Berardi Irrigation

Small and Large Irrigation Systems

How to Repair an Irrigation System

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How to Fix a Sprinkler Leak

Leaks from an irrigation system usually start at the underground pipes. If this is the case, you’ll need to dig into the part of your yard where the leak is originating to expose that section of the pipe. Once that’s finished, they can replace the broken pipe with a new section. Depending on how bad the leak is, entire sections of the pipe may require repair. Once the system is turned off, make sure the sprinkler heads aren’t spraying or dripping, because that’s a sign that they need repair.

How to Replace Broken Sprinkler Heads

Over time, sprinkler heads are prone to crack and break, which makes this one of the most common repairs you’ll have to do. Luckily, it’s also quite an easy repair to do. First, check all the heads for any signs of breakage or cracking on the plastic.If any heads are completely broken off, that’s usually a sign that they’ve been mounted too high, which causes them to be knocked off by lawn mowers or even people walking. To replace a broken head, you’ll need to dig in the area surrounding the head while the system is off. Make sure to save the grass so that it can be put back once the repair is done. 

Removing The Sprinkler Head

Depending on the model of the sprinkler system, you may or may not need tools to remove the head. Often you can unscrew the head by hand off of the riser. From there you can replace the head and lightly tighten it onto the riser. Make sure to test the system with the new head before replacing the dirt and grass around the head.

Cleaning Clogged Sprinkler Heads

While replacing the head, you might realize that it is clogged rather than broken, but no worries, it’s also a quick and easy repair to make. When your head is clogged, you’ll notice that the sprinkler head rises but causes the water to spray irregularly or not at all.

Following the same steps as above, dig out the head and remove it from the riser. Then disassemble the head by lifting it out of the canister. Within the canister is a filter that ensures the water coming out is clear of debris. Check to see if it’s clogged and rinse it out with clean water, along with the rest of the head for good measure. Once it’s clean put the parts back together and return it to the riser.

Contact Berardi Irrigation

For any question about your irrigation system, or any repairs that need to be made, please give us a call at 781-828-2029, or contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

How To Get Your Irrigation System Ready For Spring

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The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, the grass… isn’t growing yet? While using an irrigation system is the best way to take the work out of watering your lawn, it still takes some work to transition from winter to spring. Dewinterizing and starting your sprinkler system is a fairly large time commitment, especially if you have a larger property with more sprinkler heads. This guide will help you through each step to ensure you get your system set up right for the spring.

Check Your Lawn for Frozen Ground

Spring, especially in the northeast doesn’t exactly all happen at once. While we might have a few warm days in February, it’s best to wait for more consistency before you dive into this project. Make sure to test your lawn to make sure the ground is completely unfrozen before you start your system, otherwise you may cause damage to your water lines during the startup process. If you simply cannot wait, you might need to grab the hose and start to irrigate the old fashioned way.

Check Your Control Panel

Ah yes, the all important control panel. Without the brains of the operation, your system couldn’t operate. Make sure to review all the appropriate settings for scheduling, date and time, and irrigation zones. It’s also never a bad idea to replace the batteries at the beginning of the season so that you don’t have to worry about it later. If you are having issues, a quick google search of the model number can help clear things up.

Service Each Sprinkler Head

Depending on the size of your property, you may have many heads to inspect and clean. This can be rather time consuming, especially if there’s damage from the winter weather conditions. 

Make sure to clean each nozzle, any blockage can interrupt the spray pattern, which could make certain areas of your lawn too wet or too dry. If there’s any damage to the nozzle, simply unscrew it and replace it. It’s a good idea to have at least a few spare nozzles on hand for this very purpose. If the damage goes deeper than the nozzle, you might want to call in a professional.

Slowly Open the Main Valve

The key word here is slow. Opening the valve all at once can be pretty harmful to your irrigation system as a whole. If water floods the system too quickly, it can generate some serious pressure that has the potential to crack pipes, valves, and sprinkler heads. 

Slowly open the main valve just a few degrees until water begins to lightly flow, and wait a few minutes while it reaches the main line. Then continue to open it up a few degrees at a time. If your system includes multiple branches, repeat this process for each one.

Pro tip: Remove sprinkler heads while opening up the valve to allow dirt and debris to flow out. Once the water runs completely clear, close the valve and reattach the heads.

Check Each Irrigation Zone

After working through each zone individually, activate your full irrigation program for one final walk-through inspection. If you like what you see, you’re all done until it’s time for winterization

Your irrigation system is nearly ready to go! But before you check it off your list for the season, it’s a good idea to check to make sure each zone is working as planned. This works best when each zone is tested one at a time using your control panel. Activate a zone, then monitor the spraying pattern of the sprinklers. Two things to look out for are low pressure and over watered wet spots in the lawn. These are the signs of a water line break that you will need to get repaired before you start the season.  

To adjust the spraying patterns, unscrew the nozzle, lift it out of the head assembly and reinsert it with the selector on the desired setting before screwing the ring back on. Rinse and repeat for each zone of your property until everything is just right. Now you’re finally good to go until next fall! 

While this might be a daunting task, it’s worth it to make sure there’s no serious damage to your system. Don’t have time to do it yourself? We offer a comprehensive Spring Startup Service that covers everything in this article and more! 

Contact Us

For any question about your irrigation system, or any repairs that need to be made, please give us a call at 781-828-2029, or contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Why Snow Removal is Important

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Winter is approaching, and with snow in the forecast, it’s essential to have your plowing and snow removal planned out for the season. Snow can be a hassle for a lot of people. The Berardi team is here to help homeowners and businesses with snow removal for the 2020 winter season. Why is it important to remove snow?

Preventing Accidents

Making sure your walkway and driveway are clear of snow can help keep everyone on your property safe. You don’t want anyone slipping or falling, and you don’t want cars getting stuck in the snow. Getting snow removed can help with ice formation later on when the snow starts to melt. The last thing you want is a black ice driveway! Make sure you throw snowmelt and salt down to prevent anything further after the snow is plowed away. 

Making Life Easier

Having no snow in your way will make it easier to get to and from your home or business. If you have people coming into your business, they will not want to maneuver themself or their car around snow. Get it removed so your customer base will still go in there during the winter. 

No Lawsuits

If someone injures themself on your property due to not having proper snow removal, they can take legal action. This is why it’s crucial for businesses to take snow removal seriously. Some areas actually have laws when it comes to snow removal. If you don’t have it cleared from your property, it is possible that you could get fined.

Snow Piles Up  

After the first big snow of the season, chances are there will be more. Not removing snow can cause it to continue to pile up and freeze over. If you want to remove it then, it’s going to be a big pain. Remove it as it comes. It will end up saving you a lot of time and money this way.

Damaging Your Property

Removing snow right after the storm is done will help preserve any landscaping that is able to survive winter temperatures. Leaving snow on certain shrubs, plants, and grass will cause them to have a hard time thriving come spring. Getting it removed before it freezes over will keep your plants safe and leave your property looking better. Snow gets dirty and doesn’t look great after a couple of days of lingering. 

Contact Berardi Irrigation

Berardi Irrigation is ready for the snow! Our team is ready to tackle your snow removal. Contact us to learn more about signing up for snow removal this season. Call us today or fill out our contact form to get in touch with our experts.

Landscape Lighting in the Fall and Winter

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If you still want to enjoy some time outdoors during the Fall and Winter (especially with the pandemic), landscape lighting is the perfect option! Landscape lighting allows you to spend time outdoors and enjoy the fresh air, even after the sun sets for the day. Here are some tips for adding landscape lighting to your yard or altering your existing lighting to get the most out of Fall and early Winter nights!

Wire Placement

Wire placement, especially in the colder months, is an integral part of proper landscape lighting. If you enhance your current lighting, the wires may have come up from the ground during the summer. You don’t want these wires covered in snow or frost, so be sure to have the placed back underground if there is an issue. If you are getting new landscape lighting, be sure the wires are buried far enough under. Along with getting damaged by snow and ice, these wires are a safety hazard for people who don’t notice they are there. You don’t want anyone tripping and falling.

Make Your Trees Stand Out

With all the great Fall foliage and beautiful colors, enhancing your trees is a smart idea. Make sure you rake away any leaves that cover your lighting fixtures so they can work to their full potential. Maximize this time to highlight the foliage because it comes and goes so quickly! Trees look their best around this time of year, and you want to take advantage of it! Enjoy some apple cider around a firepit while being able to enjoy the scenery!

Dimming or Removing Some Lights

Because of the changing seasons, your lighting needs to be adjusted to fit the needs of your Fall landscape. Once the leaves fall to the ground, you will want to stop highlighting your trees as much. The bare branches will look spooky (if that’s what you’re going for, then so be it), but you may want to shift focus elsewhere. You can also dim the lighting a bit, so it isn’t as harsh on the trees. You can also add frosted lenses to the fixtures. If you don’t want to do that, you can disconnect certain fixtures, so there isn’t as much lighting in general. Whatever you choose to do, your yard will look great for the cooler weather!

Contact Berardi Irrigation

Berardi Irrigation & Landscape Lighting is here to make your yard look its best! If you need landscape lighting tips, we are the experts for you. Contact us to learn more about landscape lighting installation. Give us a call or fill out our contact form for more information and to get in touch!

Why You Should Have a Professional Winterize Your Irrigation System

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While the Massachusetts heat still feels like it’s the middle of July outside some days, it is officially almost fall. Winter probably feels like it’s still far away, but it’ll be right around the corner before you know it. Before winter hits Massachusetts, you need to take care of your irrigation system. Having your irrigation system winterized by a professional will not only save your pipes but will save you time and money and enable you to feel safe knowing your system is prepared for when spring arrives.

Saves You Money

Many people assume that hiring a professional to winterize your irrigation system for you will be more expensive than doing it yourself, but doing it on your own could end up setting you back hundreds or thousands of dollars. Irrigation systems are big, expensive investments. They also keep your property value up. If you try to winterize the system by yourself without professional help from a professional, you could possibly end up making a mistake that could cost you a lot more money than hiring an expert in the first place.

Saves You Time

Winterizing your irrigation system can take up a lot of time if you choose to do it yourself and that precious free time should be used to do many other things! You’ll want to save some time to enjoy the fall weather before the temperature gets colder, and you also have loads of other fall yard maintenance to take care of before winter is here. A professional irrigation specialist can get the winterization done quickly and accurately.

Professionals Have The Equipment

Any water that stays after you drained out the system can freeze, expand, and crack the piping. For an irrigation system to be winterized correctly, every single drop of water must be removed from the pipes and the sprinkler heads. Heavier water will settle in the pipes, which causes the pipes to freeze and break equipment. This could result in having some expensive repairs in the spring. Professionals have the right equipment and are know how to use it the right way!

In the end, it is much better to call in a professional to take care of your winterization process. They are appropriately trained to do so! Our professionals at Berardi Irrigation know how to get the job done accurately and safely and prep your system for when warm weather roles around again!

Contact Us

Berardi Irrigation is here to help you winterize your irrigation system! Contact us for more information. Give us a call or fill out our contact form to get in touch!

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1049 Turnpike Street, Canton, MA 02021
781-828-2029

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