Took me 7 weeks to figure out my irrigation timer was just set wrong

Spent all spring thinking my lawn was getting too much water in one spot and not enough in another. Moved sprinkler heads, dug up lines, replaced a valve. Finally called a buddy who laughed and pointed out the zones were programmed backwards on the controller. Hours of work over a simple settings error. Anyone else ever overthink something this bad?

3 comments

3 Comments

zaranelson4d ago

My neighbor did the same thing with his Rachio last summer. He replaced three sprinkler heads before checking the app. Five minutes with the manual fixed it.

anthony_jackson313d ago

Five minutes with the manual fixed it" - yeah, but was it really five minutes or is that just how he tells the story now? People always compress the time when they retell stuff. I've seen guys claim they swapped an alternator in ten minutes when it took them three hours with rusted bolts. And honestly, swapping sprinkler heads isn't exactly rocket surgery either, so I'm not sure that story proves much.

paige_bell814d ago

Wait, you really spent 7 weeks on that and didn't look at the controller first? That's wild, tbh. @zaranelson's neighbor sounds just as bad as you, honestly. I had a buddy who did something similar with his thermostat, spent a whole weekend ripping out wiring only to find out it was a flat battery. I get that it's easy to assume the hardware's broken when it's acting up, but you gotta start with the simplest thing in my experience. Ngl, I'd be too embarrassed to even call a friend after that much work over a settings flip. At least you got a good laugh out of it now, right?