Do it yourself (DIY) trouble shooting

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-Emergency shut-off

-Checking for multiple runtimes

-Flushing a leaking solenoid valve

Also check out Use and maintenance page for other more day to day homeowner relevant information.

Turning your irrigation controller off  is often done simply by turning the dial to 'Off'.  Make sure the screen shows the controller has registered the change.  Some older faulty controllers may require you to jiggle the dial trigger the electronics.  If you can't work out how to turn the controller off you can switch it off at the power point or unplug it.  

If this doesn't work your problem is a leaking solenoid valve and you will have to find your irrigation shut-off tap / stopcock to turn off the system manually.  In most cases this will be simple and something everyone should try for 5 minutes, but sometimes it won't be and I've given more detail for those who want it.  See below.

About 70% of irrigation shut-offs are below garden taps.  You will generally see a white PVC pipe disappearing into the ground.  This is pipe feeding your irrigation system.  You will see a shut-off tap here probably very similar to the pink one in the photo on the right.    The irrigating pipe may not be white, you can try turning the tap off anyway, if it shuts off your irrigation then you have found your irrigation shut-off (parallel = on,  perpendicular = off).  You may have more than one pipe like this feeding your irrigation system.  Typically this would be one in the front and back yard.    If no garden tap is feeding your irrigation system see below.  

About 15% of irrigation shut-offs will be buried near your water meter.  95% of the time they will be in some sort of lidded box generally plastic with a green lid, very occasionally concrete.  Often this will be visible but  just as commonly they become buried.  If you can't see another box next to your water meter box, open it up and look at where the pipe goes towards your house, this will give you some indication of where your irrigation off take might have been put in.   Get the longest screw driver or similar poking tool that you have.  Poke the ground intensively to a depth of 15 cm for 50cm radius on the house side of your water meter.  If you hit plastic (generally with a hollow sound) or concrete, dig it up, it's probably your irrigation shut-off.     If not, see below.

In maybe 0.5% of cases the shut-off maybe buried further than 50 cm away from water meter or not in  any box.  If you've tried everything above and below next step is to poke and dig more extensively around water meter. 

See photo on right for typical under the house irrigation shut-off.  I think about 7% of irrigation shut-off taps are under the house.  Again, if you're not sure if it's your irrigation shut-off, try it and see if it works.   (parallel = on,  perpendicular = off).   If it's not here see below.

In about 7% of cases your irrigation shutoff will be in your irrigation valve box or right beside it.  If you can't see it in the valve box or in it's own box right next to the valve box have a look at where water enters the valve box to the irrigation manifold.  You can then try digging to look for the shut-off where the pipe comes in.  See photo for an example of a shut-off that was buried beside valve box. 

If your irrigation system is causing high water bills, it's probably not a leak, 95% of the time it's your programming.  First thing to check is do you have  multiple start times set?  You should only have 1 start time for each program unless you are establishing a lawn in summer.  Zones will run one after the other starting at your start time.  If you have multiple start times, all zones will run multiple times a day.  This is the most common reason for irrigation causing really high water bills.  To avoid confusion I recommend only having one program for everything unless you really need to water something more often (perhaps a vegetable garden, pots or greenhouse).    Here are 'How to program' videos for common brands:  Hunter, Toro and Orbit.   Here is a link for Hunter Hydrawise smart controllers. 

You want to check all the start times for all the programs on your controller (see circled in red in photo for hunter controller).

A leak in your irrigation system is much less likely to cause high water bills.  If it is leaking so badly that your water bill is drastically affected it's going to be affecting a smaller area than if your programming is wrong, hence wetness will be more noticeable.    To check for a leak see below.

Turn off all water in your house and garden.   Check no garden tap is dripping.   Make sure your irrigation is turned off at the controller. Go to your water meter and see if the dial is spinning.  If the dial is not moving at all you have no leak.  If your water bill is high due to your irrigation system is probably your programming of the controller and not a leak (see relevent section below).

If the dial is turning even slowly you have a leak and it's likely your irrigation system.   To check turn your irrigation system off manually (see above section).  If doing this stops the meter turning you have a leak in your irrigation system.   It's almost certainly due to a leaking solenoid valve (much less often to a leak before the solenoid valve).  For how to find your valves see below.

Your irrigation solenoid valves will typically be in a green lidded box (like your water meter) in the ground somewhere.    See photo on the right for a typical example.  This may be visible but unfortunately they often get buried.     It is most likely in a garden bed near your irrigation shut-off (see above for details).  They can be scattered and deeply buried all over the garden, even under lawn and hedges.  A screw driver is a tool you can use for pocking the ground if you have any ideas about where your valve box or boxes might be.  Your looking for a hollow sound.  

Inside the valve box there will be valves that look something like this.  If you have good hearing and put your head inside the box you should be able to hear a valve leaking, if it is leaking (sometimes they will make no sound).  You can then try turning the 'bleed screw' to try flushing debris out of the valve.  The bleed screw is circled in red in the photo (most valves it looks something like this).  You can turn these on with you fingers.  You can totally unscrew the plastic screw or just enough for water to come out.  This will turn on valve and give it a little flush.  Sometimes this will fix your leaking valve issue.  Do up screw again with your fingers after 15 seconds of flushing.

For handy-persons the next step is to undo the metal screws take the valve apart and check for debris.  If this doesn't work replace the guts of the valve or the whole valve.   If you can source the same sort of valve from a specialist irrigation supplier this is generally the easiest way.  If you can't find the same valve you need to replace the entire valve.  You can find videos on youtube for how to do this.