Irritation System

We are battling the challenges of old age as we come out of winter.  We had issues going into winter as well you may remember.  Our annual start up of the irrigation system did not go smoothly last week and it will be at least another week before we are able to start filling up the system and looking for other issues.  With miles and miles of pipe and wire, over 1000 irrigation heads, pumps, motors, controls, and more valves than we can count there are repairs to make every spring.  With age, those repairs get more numerous and more complex.  We went into winter with just one of our two pumps functioning due to a somewhat anticipated failure of one pump last fall.  We got the new pump installed last Friday only to find out that the first section of discharge pipe is leaking just before it goes underground.  This is a steel pipe that leaves the pump station and disappears in the bank behind the clubhouse.  Its location is another challenge to address at some point, but for now we are hopeful that we can cut out the leaky section and weld a new piece in it's place.  Next Monday is the planned repair and hopefully we'll be able to send water around the course.  Then we'll be able to see what, if any, other repairs may be needed around the course.  You may remember the issues we had under the road in front of the pro shop two years ago.  The controllers on each hole were replaced around that time as well.  As we get older, this sort of thing will become the norm unfortunately.  The best part about winter is the system is shut down and we don't have to worry about anything breaking.  Each spring is full of excitement.  

The new pump arrived last Friday

It's a process getting in put together

The water is pretty cold

Once pumps were in we discovered a leak

The welder came Monday to help us

The pipe was too rusted out to weld so we will have a new 

section fabricated and cut out a short piece of the leaky pipe.

We will send a camera into the pipe to see what we see before putting 

it all back together.