SERVICES
Irrigation Tech provides a full range of design, installation, and maintenance services to ensure that you have the right system for your property, that your system is working properly, and that your landscape is healthy all season long.
Here's What Irrigation Tech Can Do for You
- Landscape irrigation system design, pricing & installation
- Planting area drip & spray systems
- Lawn area spray & sprinkler systems
- Regular System Service & Backflow Testing
- Spring Start-Up
- Mid-Season Inspection
- Fall Winterization
- Backflow Testing
- System Repair, Upgrade, Relocation or Expansion
- Upgrade your system to save water or enable remote operation & diagnostics
Start-Up
Irrigation systems can be damaged during the off season by frost heaving, snowplows, uprooted or falling trees or limbs, lightning, and maintenance equipment traffic. Systems that haven’t been used for one or several seasons may also have drip or supply lines that have been cut by landscaping activities or chewed by animals or pests, heads that have been buried by turf growth, heads and lines that have been throttled by shrub and tree roots, and heads or controllers that are simply at the end of their service life.
To ensure that your system is ready for the watering season, when performing a Start-up, we turn on and pressurize your system, inspect and reprogram the time controller, adjust the rain sensor, run and check the time settings for each zone, inspect the system drip lines and heads for damage and straighten and fine tune them for proper water distribution. If minor damage is discovered, we’ll repair it on the spot and if it can’t be fixed quickly, we’ll schedule a follow-up service call with you.
We generally perform Start-Ups between April 1 and June 30.
Mid-Season Check-Up
Unusual weather patterns, changes to controller settings made after Start-Up, and normal seasonal growth can lead to over- or underwatering of some landscape areas. Ordinary wear and tear, fallen tree limbs, root growth, landscaping work, lightning, and damage from animals, pests, and lawn equipment can damage drip or supply lines, sprinkler heads, rain gauges, and even controllers – which can lead to over- or under watering and leaks.
To ensure that your system is working properly during the watering season we will inspect your landscape, drip lines, sprinkler heads, valve box (if you have one; most systems don’t), rain gauge, and controller to make sure everything is operating correctly and that your lawn is receiving the right amount of water for the weather we are experiencing. If watering intervals need to be adjusted to provide more or less water in certain areas, we will reset the controller. If repairs are needed the tech will discuss them with you and either perform them immediately or ask our Customer Service Team to schedule a follow-up service visit with you.
We can perform one or several mid-season inspections between June and September as appropriate to your property and the season.
Winterization
The Finger Lakes Region’s freezing winter temperatures and Rochester's ranking as the third snowiest city with a population greater than 50,000 in the US, make it necessary to winterize irrigation systems so that valves, drip lines, underground water supply lines, and sprinkler heads are not damaged by standing water that will freeze and expand in the system.
To remove water from your system so that it is safe from the ravages of winter and ready to help your property go green in the spring, we will shut off the system water supply and blow out each drip or sprinkler zone using a portable compressor and pneumatic hoses until there is nothing but air exiting your sprinkler heads. We guarantee that your system will not freeze, if we perform the winterization.
We generally perform winterizations between mid-September and mid-December.
Backflow Testing
New York State (NYS) requires backflow prevention devices to be installed between the irrigation system's water supply and the property's potable water supply - if they are supplied by the same source - to prevent irrigation water from backing up and contaminating the potable water supply. NYS also requires backflow prevention devices to be tested annually by a certified technician who submits a report to the water authority after performeing the test.
In the Finger Lakes Counties (Cayuga, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, and Yates) a backflow prevention device permit is required before the device can be installed. This is lengthy process and can take two-to-six months, or more to complete.
If you have an older irrigation system that is fed from a public water supply, you may not have a backflow prevention device, or you may have a device that hasn’t been tested since installation. If you do not have a backflow prevention device, or have one that has not been tested recently, you may receive a letter from your water authority requiring you to install one or have yours tested by a certain date so that your water is not shut off.
Because our technicians are New York State certified backflow testers, there is no need to call a plumber to make a separate appointment to install, test, or repair a backflow prevention device. Irrigation Tech can take care of all of your backflow installation, testing, and repair needs at the same time as we perform your system installation, start-up, mid-season inspection or winterization. We can also perform stand-alone backflow tests at other times during the year if required by your water authority.
Troubleshooting, Repairs & Upgrades
If your system needs troubleshooting, repair, or an upgrade to a WiFi controller or more efficient sprinkler heads, call us and we’ll schedule an appointment with an experienced tech to troubleshoot the problem with our state-of-the-art equipment, make the repairs, or perform the upgrade.
Some repairs and upgrades are simple and can be accomplished during the tech’s scheduled visit (e.g., replacing a sprinkler head or changing a controller). Others may be more involved (e.g., repairing root or animal damage, broken water supply and or control lines, non-functioning pumps, buried and broken heads in systems that have not been used for a while, etc.) and will require a second visit or, in some cases, a Proposal for you to approve so that we can order the materials needed and reserve an opening in our schedule to perform the work.
