City Water FAQ
- It is recommended that you call 4-5 weeks ahead of the preferred date of startup. We begin startups in mid-April and run those throughout the summer.
- Existing customers will receive a “courtesy reminder” postcard in mid-March. You do not have to wait for the postcard to arrive in order to schedule. You can schedule at any point in the year.
- Receiving the reminder postcard is not guaranteed, as things happen with the post office that we have no control over.
- What happens during a startup appointment?
- Startup assessment appointments are to assess the condition of the irrigation system. Appointments are typically scheduled for 1 hour.
- PLEASE NOTE: In order to service all residential and commercial customers, we have to limit our startup assessments to one hour. In order to service all customers we cannot have “open ended appointments” meaning we cannot schedule one or two customers per day with only a possibility of that property needing maintenance. Our technicians are at a different property every hour on the hour, and this appointment is to assess what needs to be done to your property for the system to be fully functional, and in many cases, one hour is sufficient to get most systems up and running for the season.
- Startup assessment appointments are to assess the condition of the irrigation system. Appointments are typically scheduled for 1 hour.
- This appointment is not for testing your backflow (see details below).
- At your appointment the technician will:
- Attach your backflow (for city water customers).
- PLEASE NOTE: Our techs are required to watch each head run through one cycle of rotation. With the nature of rotors since they are geared, it is common for a used rotor to turn through several cycles, and then miss a gear and not complete rotation. For this reason a rotor may function properly during the assessment but fail on the next cycle. For existing parts that fail, the labor is not covered under our workmanship guarantee. For new parts installed by us, the labor is covered under the workmanship guarantee for 30 days and the parts cost is covered by the manufacturer warranty.
- Set your timer in accordance with water company requirements.Go through every zone, check every head, and make adjustments.
- Do any light maintenance, up to an hour. (The techs can typically change a few heads that are standard heads that we keep stocked on our vans, repair minor pipe breaks, move a head short distances, ect. Within the 1 hour appointment.)
- PLEASE NOTE: In rare cases, especially when there has been work done in the yard (pool installation, patio installation, termite bait station installation, tree removal, etc.), there could be instances where the system cannot run due to heavy maintenance that needs to be done. We try our best to isolate issues by turning off the zone(s) that are having problems and run the others that are ok. There are some instances where leaks will not show themselves until the system has run through several cycles.
- Notate on the invoice timer settings, assessment of each zone, notate any maintenance that was done, as well as notate if there needs to be a return visit for maintenance or if you need to have maintenance from a certified backflow company.
- What happens during a startup appointment?
- Backflow prevention systems are devices installed onto a pipe that only allow water to flow in one direction. Think of it as a one-way gate that allows water from the city’s public water supply to flow into your home’s piping but stops water if and when it ever tries to flow backwards into the main water supply. Every year you are required to have your backflow tested.
- PLEASE NOTE: This appointment is not for testing of the backflow, that will be done by your water company (call them for details), as we are only legally allowed to place the backflow on, take it off for winterization, and work on the pvc or plastic legs of the backflow (let us know if you have questions about this process). If we see that maintenance needs to be done to the backflow, we will refer you to our preferred backflow company, but it is not mandatory that you use our preferred company.
- No, that will be typically done by your water company (call them for details), as we are only legally allowed to place the backflow on, take it off for winterization, and work on the pvc or plastic legs of the backflow (let us know if you have questions about this process). For the Tellico Village area, you are allowed to use a third party company for your backflow testing if you wish, but that will need to be done by a certain date, please call your POA for details. They do, however, have their own company that automatically tests your backflow. All Tellico Village residents using the POA for backflow testing will need to have their system started up by May 31st in 2024.
- Yes, if your water company has requirements on when you can run your irrigation system, we will set it up accordingly.
- For Residential Startups and Shutdowns: 1-7 zones is $100, and $5 each additional zone up to 16. Systems with more than 16 zones will move to our hourly rate of $100/hr.
- No, at this time we do not offer a referral system.
- We provide a 30 day workmanship guarantee to ensure a quality service.We work hard to provide the best service possible and strive to make quality repairs.
- Our guarantee is for repairs we make. For example, if we repair a section of pvc and our glue fails, we fix it, if we replace a head and that head fails, we fix it, ect. For old existing parts that fail, the labor is not covered under our workmanship guarantee. For new parts installed by us, the labor is covered under the workmanship guarantee for 30 days and the parts cost is covered by the manufacturer warranty.
Frequently Asked Questions
General
General
General questions about our services.
City Water Startups
City Water Startups
Questions about starting up systems that use city water.
Pump Startups
Pump Startups
Pump Startups
Questions about starting up systems that use pumps.
Winterizations
Winterizations
Questions about system winterizing.
Maintenance
Maintenance
Questions about irrigation maintenance.
Scheduling
Scheduling
Questions about scheduling.
Emergencies
Emergencies
Questions about irrigation emergencies.
New Installs
New Installs
Questions about new system installation.
Hiring
Hiring
Questions about joining our team.