern at most.

How deep are the pipes under the soil?

Which pipes? Lawn sprinkler systems (as opposed to golf courses, etc.,
that may be quite a bit deeper sometimes owing to the size and that
they tend to not count on draining them for cold weather, etc.) ime may
be as shallow as 4-6", most often 6-12" and rarely, if ever, deeper.
Often they're installed w/ a slitter rather than a trencher to minimize
damage to existing sod.

Utility water lines, otoh, are at least below frost line and any buried
electrical/telephone, etc., are also deeper.

wrote:
I've got an underground sprinkler that stays on all the time. It looks
like we have seven zones in the yard. We found a buried control box for
four zones, unfortunately not the one that controls the suspect
sprinkler. We've been all over the yard and can't find a second control
box. Any suggestions on how we can locate the second control box is
greatly appreciated. As you may surmise, we're not the original owner
of the home.
Thanks in advance.


As others said a signal tracer may be the easiest way.

One clue would be if all the wires go through the first box. Normally
they run all the control wires to the first box and then continue on to
the second one. And of course the location of the heads might give you
some clue.

Other alternative is to dig at each head and see what direction the pipe
comes from. That gets tricky too as the pipe from the valve often goes
down the center between the heads and then branches off to each head.

If you have a constant flow of water to a sprinkler head, you should be
able to trace it by sound. Get a piece of pipe and use it like a
stethoscope to trace the water flow, which will certainly lead you to
the control valve.

wrote:
I've got an underground sprinkler that stays on all the time. It looks
like we have seven zones in the yard. We found a buried control box for
four zones, unfortunately not the one that controls the suspect
sprinkler. We've been all over the yard and can't find a second control
box. Any suggestions on how we can locate the second control box is
greatly appreciated. As you may surmise, we're not the original owner
of the home.
Thanks in advance.

Simple Find some one or try it your self and witch with coat hangers. Works
for me Some people can do this and some cant.
Bend some coat hangers at a 90 with a 4" handle and use the rest 12" for the
other half . Hold the loosely in your hand out in front of you follow the
line and when they cross you will have a larger obstruction in the area. I
use this to find septic lines gas line ect. Not foolproof but works for me
50% of the time Start at the source by the house
wrote in message
ups.com...
I've got an underground sprinkler that stays on all the time. It looks
like we have seven zones in the yard. We found a buried control box for
four zones, unfortunately not the one that controls the suspect
sprinkler. We've been all over the yard and can't find a second control
box. Any suggestions on how we can locate the second control box is
greatly appreciated. As you may surmise, we're not the original owner
of the home.
Thanks in advance.

Larry and a Cat named Dub wrote:
Simple Find some one or try it your self and witch with coat hangers. Works
for me Some people can do this and some cant.
Bend some coat hangers at a 90 with a 4" handle and use the rest 12" for the
other half . Hold the loosely in your hand out in front of you follow the
line and when they cross you will have a larger obstruction in the area. I
use this to find septic lines gas line ect. Not foolproof but works for me
50% of the time Start at the source by the house

My dad could do that for water!! He claimed it had to be a Willow
stick. He claimed water had to be moving.

So for this job a rain coat and boots will be necessary too!!

wrote:

I've got an underground sprinkler that stays on all the time. It looks
like we have seven zones in the yard. We found a buried control box for
four zones, unfortunately not the one that controls the suspect
sprinkler. We've been all over the yard and can't find a second control
box. Any suggestions on how we can locate the second control box is
greatly appreciated. As you may surmise, we're not the original owner
of the home.
Thanks in advance.


I got my degree in Applied Sprinkler Science when hubby was our condo's
building manager. We spent a lot of free time searching for missing
controllers. Start with the non-functioning sprinkler nearest the water
supply line and try tracing it back to the supply. Ours weren't very
deep, so we could dig down to the supply pipe, then follow by line of
sight a few feet, dig again ...

There are instruments for locating them, and a contractor might be able
to do it with ease.

On Jan 26, 7:00 pm, Norminn wrote:
wrote:
I've got an underground sprinkler that stays on all the time. It looks
like we have seven zones in the yard. We found a buried control box for
four zones, unfortunately not the one that controls the suspect
sprinkler. We've been all over the yard and can't find a second control
box. Any suggestions on how we can locate the second control box is
greatly appreciated. As you may surmise, we're not the original owner
of the home.
Thanks in advance.I got my degree in Applied Sprinkler Science when hubby was our condo's
building manager. We spent a lot of free time searching for missing
controllers. Start with the non-functioning sprinkler nearest the water
supply line and try tracing it back to the supply. Ours weren't very
deep, so we could dig down to the supply pipe, then follow by line of
sight a few feet, dig again ...

There are instruments for locating them, and a contractor might be able
to do it with ease.


I'd just call a lawn irrigation company. They have the equipment to
trace the wire runs to the control box. In this case, it's probably
worth the service call to save a lot of wasted time.