Irrigation Activation in Colorado
Spring irrigation activation that safely pressurizes your system, identifies winter damage, adjusts heads, and programs your controller for Colorado's watering schedule. Don't turn on your own system -- let JLS do it right.
Why Professional Activation Matters
After five to six months of being shut down and exposed to Colorado's freeze-thaw cycles, your irrigation system needs a careful, methodical startup. Turning the water on full-blast and walking away is a recipe for cracked mainlines, blown fittings, and flooded landscape beds.
Professional irrigation activation is a systematic process. Our technicians pressurize the system slowly to identify leaks before they cause damage, walk every zone visually checking every head, adjust spray patterns that shifted over winter, clear debris from nozzles and filters, test valve operation, verify backflow preventer function, and program your controller with an appropriate spring watering schedule that complies with your water district's restrictions.
In Douglas County, the timing of irrigation activation matters. Activate too early and a late-season freeze can damage pressurized components -- and Colorado routinely delivers hard freezes into late April and even May at higher elevations. Activate too late and your turf breaks dormancy under drought stress, setting it back for the entire growing season. JLS monitors weather patterns and schedules activations during the appropriate window for each property's elevation and exposure.
For commercial properties and HOAs, spring activation is also the time to discover any winter damage before the landscape depends on irrigation. A cracked mainline or failed valve found during activation can be repaired before it causes brown spots, dead plantings, or water waste. Our irrigation repair technicians carry common parts on their trucks, so many issues are resolved during the activation visit.
Our Activation Process
JLS follows a methodical process to bring your irrigation system online safely and efficiently each spring.
- Slow pressurization: Main line pressurized gradually to prevent water hammer and identify weakened fittings before they blow out
- Zone-by-zone inspection: Every zone run manually while a technician walks the area checking every head for proper operation, alignment, and coverage
- Head adjustment: Heads straightened, spray patterns corrected, nozzles cleared of debris, and any tilted or sunken heads raised to grade
- Valve testing: Each valve tested for proper open/close operation, checked for slow leaks, and wiring connections verified
- Backflow inspection: Backflow preventer visually inspected for freeze damage and tested for proper operation (full certification testing available as separate service)
- Controller programming: Schedule updated for spring watering needs, rain sensor tested, and programming adjusted to comply with local water district restrictions
Irrigation Activation FAQ
Wait until nighttime temperatures are consistently above freezing -- typically late April to mid-May in Douglas County. At higher elevations like Castle Rock and Sedalia, this may be the first or second week of May. JLS monitors weather patterns and schedules activations during the appropriate window for your property's location.
You can, but professional activation catches problems that most homeowners miss -- slow leaks, misaligned heads, valve wiring issues, and freeze damage that isn't visible until the system is pressurized. The cost of an activation visit is far less than the cost of repairing damage from an undetected mainline crack or replacing a landscape bed that died from a stuck zone valve.
Our technicians carry common repair parts including heads, nozzles, fittings, and valve components. Minor repairs are typically completed during the activation visit at standard service rates. For major repairs (mainline breaks, valve replacement), we provide an estimate and schedule the work as quickly as possible to minimize landscape impact.
