Imagine something in your life that causes severe stress. Not just something that worries you a little or is bothersome from time to time. I’m talking absolute pull-your-hair-out, on-the-verge-of-a-panic-attack, very-little-sleep-every-night stress.
Then, imagine being told that stress — the one thing that keeps you up at night and keeps your blood pressure high and gives you permanent bags under your eyes — is not likely to leave any time soon. It’s the type of stress where somebody whispers: “Sorry, bub, you’ll just have to deal with it.”
That would be a little difficult to take, right?
Although I’m being a little dramatic for effect, this is the boat a lot of superintendents find themselves in with outdated irrigation systems. I’m in this boat as well, bailing out water at a slower rate than it’s rushing in.
Of course, I’m not alone in the boat. There are a lot of us in this predicament. New irrigation systems and irrigation renovations can be extremely expensive, and it’s hard to blame owners, general managers or green committees when they table talks for a new or renovated system.
Most likely nothing on the course will ever cost as much as updating the irrigation system. It’s not easy to stomach a $1.5 million to $2 million (or more!) investment into anything, let alone something that is going to be, for the most part, unseen.
Our course’s owner reinvests all the revenue the club generates. I know he understands our system is aging. But he also looks at it more from the current dollars-and-cents angle — which he must do in his role. It’s his dollars and cents, after all. He also invested nearly $1 million just a few years ago to comply with Ecology and increase our water storage. There are only so many million-dollar upgrades in the cards. I get it. The new system must wait.
Having the ability to keep something in somewhat “working condition” well beyond its shelf life can often backfire on you. Band-Aiding an old irrigation system isn’t impossible, although it can be time-consuming and frustrating. But, almost to the point of ridiculousness, it can be done.
For those of us in the Old Irrigation System Boat, bailing out the water with our little buckets, we do what we can. But I guess that leads to some questions. What can we do, exactly? How do we keep something working that really shouldn’t still be relied upon? How do we get another 10 years on top of the 10 we’ve already borrowed? And can we do this while keeping that freaking stress level at a minimum each summer?
When our system was put in around 35 years ago, PVC had a usable life expectancy in ground of 20 to 30 years, depending who you talked with. We have exceeded even the most generous end of that estimate. What does that mean for us in terms of how the system works? Maybe more to the point, how much can we actually trust it?
I don’t need to spend a lot of time explaining a golf course irrigation system to the readers of this magazine. I’ll spare you the Irrigation 101 lesson.
Let’s address the components in regard to aging. With the 20- to 30-year estimate I mentioned earlier, I was referring to the PVC itself, keeping in mind we’re dealing with 1990 PVC. But other components are also aging, with sprinkler heads, valves, control boxes and wire chief among them.
And then there are the pumps, the pump panel and, for most of us, some kind of computerized central. For the sake of what we are talking about here, let’s keep this to the things in the ground, mainly the pipe, heads and valves.
The pipe
In my 23 years at this golf course, we’ve fixed a ton of pipe breaks. On average, we experience 10 to 15 mainline breaks per season, plus another five to seven lateral line breaks. That’s more than 400 repairs over the years.
I would estimate about 80 percent of those breaks, especially the mainline breaks, originate at the bell end of the pipe — the glue giving way sooner than the pipe. There are a few holes on the lower end of the course that have had every single mainline bell end repaired at some point over the years.
The original pipe, now in the ground for these 35 years, seems to be holding its own. In actuality, the pipe breaks, if anything, have lessened in recent years, which seems to defy logic. But also consider that we upgraded our pump station a half-dozen years ago with a new VFD system, which runs vastly smoother than the old system, yielding much less hammering on the pipes than had occurred for decades when the pumps shut on and off abruptly.
With the pumps running smoother, the pipe, despite its age, has fared slightly better. But that doesn’t minimize the time-consuming repairs we still execute on a regular basis.
There’s very little proactive maintenance we can do on the pipe in the ground. All we can really do is hope for the best and, when we do get a break here and there, repair it and move on.
The only thing we’ve done to further extend the life of the old pipe in the ground is to do what we did a half-dozen years ago, and that was upgrading the pumps and the pump panel. That smoother running system was essential for the geriatric pipe in the ground. It’s a little easier on those old brittle bones.
The sprinkler heads
Perhaps the only thing in our irrigation system we’ve had more problems with besides pipe breaks are 35-year-old sprinkler heads.
In fairness, there aren’t that many of the original heads left on the course — which is a good thing. Thirty-five-year-old sprinkler heads might be even less reliable than 35-year-old pipe, although it’s a coin toss.
For years, we only replaced heads as they failed, usually at a rate of about five or six per season. However, in just the last couple years, we’ve developed a replacement schedule, identifying the original heads and replacing them hole by hole. The old 900 Eagle heads, despite lasting much longer than they probably should have been asked to endure, must come out. We’re working our way through the 27-hole course, getting rid of old heads and installing new ones.
Well, let me correct that. The heads aren’t exactly new. With this mass sprinkler-head replacement, we opted to go with refurbished heads instead of buying brand new ones. Cost is the driving factor here. I can purchase a refurbished fairway head at about a quarter of the cost of a new head. Also, it’s hard for me to justify paying full price for a new fairway head, because when we eventually do plan on upgrading the entire system — even though this may be five or 10 years away — it’s hard to justify sticking so many new heads into an aging system.
Despite occasionally getting a refurbished head that’s not quite what we hoped, we have, for the most part, had good success with these reduced-cost alternatives as we’ve started to install them throughout the course.
The valves
And then there are the darn valves! Although we’ve had more trouble over the years with pipe breaks and heads failing, we’re starting to see the effect of aging valves rather suddenly.
We’ve been forced to replace several valves during the past year. If we’re not fully replacing valves, almost all of them need some TLC. We’ve endured valve stems breaking, valve handles snapping off no matter how carefully they’re opened or closed, and packing nuts becoming loose or falling off.
Valve maintenance has suddenly become a priority. It’s now our plan to go through each valve at the end of the season to access, repair or replace, as well as making sure each one is ready for yet another year of service.
The irrigation tech
Perhaps the biggest thing I haven’t mentioned is having a competent, qualified irrigation technician. After years of struggling to find this individual, we finally added an experienced tech last summer who fits all the above criteria and more. He has been our best addition in years.
Employing someone who knows what they’re doing and is willing to take on the challenge of maintaining a system well past its expected life has been essential. Where most will — and have — balked at the hard work and dedication needed to maintain such a system, this fellow has embraced the challenge and met it head on.
Our 2025 plan involves getting a design for a new irrigation system, which is the first step in replacing it down the road. My guess is it may take anywhere from five to 10 years to go from design to installation, but at least it will be in the cards. This might at least help with keeping us all sane — and maybe keep that stress level a little lower, too! Until then, it’s one day at a time with our system.
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