Pro Handyman Blog

A sprinkler repair to a drip system is pretty easy. If you have a drip system that uses black poly tubing you won’t even need glue to make repairs. These systems run off a standard sprinkler valve, pressure reducer and filter…this delivers water to typically a ½ inch or ¾ inch black poly tube which further branches off to microtubes. These deliver water to the individual plants.

Yesterday, I was investigating a leak in the irrigation. I found a very common problem. When terminating a water line at the end of a run, instead of using a fitting and cap, a lot of landscapers will fold the black poly tube over to stop the water from leaking out of the end of the tube. The fastener I’m presuming is whatever is on hand. In this case it was a piece of wire. The wire corroded and broke which allowed the water pressure to open the tube and flow out of the end. This is also why the homeowner had a higher than normal water bill.

The correct fix for this was to buy a fitting and cap. The fitting has a barbed end and the black poly tubing pushes into this and is held by the barb. Then the cap is screwed onto the fitting to stop the flow of water. You can also remove this cap temporarily to purge the tubing of any debris that may have entered it.