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When we did pavers in the backyard, contractor simply capped off sprinklers and did pavers. That means, if sprinklers are running in the backyard, I cannot see it.

  1. We have Rain Bird ESP-RZX sprinkler system.
  2. We have total of 4 zones.
  3. When I run zone 1, I can see sprinklers sprinklers in the front yard working. I cannot see anything in the backyard because of pavers.
  4. When I run zones 2,3 and 4, I don't see anything in the front yard also anything in the backyard because of pavers.

Here are all the pics, that I know of, that are related to sprinklers:

https://imgur.com/JtDgFYM

https://imgur.com/ObicMrZ

https://imgur.com/KrH2Pxm

I have this fear that zone 1 is also activating sprinklers in the backyard and it will cause issues with foundation.

How can I be sure that zone 1 is also not activating sprinklers in the backyard?

To further clarify my statement "I cannot see anything in the backyard because of pavers.", here is the photo of my backyard: enter image description here

This is what the wiring of the Rain Bird looks like: enter image description here

For people asking, if it is capped off why worry? I have this fear that maybe one of the sprinklers is not closed properly and it is leaking below the pavers and I can't see.

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    What do you mean "you can't see anything bc of pavers"? that makes no sense. How could you not see the sprinklers? How many zone control valves do you have? Have you located them? DO you even have 4 zones? Best way to check is with nothing else using water in the house, one at a time, run each zone manually and see if the water meter shows flow or not. Commented Jun 28, 2022 at 4:35
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    If they are capped doesn't that mean no water will come out when they are on? Commented Jun 28, 2022 at 10:20
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    How many wires are attached to zones on the controller? Flip up the lower panel and see. Your two pictures only show one valve.
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Jun 28, 2022 at 12:19
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    I'd agree that running zones 2-4 and checking the water meter to see if it's indicating water flow is great. Unfortunately, that will not tell you if you're pumping water out through a broken pipe or missed sprinkler head on zone 1 if zone 1 also covers the back yard as you are concerned. The only way to test that would be to cap all the sprinklers in the front yard, turn on zone 1 and check the meter to see if water is flowing. (Make sure nobody is doing dishes, taking a shower, using the bathroom, etc. while testing this.)
    – FreeMan
    Commented Jun 28, 2022 at 16:47
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    An interesting wiring mess... Looks like green (zone 2) is note connected to anything, red (zone) 1 and white (common) are connected to that one valve. I predict no water flow if #2 is "on" according to the controller. Nice of them to run a spare if you wanted to add a separate zone though.
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Jun 28, 2022 at 18:06

1 Answer 1

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I'd suggest running zones 2-4 and checking the water meter to see if it's indicating water flow.

Unfortunately, that will not tell you if you're pumping water out through a broken pipe or missed sprinkler head on zone 1 if zone 1 also covers the back yard as you are concerned. The only way to test that would be to cap all the sprinklers in the front yard, turn on zone 1 and check the meter to see if water is flowing. (Make sure nobody is doing dishes, taking a shower, using the bathroom, etc. while testing this.)

It probably won't be much fun, and it'll probably take time and cost you to cap off all the sprinkler heads then reinstall them when you're done testing. But, if you're that paranoid about there being issues under the patio in the back, it's the only realistic way of testing it out.

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  • Thank you again sir for your time.
    – javanoob
    Commented Jun 28, 2022 at 17:08

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