Irrigation is rarely noticed until it fails, and it tends to fail at the worst moment: the hottest week, the day the crop most needs water. Many of those failures start as small, visible problems that were not looked at: a tired seal, a clogged filter, a valve that sticks, a controller setting that drifted.
At Sitetech we are family-run horticultural engineers based in Chorley, Lancashire, and we work with growers across the UK. Servicing is how we keep systems doing what they were designed to do, season after season.
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What we check depends on the system, the site and what you have asked us to look at, so this is a general guide rather than a fixed checklist.
Pumps and tanks. Condition of seals, bearings, couplings and mountings. How the pump starts, runs and holds pressure. Suction and inlet arrangements, pressure vessels and switches, and the condition of storage tanks, float valves and outlets. See our pumps and control systems page for what we supply and install.
Filtration. Cleaning and inspection of filter elements, housings and seals, and a check that flushing and backflushing arrangements are working.
Drip systems. Mainlines, submains, flush valves, end caps, pressure regulation and the state of lines and emitters, looking for blockages, leaks and uneven delivery.
Overhead sprinkler systems. Heads, nozzles, risers and laterals, looking for wear, blockage, leaks and distribution problems.
Glasshouse and polytunnel systems. Feeder lines, manifolds, valves and fittings, and how water is actually reaching each bay or bench.
Valves, solenoids and controls. Operation of zone valves and solenoids, wiring and connections, controller settings and schedules, and sensors.
The drain-down procedure itself, which you can do yourself, is set out step by step in our guide on how to winterise an irrigation system, so we do not repeat it here.
Winter is the natural service window. The crop is off the system, the calendar is quieter, and anything we find can be put right without a season depending on it. Doing this work now also leaves more time to arrange parts and repairs before spring.
Winter service. A winter service goes further than a drain-down: the system is inspected and protected against frost, and anything that has worn or failed is picked out so it can be put right before spring.
Spring recommissioning. Before the season starts, the system is brought back into use carefully: refilled, pressurised, checked for leaks and uneven delivery, controllers and schedules confirmed, and filters and valves checked under load. Finding problems at this stage is far better than finding them in the first dry week.
If you are also thinking about what to change for next season, our autumn irrigation planning checklist is a good place to start.
Sitetech is the main UK distributor for DGT by Senmatic, and where your site runs DGT controllers and fertigation equipment, ask us about including them in a service visit.
Typical checks on controllers and fertigation equipment include:
Where DGT equipment is part of your system, that kind of aftercare is part of how we support it.
Tell us what you have: the type of system (drip, overhead, glasshouse or polytunnel), whether there is a pump set, filtration, a controller or fertigation, roughly how old it is, and any problems you noticed this season. A short list is plenty, and photos help.
Call Simon on 07881 271 117 or email simon@sitetech.uk, and we will talk through what is needed and arrange a visit. The earlier in the winter you get in touch, the more time there is to put things right before spring.
We’re a family-run Lancashire firm working with growers across the whole of the UK and internationally. Design, supply, installation and aftercare come from the same small team — the person who designs your automatic watering system is the person who answers the phone if a valve plays up. No call centres, no handoffs.
Tell us what you have and when you would like the visit. Call Simon on 07881 271 117, email simon@sitetech.uk, or use the button below to arrange a service.
Winter, once the crop is off the system, is the natural window, followed by a recommissioning check before the season starts. It leaves time to repair or replace anything that turns up.
Get in touch and tell us what you have. We will let you know whether we can help with your particular system.
It depends on the system, but typically it covers pumps, filtration, pipework, valves and controllers, with extra checks on dosing and fertigation equipment where fitted. We tailor it to your site.
Sitetech is the main UK distributor for DGT by Senmatic, and we support the equipment we supply. Ask us about including your DGT controllers and fertigation equipment in a service visit.
It is the careful return of the system to use before the season: refilling, pressurising, checking for leaks and uneven delivery, and confirming controllers and schedules.
Call Simon on 07881 271 117 or email simon@sitetech.uk with a short description of your system and any problems you have noticed.
