How to Fix a Broken Sprinkler Line
The first thing that you must do before you can fix a broken sprinkler line is to figure out exactly where that leak is coming from. While it will not be easy and this might actually require some digging on your part, this is the only way to begin. You can be fooled easily, as the leak may not always surface coming from the ground. When you figure out where that leak is coming from, you can continue to try to fix it. Turn the water off and get to work. When you figure all of this out, you will need to purchase the right type of repair pipe and a few couplers.
This is where the dirty work begins. Start by getting a shovel and digging a place around the break in your water line. From there, you must clean out all of the mud and the dirt that surrounds the work area. When you determine the exact location of the line break, measure somewhere near four to six inches on either side and cut the pipe with a PVC pipe cutter. Be careful not to crack the pipe when you are doing this as it can be easy to make a hole in the PVC. One great way to make the pipe less likely to break is to put some PVC primer on the spot where you will be cutting.
You will want to go pick up some purple primer and use it with this process. Using that primer a brush, you will want to prime the sprinkler pipe ends almost one inch from the end of the pipe. You will also want to prime the inside part of two of the other couplers. From here, you will want to put some glue on one end of the PVC sprinkler pipe. One great way to go about this is using popular blue glue, fitting the couplers onto the pipe during the twenty seconds that you have to do this. You will also want to use your strength to twist a coupler on the pipe.
From here, you will want to make sure to cut some pipe for your repair. Make sure that this cut fits the sprinkler line cut. Take a measuring device and measure your straight couplers in order to get the right length.
You will want to take the piece that you have cut and fit it into the coupler. You will want to make sure that the pipe you create is straight and not bowed. In order to do this, you will want to take apart the pipes and make any sort of adjustments until you reach the perfect fit. You could call this a trial and error method.
