When should I turn my sprinkler system on in the spring in North Texas?

Usually March into April, once the risk of a hard freeze has passed. The important part is how you do it: turn the water back on slowly and walk every zone, because winter freezes commonly crack heads, lines, and the backflow assembly. Test the rain/freeze sensor and set your controller to your city's assigned watering days before the first real run.

Do I need to winterize my sprinkler system in North Texas?

Yes, though not the full compressed-air blow-out a northern climate needs. The critical job here is protecting the above-ground backflow assembly, which is the most common thing to burst in a hard freeze. That means insulating or protecting it, and having a plan to shut the system down quickly when a hard freeze is coming. A burst backflow is an avoidable repair that catches a lot of homeowners every few winters.

Should I keep watering my foundation in the fall and winter?

Yes, on warm, dry stretches. Fall is actually the most dangerous time for foundations in North Texas, because a dry fall pulls moisture out of the clay even faster than mid-summer, and the clay keeps drying through mild winter spells. Light, consistent foundation watering keeps the soil from shrinking away from the slab. You water far less than in summer, but you don't stop entirely.

What's the most common seasonal sprinkler problem you see?

Two: a head or backflow cracked by a winter freeze that nobody notices until spring, when it's quietly watering the driveway for weeks; and a rain/freeze sensor that has failed, so the system runs in the rain all season. Both are caught in a few minutes during a spring start-up check, and both waste a surprising amount of water and money if they aren't.

How many times a year should a sprinkler system be serviced?

For most North Texas homes, three touchpoints cover it: a spring start-up to catch freeze damage and set the schedule, a mid-season check during peak summer to catch broken heads and dry spots before they waste a month of water, and a winterization before the first hard freeze to protect the backflow. That cadence is exactly what a maintenance plan bundles so you don't have to remember it.

Can a freeze really damage my sprinkler system in Texas?

Absolutely. North Texas gets hard freezes, and the February 2021 freeze burst countless backflow assemblies and exposed lines across the metroplex. The backflow sits above ground at the meter and holds water, so when it freezes it cracks. Protecting it before a freeze is cheap; replacing it after is not.

Reference · all year round

What your sprinkler system needs, month by month.

Landon Melvin Texas Licensed Irrigator · LI0031476 · Owner, Spray Irrigation Co.

Updated June 2026

A North Texas sprinkler system has a rhythm: wake it up in spring without letting freeze damage water your driveway all season, run it legally and protect the foundation through a brutal summer, keep watering through the dangerous dry fall, and protect the backflow before the first hard freeze. Here's the whole year — and a tool that tells you what to do right now.

The one thing people get wrong

They treat irrigation as a summer-only thing. In North Texas, the fall and winter quietly do the most foundation damage — the clay keeps drying — and a single hard freeze can burst a backflow you forgot to protect. The system needs you in every season, just differently.

Where are we right now?

This is set to the current month automatically — tap any month to see what your system needs then.

Spring: wake it up without a mess

Spring start-up is the one that saves you money, because winter almost always leaves something broken and you won't see it until the system runs. Turn the water back on slowly — a fast charge can blow a fitting — and walk every zone watching for cracked heads, geysers, and a backflow that froze and split. Then two things people skip: test the rain/freeze sensor so it actually shuts the system off in the rain (it's required, and it's usually the thing that's failed), and set the controller to your city's assigned watering days before the first real run. If you'd rather have it caught and tuned in one visit, that's what a wet check is.

Summer: run it legal, protect the slab

Peak season is about two things at once — staying within the rules and keeping your foundation alive. Lawn sprinklers run only on your two assigned days and never between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Your foundation drip zone is the exception: it's exempt and should run on any day to keep the clay from shrinking away from the slab in the heat. Walk the yard every couple of weeks for dry spots and broken heads — but resist the urge to drown everything, because standing water heaves a foundation just as surely as drought settles it. The whole game is steady moisture, not maximum water. How foundation watering works →

Fall: the months everyone underestimates

Here's the counterintuitive part. The most dangerous stretch for a North Texas foundation isn't the peak of summer — it's a dry fall. The clay has been baking, the rains haven't come, and it keeps pulling away from the slab while everyone assumes watering season is over and shuts down. Don't. Ease the lawn schedule down as it cools, but keep the foundation drip going. And before the fall rains finally arrive, check that your drainage moves water away from the slab, not toward it.

Winter: protect the backflow before the freeze

North Texas isn't the frozen north, so you don't need a full compressed-air blow-out — but you absolutely need to protect the backflow assembly. It sits above ground at the meter, holds water, and is the single most common thing to burst in a hard freeze (February 2021 took out thousands of them across the metroplex). Insulate or protect it, and have a plan to shut the system down fast when a hard freeze is on the way. Keep a little foundation watering going on warm, dry winter spells — the clay doesn't fully rest. If a freeze did get you, a cracked backflow is a compliance item too, since you can't pass a backflow test on a split assembly.

The easy way: stop having to remember

Three moments carry the whole year — a spring start-up to catch freeze damage and set the schedule, a mid-season check to catch a broken head before it wastes a month of water, and a winterization to protect the backflow before the freeze. Miss any one and it tends to cost you: a head watering the street for six weeks, a foundation that moved in a dry fall, a burst backflow in January.

Most homeowners don't want to track that calendar, and they shouldn't have to. The honest pitch is simple: I can put those three visits on a schedule so the system is started, watched, and protected without you thinking about it — and so the small problems get caught while they're still small. If that sounds good, let's set it up.