Cobb County · Georgia
Plumbers in Marietta, GA
Almost every property in Marietta irrigates, and irrigation is the part of household plumbing that gets the least attention and causes the most avoidable trouble. It connects to your drinking water, it runs unattended for months, and it is buried. Our Marietta plumbers deal with the backflow prevention, the pressure and the leaks that come with that.
- Cobb County
- Georgia licensed plumbers
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Local plumbing problems
What goes wrong with plumbing in Marietta
Irrigation systems without proper backflow protection
An irrigation system connects your drinking water supply to sprinkler heads sitting in soil, fertiliser and whatever else is on the ground. If supply pressure drops, water can be drawn backwards through that connection. Backflow prevention is what stops it, and it is a requirement rather than an upgrade.
Backflow devices that have never been tested
A backflow preventer is a mechanical device with springs and check valves, and it can fail silently. It sits doing nothing until the day it has to hold, and a device that has quietly failed will not. Testing is how you know, and many residential devices have never been tested at all.
Water pressure higher than the house should see
Pressure varies across a hilly suburban system, and some properties run higher than is good for their plumbing. High pressure shortens the life of fixture cartridges, appliance valves and flexible connectors, and it turns minor weaknesses into leaks sooner.
Sprinkler leaks that run all season
A leaking irrigation line does not announce itself when the ground is being watered anyway. It shows up as a patch that stays damp when everything else has dried, a strip growing faster than the rest, and a bill that has climbed with no change in use.
Clay movement opening buried joints
The red clay here swells and shrinks with the seasons, and that movement opens joints in buried lines. It is the underlying reason roots find their way into sewer laterals, and why a line that was fine for years starts blocking.
The plumbing nobody thinks about
An irrigation system is household plumbing, and it is the part that gets the least attention.
It is buried, so you cannot see it. It is automated, so you do not operate it. It runs for months without anybody watching. And it is connected, permanently, to the same pipe that supplies your drinking water.
That last point is the one worth sitting with. A sprinkler head sits in soil, in fertiliser, in whatever has been applied to the lawn and whatever the dog has contributed. It is connected by a continuous run of pipe back to the supply feeding your kitchen tap.
Under normal conditions water flows one way and none of that matters. The whole question is what happens when it does not.
Backflow prevention, and why it fails invisibly
If supply pressure drops sharply, during a water main break, or a heavy draw for fire fighting nearby, the pressure differential can reverse. Water that had gone out toward the sprinklers can be pulled back the other way.
A backflow preventer makes that physically impossible. It is a code requirement on irrigation connections rather than an optional extra, and most systems have one.
The problem is what happens to it afterwards.
It is a mechanical device: springs, check valves, seats. Those wear, corrode and seize. And when one fails, nothing changes that you can observe. Water still flows normally in the correct direction. The sprinklers still work. Nothing leaks.
The failure only reveals itself on the day the device was needed, which is precisely too late.
Which is the entire argument for testing. It is the only way to know a device that appears to be working actually is, and a great many residential backflow preventers have never been tested since the day they were installed.
Check your pressure while you are at it
This takes two minutes and almost nobody does it.
Buy an inexpensive pressure gauge, screw it onto an outside tap, and read it.
The reason it matters here is topography. Supply pressure across a hilly suburban system is not uniform, and depending on where your property sits relative to the network, you may be receiving considerably more than is good for the plumbing in your house.
High pressure does not announce itself either. It shortens the life of fixture cartridges, appliance inlet valves and flexible supply connectors, and it turns small weaknesses into leaks sooner than they would otherwise appear. People replace tap cartridges and washing machine hoses more often than they should and never connect it to the cause.
If the reading is high, a pressure reducing valve is an inexpensive fitting that protects everything downstream of it for as long as the house stands.
Leaks, and the end of the season
A leaking irrigation line is invisible while the system is running, because the ground is being watered anyway.
The diagnostic is the meter followed by one valve. Everything off including the controller, note the reading, check an hour later. Then close the irrigation supply on its own and repeat. If the meter stops, the leak is out in the yard and the house is innocent.
And at the end of the season, shut the system down properly rather than just switching the controller off. Isolate the supply, drain it down, and protect the backflow device, which is usually above ground, exposed, and the most expensive part of the system to replace.
Winters here are mild most years. That is exactly why systems get left charged, and why the first hard freeze in several years produces so much damage that is only discovered the following spring.
Marietta housing and infrastructure
The local factors that most often determine what a plumber finds and how a repair is done here.
Near-universal irrigation
In a suburb built around lawns, irrigation is the norm rather than the exception. That makes it a significant part of the local plumbing picture, and it is the part homeowners think about least, because it is buried, automated and out of sight for most of the year.
A cross-connection that people forget exists
An irrigation system is a permanent connection between the potable supply and the outdoors. That is exactly the situation backflow prevention exists for, and unlike a tap or an appliance, it is not something you can see working or failing.
Hilly terrain and variable pressure
Supply pressure across a hilly suburban system is not uniform, and properties at certain elevations receive noticeably more than others. Checking what your house actually gets is a quick test that most people never do.
Georgia red clay
The soil moves with the seasons, swelling in wet spells and shrinking through a long dry summer. That movement opens joints in buried pipe, which is the underlying cause of most recurring drainage problems here.
Areas of Marietta we serve
Neighborhoods and districts
- Marietta Square
- Whitlock Heights
- Church Street
- Kennesaw Avenue
- East Cobb edge
- West Side
- Fair Oaks
- Sandy Plains area
- Powers Ferry
- Dobbins area
- Roswell Street corridor
- Woodlawn
- Hedges Chapel
- Chestnut Hill
- Willeo
- Sewell Mill
ZIP codes we serve in Marietta
30006–30008, 30060–30069, 30090
From our approved service-area list. If your ZIP is not shown, call and we will check.
Nearby communities on our service list: Smyrna, Kennesaw, Acworth, Powder Springs, Austell, Roswell, Woodstock, Dallas, Mableton.
Plumbers near Marietta
Other cities in the area with their own local plumbing pages.
Questions
Marietta plumbing questions
Does my sprinkler system need backflow prevention?
Yes. An irrigation system creates a permanent connection between your drinking water supply and sprinkler heads sitting in soil, fertiliser and anything else on the ground. If supply pressure drops sharply, during a main break or a heavy draw nearby, water can be pulled backwards through that connection. Backflow prevention makes that physically impossible, and it is a code requirement rather than an optional extra. If you are not certain your system has one, it is worth finding out.
My backflow device has never been tested. Does that matter?
It does, because these devices fail silently. A backflow preventer contains springs, check valves and seats that wear, corrode or seize, and none of that is visible from outside. Water continues to flow normally in the correct direction, so nothing seems wrong. The failure only reveals itself at the moment the device was needed, which is too late to be useful. Testing is the only way to know it still works, and many residential devices have never had it done.
How do I check my water pressure?
Screw a pressure gauge onto an outside tap and read it. That is the whole test, and gauges are inexpensive. It is worth doing because pressure across a hilly suburban system is not uniform, and some properties receive noticeably more than is good for household plumbing. High pressure shortens the life of fixture cartridges, appliance valves and flexible supply connectors, and it makes small weaknesses leak sooner. If the reading is high, a pressure reducing valve protects everything downstream of it.
How do I find an irrigation leak?
The meter, then the valve. Turn off everything that uses water including the irrigation controller, note the reading, and check again an hour later. Movement means water is escaping on your side. Then close the irrigation supply valve on its own and repeat the test: if the meter stops, the leak is in the irrigation system and nothing indoors needs investigating. Above ground, look for a patch staying damp when everything else has dried, or grass growing noticeably faster in one strip.
Should I shut the irrigation down for winter?
Yes, and it is worth doing properly rather than just switching the controller off. Winters here are mild most years, which is exactly why systems are left charged and then damaged when a hard freeze does arrive. Isolate the supply, drain the system down, and protect the backflow device, which is usually above ground and is the most exposed and most expensive component to replace. It is a short job and it removes the most common spring surprise.
Why do roots keep getting into my sewer line?
Because the clay opens the door for them. Red clay swells and shrinks with the seasons, and that movement works at the joints in buried pipe, opening them slightly. Roots then detect moisture escaping and grow through. Cutting them clears the blockage and leaves the opening exactly as it was, so they return within a season or two. Lining the run creates a continuous jointless pipe with nothing to enter through, which is what actually ends the cycle.
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