Pop-Up Sprinkler Repair and Maintenance

There are many kinds of built-in sprinklers, but many features are common among them. The differences are important when you are buying parts to repair a sprinkler or getting the base diameter correct when buying an entire sprinkler. For smaller yards, the inlet is usually a 1/2 inch female connection. For larger sprinklers, it may be a 3/4 in female connection. The supply line can have a male or female fitting, but is most commonly a female. I prefer a male fitting on the supply line, because I’m a little less likely to get dirt into a male supply when removing a sprinkler. There is often a riser or long nipple between the supply line and the sprinkler to bring the water up from the pipe. When unscrewing an existing sprinkler, the nipple or riser often remains attached to the line. If you are wanting to raise the sprinkler to bring it above ground level (which helps keep dirt out and often improves spray when grass partially blocks the pattern), you can replace the riser with longer or add an extension. I use universal extensions that are female on the bottom and male on the top. I cut off the top to the desired length to raise the sprinkler but not so high as to be subject to damage from lawn mowers or tripping hazards. I included a pic of an extension at the end of this video.
Let’s look at a few common features of sprinklers: spray patterns, reach or flow rate, and aiming. The tip can have a fixed or variable pattern ranging from zero to 360 degrees. Fixed patterns are 90, 180, 270 or 360 degrees. There is often a screw in the tip that you can use to adjust the flow rate. Turning left usually increases flow and range. Rotating head sprinklers are substantially different and have a special tool used to set the rotation pattern. Follow the instructions that came with those. To change the aim of a pop-up sprinkler, make sure the tip is screwed on tightly, pull up the stem and rotate the stem clockwise to point as desired.
To unscrew a sprinkler from the supply line. Dig around it with a small shovel until you can get your hand around the body and unscrew counterclockwise. Be careful not to get dirt in the supply line, or it will clog up the remaining downstream sprinklers. Whether repairing, replacing or just raising the sprinkler, you’ll probably have to adjust the spray direction after reinstalling.
To clean the heads, unscrew them from the stem. Clean by squirting water in both directions. There is often a plastic washer between the stem and the tip that is part of the flow control design. When the flow adjusting screw is screwed inward, it blocks flow through the washer. There is usually a filter in the stem that you can also clean. If there is no washer, the screw head reduces flow by fitting into the filter. Use a paper clip or other small wire to clean out the water passage inside the tip. You may need to remove the flow-adjusting screw to fully clean the tip.
Aside from cleaning the tips and raising sprinklers, the other maintenance item most often required is to replace the seal or top of the sprinkler due to wear or damage. The seal at the top between the stem and the top will leak a little even when it's new, but it becomes excessive after popping up thousands of times. And, if the seal doesn't wear out, the top eventually cracks and breaks after the bottom of the stem slams into it while popping up for the 5,000th time. For small pop-up sprinklers, it's generally easier to replace the entire sprinkler rather than repair it. However, I have a few sprinklers that pop up more than a foot, and new ones are expensive. To repair these, I can sometimes find parts or a hollow small sprinkler body that includes the needed parts. For a seal or top, I can buy and use the parts of a short pop-up sprinkler, if I can't find just parts. The parts have changed a little over the years, and some brands have been bought out, so I take the bad parts to the store with me to match them. Similarly, if I need a new spray tip, there are several thread sizes as well as both male and female threads. In many cases, I will replace a tip with a fixed spray pattern with an adjustable one, so that I have more freedom to adjust the coverage. The range of replacement tips is generally the same if the threads match.
If a sprinkler sticks in the popped-up position, I don't repair it as long as it will spring down with a little help. However, if I had a lot of sprinklers doing that and people started tripping on them, I'd replace the seals or maybe the whole sprinklers.