Irrigation equipment fails at the worst possible moment by definition — it only runs when the crop is thirsty. A seasonal maintenance rhythm keeps the system honest.
Start the season with a pressure walk
Before the first real irrigation, run the system at working pressure and walk the line: weeping couplers, misting pinholes and a gun that turns unevenly are all five-minute fixes in April and half-day failures in July. Note the pump’s pressure and speed at the setpoint — that pair of numbers is your baseline for the year.
Watch the hose, not just the water
On reel machines, the polyethylene hose is the wear item that quietly decides the machine’s lifespan. Check for scuffing where it meets the guide, keep retraction speed inside the maker’s range, and never drag a pressurised hose across a gateway edge — the scar becomes next season’s burst.
Shut down like you mean to start up
End-of-season drain-down deserves the same care as harvest: pump casing drained, hose emptied and parked off the ground, filters opened and cleaned, and the turbine flushed of grit. Water left in a casing over a hard frost splits it as reliably as a hammer.
Keep a one-page system log
Baseline pressure, filter cleaning dates, hose repairs, oil changes on the pump engine — one page per season. When something drifts, the log turns guessing into diagnosis.
