Chris' Guide to Home Improvement: How to Change a Sprinkler Head

Hi and welcome to the first installment of Chris' Guide to Home Improvement. Today we are going to talk about sprinkler head replacement. We've got a nice sprinkler system in our yard and I turned it on the other day for the first time this year. Out of 20 or so sprinkler heads only one was gushing like old faithful, the other 95% were working just fine, not bad. So I had to trouble shoot and replace the head. If you ever need to do the same, just follow these simple steps.

Step one (one..one), we can have lots of fun. Step two (two...two)..there's so much we can do... oh wait, I lost focus there. Let's start again.

Step 1. The problem might be fixable by tightening the screw on the top of the head. Try this first. It's best to do this while the sprinklers are running, for maximum soakage. This also saves you from having to take that pesky morning shower that day.

Step 2. That probably didn't work. I knew it wouldn't but thought you might like to get wet like I did. Wasn't that fun? So, now look at the ring on the top of the head. It has the sprinkler head model number and will let you know which one to get at the store.

Step 3. What? The ring is the part that's missing, the part that's causing the problem? OK, simple fix. Just look for another sprinkler head in your yard that looks the same and write down that number. Ours was 15-O, the # is the psi for the head and the letter is for the spray pattern. The spray pattern isn't all that important but the psi rating probably is.

Step 4. Go to three different hardware stores until you finally find the right replacement head, sort of. You see, the number you wrote down from the other head probably wont' match up with any of the heads in the store. So find one similar. Instead of 15-O I bought 15-F.

Step 5. Make sure you buy the correct length of sprinkler head. I had my choice between 2.5 in and 4 in. Which did I need? I had no idea so I bought both, they're pretty cheap.

Step 6. TURN OFF THE SPRINKLERS. I didn't need to learn this the hard way, I've got some common sense.

Step 7. Dig out the grass around the sprinkler head. I made a circle about 6 inches in diameter around the head. Set the grass aside for later.

Step 8. Carefully dig out the dirt around the head. Make sure that your sprinkler head is as close to a big tree as possible. This will ensure that you will have the joy of stopping every 20 seconds or so to clip a big root. How far down do you dig? Well, that depends on your sprinkler head. I was fortunate and only had to dig down 2.5 in. By the way, I'd suggest doing this step before buying your sprinkler head. Then you can take it to the store and already know what size you need.

Step 9. Unscrew the broken head, replace with the new one. Refill the hole and replace the grass. Notice that there wasn't enough dirt to refill the hole? I guess all those roots and rocks you took out were actually taking up space. No problem, you can get some free fill dirt from your neighbors front yard. You might even find some good looking grass there to add around the head too. I'd suggest doing this at night, very quietly and without a flashlight. Or you could just get some from your garden, your call.

Step 10. Turn the sprinklers back on and watch in amazement as your newly repaired sprinkler system actually works! Collect 10 man points. Hope that over the next week as your sprinklers run your front yard doesn't develop a sink hole around the sprinkler head from a leak or something.

Step 11. Quickly lose your man points by writing a blog about what you've done.

In total, except for the running around to three hardware stores, this took me about 45 minutes, most of which was spent digging through roots.

Hopefully you've learned something here. The next time there's something wrong with your sprinklers, just give me a call. After all, I changed out one simple sprinkler head, I am now an expert on all thing sprinkler related.

So until next time, this is Chris' Guide to Home Improvement saying, stay classy internets.