How to find buried PVC sprinkler pipe?

[Monkeyleg]

I was lucky to get a house where the previous owner had installed an underground sprinkler system. Not so lucky when there's a problem, though.

There's three zones with sprinkler heads on them. One is along the lot line next to my neighbor. I noticed last year that the two sprinkler heads on that zone were just dribbling, and vowed to take care of the problem this spring.

I found the valve box on the side of the house easily enough, and there's two valves. One is for the center of the yard, and the other for the two heads along the lot line. I dug up the first head, hoping it might be the problem, but it wasn't. I tested the valve and the water to the sprinkler head, and both worked. I couldn't find the head nearest the street, as grass had grown over it. Even using a rake I was unable to find it.

I let it run for half an hour, and water started to pool in a 3' x 4' section of grass along the lot line halfway toward the street from the valve box. I started digging where the water was deepest, but couldn't find a pipe. I then noticed that the section was a low-lying part of the lawn. That may have cause the problem, as water pooling in the area would make the soil heavier, and could crack the pipe.

Anyway, with that being a low-lying area, the water could be coming from uphill somewhere. It's not directly under the lowest spot.

I thought that I could just look at the PVC pipe at the first head, and figure it would be running straight out to the street parallel to the lot line, but it's coming to the sprinkler head at an angle.

Any suggestions on how to find the pipe without doing a lot of digging? I finally have my front lawn looking really good, and don't want it to look gopher-ridden.

[charby]

Tile probe, just go easy when you are poking around.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/34972727?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=24&adid=22222222227023092290&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=52391395215&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=79477405575&veh=sem

make sure you get the blunt/round end and not the pointed one.

[roo_ster]

I always find PVC pipe when digging a hole for some completely different purpose: post hole, planting a shrub, etc.  I suggest you think about landscaping or installing a fence and then run out with your shovel and have at it.

[Monkeyleg]

Thanks, Charby.

I always find PVC pipe when digging a hole for some completely different purpose: post hole, planting a shrub, etc.  I suggest you think about landscaping or installing a fence and then run out with your shovel and have at it.

That works, too.

[brimic]

I spent 6 years working grounds maintenance on a few different golf courses...
when you have miles of pvc underground, breaks and cracks were routine.
How we found them was simply going to the wet ground and starting to dig.
As others mentioned, tile probes were sometimes used...

There really isn't any sort of wizard method to finding pvc pipes.

[Cliffh]

The guy who bought our house in AZ found the PVC irrigation lines by cutting directly across the middle of the yard with a ditch witch.

That also took out the water, phone, cable & 120v lines to the two RV stations I'd put in.

And I'd left the idiot a friggin' map showing where all the lines were run.

[brimic]

The guy who bought our house in AZ found the PVC irrigation lines by cutting directly across the middle of the yard with a ditch witch.

That also took out the water, phone, cable & 120v lines to the two RV stations I'd put in.

And I'd left the idiot a friggin' map showing where all the lines were run.

maybe he's more of a gps guy than a map guy...

[never_retreat]

Got an air compressor? Hook it up to the line. If the head does not pop up you should at least be able to here it.

[AJ Dual]

Got a skilled dowser in your town?


Sorry.

Couldn't resist.   

[RoadKingLarry]

The guy who bought our house in AZ found the PVC irrigation lines by cutting directly across the middle of the yard with a ditch witch.

That also took out the water, phone, cable & 120v lines to the two RV stations I'd put in.

And I'd left the idiot a friggin' map showing where all the lines were run.

So, negligence on your part.


I've found that a  3 point subsoiler on the back of a tractor is pretty good at find fragile items buried in the yard.

[KD5NRH]

That also took out the water, phone, cable & 120v lines to the two RV stations I'd put in.

Apparently Verizon is in the habit of using an edger to "trench" for their FiOS lines, then making the homeowner pay when the line gets destroyed by a lawnmower.

[Monkeyleg]

I'm trying to make the smallest hole possible in the lawn. The area where water is pooling is somewhat large, and I think the water is running downhill to that point from somewhere nearby thats not showing water at the surface.  I'd have to dig a very large hole to find the pipe and the leak.

It would make sense to have the pipe running straight along the lot line from the valve box to the street, but as I said I already found one pipe running diagonally.

I saw a Youtube video that showed inserting an electrician's snake from the sprinkler head fitting up into the PVC pipe, and then using a metal detector. That wouldn't find the leak, but it would find the pipe. As would driving the T-probe. I already tried jamming a very long screwdriver into the soil every inch or so, but I'm missing the pipe.

[KD5NRH]

I'm trying to make the smallest hole possible in the lawn.

So no detcord?  :(

[Chuck Dye]

http://www.rjmcompany.com/cable-pipe-locators/plastic-pipe-locator.htm

Gadgetry exists, can be rented.

[KD5NRH]

Gadgetry exists, can be rented.

Threading detcord down the pipe and setting it off is sort of a locatorless version of some of those methods.  Depending on how much you use and how deeply the pipe is buried, it may even dig the new trench for you.

[Hawkmoon]

Got a skilled dowser in your town?

Might work, in fact. IMHO, dowsing is legitimate. That's how my parents decided where to drill the well for our house 65 years ago. Got water at 100 feet when many surrounding properties went 200 to 400 feet. And the dowser told them it would be at 100 feet before the driller even started.

What about opening the pipe at the known head location, insering a plumber's snake, and then using a metal detector to follow the snake? [Oops. Ne'mind -- I just saw that's already been suggested.]

[Regolith]

I've found that a  3 point subsoiler on the back of a tractor is pretty good at find fragile items buried in the yard.

Yup. Things like septic systems, fer instance...

[Doggy Daddy]

As would driving the T-probe. I already tried jamming a very long screwdriver into the soil every inch or so, but I'm missing the pipe.

That screwdriver thing some sort of home remedy?  Forget that.  You MIGHT be able to get over the pipe with some sort of 12-step program.

[Boomhauer]

I've found that a  3 point subsoiler on the back of a tractor is pretty good at find fragile items buried in the yard.

Dad, is that you?