Staying vigilant when it comes to irrigation equipment maintenance and inspection can help farmers keep their costs down.
During the active part of your year, carve out a little time to make a thorough inspection of your irrigation system and create a maintenance plan. Be sure to document and take photos of any damage or areas of concern. When starting repairs at the end of your season, use these notes to make sure that nothing slips through the cracks.
Detailed end-of-season irrigation maintenance can go a very long way in preventing problems and accidents when it counts the following year. Before winter brings everything to a standstill, frugal farmers check equipment and repairs are vital.
“A good list of needed repairs and a plan for tackling those repairs prevent in-season system breakdowns,” explained Lyndon Kelley, irrigation educator at Michigan State University and Purdue University Extension. “It’s a bottom-line savings of time and money.”
End of season irrigation maintenance is even more important in areas that experience freezing temperatures. According to Jonathan Aguilar, water resources engineer at Kansas State University, “Draining is the easiest thing to do, but failure to drain can become the most expensive repair. A lot of fall irrigation maintenance deals with preparation for what’s coming. If you wait until spring, it’s too late for anything but patchwork.”
Jonathan Aguilar, water resources engineer, says a lot of autumn irrigation maintenance deals with preparation for what’s coming. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Aguilar
Here are a few tips when planning your end of season irrigation maintenance:
- Center pivot irrigation systems often experience issues in their gearboxes. Give them a listen to see if anything sounds irregular in the tower drive.
- Check the tires, inspecting not only the wheels themselves and the ground they cover. Malfunctioning wheels can cause damage to the ground that can affect saturation.
- Listen to the traveler drive system at the points of greatest stress (at the beginning of run for hard hose; at the end of run for soft hose) to find any weaknesses.
- With the water running, make a note of all leaks and worn sprinklers.
- Make sure your pressure gauges are working properly. Your gauges should hit zero when pressure is abated and fluctuate when the end gun or sprinklers are operating.
- Note gauge pressures from the regular season and compare findings with end-of-season performance. Any major differences should give you a reason to check the lines.
- Use a flow meter to measure output to ensure your flow matches your system design. Remember too much output can be just as much of an indicator of something wrong as too little output.
- Test all irrigation controls, and consult your manual or manufacturer’s website if your controls are not functioning as they should.
by Enrico Villamaino
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