Tales of Terror
From the Front Lines

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As an irrigation contractor, you never know what lies ahead on the next job site.

Even the most routine maintenance or repair can devolve into a harrowing ordeal. In the spirit of Halloween, we share with you some irrigation horror stories — seemingly straightforward service calls that quickly became the stuff of nightmares.

Horror Story #1: The Twisted Root

Repairing a lateral line leak sounded like a simple job–until the irrigation technician realized that the system’s lines were located under a river birch tree and entangled in the roots. All of the components, including a six-valve manifold, were covered and ensnared by the overgrown tree roots.

After two days of chopping up the roots, the technician was able to repair the leak. Two weeks later, the river birch was blown over during a hurricane, tearing out some of the irrigation system components. Now, everything in that section had to be replaced. The stump had to come out.

“We had to hook lines up just to figure out what zone went where and what valve went back to what,” the technician said.

Two techs and two managers then hacked away at the stump and remaining roots for three and a half days. The simple repair job had morphed into a monster (and a monster bill for the homeowner).

Horror Story #2: Poltergeist in the Line

A routine valve replacement at a customer’s residence went smoothly–until it didn’t. As the technician was preparing to leave, the new valve fittings popped off. The tech reglued them and waited a few more hours for the glue to cure. They popped off again.

The homeowner’s water was shut off for a full 24 hours to secure the connections once more. The tech returned the next day and turned on the water. Once again, the fittings popped off. He was utterly baffled.

The technician returned to the residence three more days, attempting to fix the problem before finally throwing up his hands and seriously considering a career change.

While driving home on that last day, the technician witnessed a geyser of water shooting 100 feet up in the air over the highway. Turns out it was a leak in the same main line he had been working on for the better part of a week.

Eureka! By threading on a pressure regulator at the main, his customer’s problem was finally remedied.

Horror Story #3: Shock Treatment

When a California irrigation contractor answered a service call about a system that was watering only one side of a highway, he discovered a mangled mess of wiring and water lines running beneath eight lanes of roaring freeway traffic.

After three days of investigating, the contractor finally discovered another master valve buried under the emergency-lane asphalt. He dug up the valve to check the wires on the solenoid. When he did, the resulting shock knocked him off his feet with a severe jolt.

“I’m sitting on my butt on the ground thinking that something was wrong because 24 volts will give you a buzz, but it won’t hurt you,” the contractor said.

Using a wand tracer, he traced a strange-looking controller wire to a deeply buried splice box labeled “street lighting.” Someone had connected the irrigation wiring to a 220-volt electrical line that powered a traffic light.

It took two more weeks of arduous investigation, rewiring and replacing parts before the irrigation system was working properly on both sides of the highway. One year later, the state highway department expanded the road and tore out the entire system.

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Sources:
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