New surprise

[grobbins6]

Hello everyone-

After finally getting an inherited system on-line, I ran it to keep my overseeding moist. After a few days, I notice the scene in the first picture and assume that I core aerated a line by mistake.

After some hard digging (LOTS of roots), I saw what you see in picture 2...a big maple root.

After more hard digging, I saw what you see in pictures 3 and 4...the malple root has grown around the connection from a spray head line. The slices in the line are from my shovel. The el is threaded very loosely so I assume this is the leak.

I rig up the patch you see in picture 5 and fire it up to test my hypothesis about the el. Wrong. The ell doesn't leak but something is from behind it (under the root). Next step is to make a bigger hole to see what the problem is. I figure it will be a good workout and save the local irrigation guy some trouble when I finally break down and give him a call!

[Mike Leary]

I forgot the question.

[grobbins6]

I forgot the question.

No question...just thought you all might get a laugh out of the newbie homeowner struggling with what you do for a living! My guess is that the problem I am facing rates about a 4 out of 10 on your difficult issue scale.

I will formally invite any thoughts or opinions however. I am always looking to learn and a pro would certainly see things that I don't.

[Mike Leary]

No question...just thought you all might get a laugh out of with what you do for a living! My guess is that the problem I am facing rates about a 0 out of 10 on your difficult issue scale.

Yep..got that right, nice thread.:dizzy:

[Dripit good]

Ahh roots, we've all been there........this is what a root wedgie looks like.

122577


Been choking off this particular zone for years. The main lateral was under a row of pines......but we found the needle in the haystack. The zone is stompin now! :weightlifter:

122578

[Waterit]

Yep..got that right, nice thread.:dizzy:

No spanking over the dishwasher-hose swing pipe?

[Dripit good]

No spanking over the dishwasher-hose swing pipe?

Yea. I thought he would too. He seems a little grumpy.......maybe didn't want to spend the energy on Mr. HO. I was just trying to give a little life to it.

[Mike Leary]

Trying to keep the sarcasm low. What a piece of junk: contractor fu...d it up & the HO followed the lead.

[5.0]

Use the bread knife from your other thread on the root :laugh:

[michigander]

I would almost bet that the root has pushed the saddle and twisted it on the pipe, exposing the hole coming out the pipe. Or it broke one of the plastic bolts holding it together. You must cut the root or cut the pipe on either side and repipe it. Hope this helps!

[Mike Leary]

Use the bread knife from your other thread on the root :laugh:

I'm more interested to see what the chief liar + master b.s artist is going to say at 10K.

[Wet_Boots]

I'm more interested to see what the chief liar + master b.s artist is going to say at 10K.I will say thank you very kindly for your gracious support.

[grobbins6]

No spanking over the dishwasher-hose swing pipe?

It is not a swing pipe. As I wrote above, I rigged that up so I could turn on the system and see where the leak was coming from. I thought it might be the loose el but wanted to confirm it. Also as noted above, I cut the installed swing pipe with my shovel while excavating the hole (you can see the cut pipe in one of the photos).

My seat-of-the-pants hack job consists of 200psi rated hose, a connector barbed on one end and threaded on the other and a cap. The hose was clamped onto the barbed el on one end and the barbed fitting on the other. The cap was threaded onto the fitting to close the whole thing up. Quickest thing I could think of while standing in the hardware store and cost less than $2.

What would have been a better way to close it off to test?

Michigander....thanks for the reply; that is something I will look for when I enlarge the hole. I really hope the leak is root-related and not from the core aerator!

[DanaMac]

It is not a swing pipe. As I wrote above, I rigged that up so I could turn on the system and see where the leak was coming from. I thought it might be the loose el but wanted to confirm it. Also as noted above, I cut the installed swing pipe with my shovel while excavating the hole (you can see the cut pipe in one of the photos).

My seat-of-the-pants hack job consists of 200psi rated hose, a connector barbed on one end and threaded on the other and a cap. The hose was clamped onto the barbed el on one end and the barbed fitting on the other. The cap was threaded onto the fitting to close the whole thing up. Quickest thing I could think of while standing in the hardware store and cost less than $2.

What would have been a better way to close it off to test?

Michigander....thanks for the reply; that is something I will look for when I enlarge the hole. I really hope the leak is root-related and not from the core aerator!

You did a fine job in troubleshooting. It most likely is from the root. The white tee fitting is a saddle tee. More than likely the root has pushed that tee and it doesn't line up with the hole cut in the pipe. Or it is crooked and water is coming out between the tee and the pipe. Good luck. Tree roots are my second least favorite repair. Right in front of rebuilding an old manifold.

[Waterit]

It is not a swing pipe.
Quickest thing I could think of while standing in the hardware store and cost less than $2.
What would have been a better way to close it off to test?

My bad, posted before thinking once again. Great ingenuity, especially for a HO:clapping:

One other way would have been to remove barbed ell (funny 90) and put in threaded plug, but would have involved cutting out offending root. other way would be to put in another funny 90 and cap it.

Your way worked, which is the bottom line after all, isn't it?