What happens to your sprinklers after American Canyon's Cash for Grass?

<!-- Fact sources (opened 2026-11-09):

• City of American Canyon, Cash for Grass page: $1.00 per sq ft of existing irrigated turf removed, up to $750 per residential

property; residents, property owners, renters with owner's written permission; online application with "before" photos and a W-9; Notice to Proceed first, projects started before it not eligible; call 811 before digging; finish within six months; inspection booked through enviroinfo@americancanyon.gov, staff take photos; maintain five years (working irrigation, mulch, replace dead plants); drip, micro-spray or another water-efficient method; payment generally within six weeks of final inspection approval; first come, first served while funds last. Links to the city's two how-to PDFs.

• City "How to Cap Off Sprinklers" PDF: dig carefully to expose pipe and fittings (pointed shovel), unscrew the sprinkler,

replace with cap or plug of appropriate size, Teflon tape on threads, run the system manually from the timer or valve and check for leaks, then backfill level.

• City "How to Install Drip Irrigation with an Existing Sprinkler System" PDF: studies show well-designed drip uses at least 30

percent, in some cases 50 percent, less water than sprinklers; pick one spray head as supply and cap the rest; keep dirt out of the line; pop-up conversion canister; flush before fitting filter and adapter top; 1/2 inch polyethylene tubing, staked without pinching, end capped; emitters sized to each plant's water demand; lower pressure before testing ("To much psi can burst the emitters"); check monthly for clogged emitters; cover tubing against UV; reset the timer to the municipal ordinance.

• DripWorks: drip and sprinkler heads should not run in the same zone; most sprinkler systems above 35 PSI, most drip 25 PSI or

less; drip runs slightly longer than sprinklers.

• UC Davis (2015-11-02): autumn, with cooler weather and expected winter rains, is the best time to plant; roots grow before summer heat.
• Client (content/services.ts): drip conversion = spray zones converted to drip with own valve, filter, regulator and an emitter at each plant.

Search demand: "what to do with sprinkler system when removing lawn", "convert sprinkler to drip after lawn removal", "cap sprinkler heads", "American Canyon Cash for Grass" (city page, how-to PDFs ranking for spray-to-drip searches, vendor kit Q&A threads where a drip kit fails because other heads on the zone are still open). --> In American Canyon, most of the sprinklers under a lawn you take out for Cash for Grass get capped, and one head on each zone can become the supply for new drip tubing. The city's Cash for Grass page says the new landscape can be watered by drip, micro-spray or "another water-efficient irrigation method," so the old spray heads can't simply keep running over a bed of plants and mulch.

Most homeowners plan the lawn removal and the planting. The sprinklers come up later, usually when the first new plant drowns or the first bark chips wash onto the sidewalk. Planning the pipe work first saves a second dig.

What does American Canyon's Cash for Grass require?

The city pays $1.00 per square foot of existing irrigated lawn removed, up to $750 for a home, according to its Cash for Grass page. The order matters more than the amount. You apply online with "before" photos and a W-9, and you wait for the city's Notice to Proceed. The page is plain about it: projects started before that notice aren't eligible.

After approval, the city gives you six months to finish. It asks you to call 811 before digging, which applies to every trench you cut for new tubing. When the work is done, you book a final inspection through enviroinfo@americancanyon.gov, and staff take photos. The page says payment generally follows within six weeks of the inspection being approved, and that funding is first come, first served while it lasts.

The part people forget is the five years. The city expects you to keep the landscape up for five years after the rebate, including working irrigation, mulch coverage and replacing plants that die. The sprinkler decisions you make now are the ones you live with for that whole stretch.

If you want to compare this program with the ones next door, the lawn and irrigation rebate finder lists them by city.

Should I cap the sprinklers or convert them to drip?

Usually both: cap most heads and convert one per zone. The city's own drip guide starts that way. Pick one spray head to act as the water supply, then cap every other head on that zone. Each head on a lawn zone ends up with one of three jobs:

| The head | What happens to it | Why | | --- | --- | --- | | Most heads in the old lawn | Dug out and capped below grade | A head left in place can still pop up and spray the new bed. | | One head per zone, near the new beds | Swapped for a spray-to-drip conversion canister | It feeds the drip tubing from the existing valve and pipe. | | Heads watering grass you're keeping | Left alone, checked for aim | They stay on a zone of their own, away from the drip. |

That last row is the one that trips up partial conversions. DripWorks puts it simply: drip irrigation and sprinkler heads should not run in the same zone. Sprinklers and drip want different pressures (DripWorks says most sprinkler systems run above 35 PSI and most drip systems at 25 PSI or less), and drip runs longer than spray heads to water the same plants. If half a zone still feeds spray heads, the drip on the other half either gets too much pressure or never gets enough water.

When we convert beds to drip, we check the layout first. Usually the drip gets its own valve, a filter and a pressure regulator, with an emitter at each plant. The drip conversion page explains when a bed needs its own valve and when the whole zone can be converted instead.

How do you cap a sprinkler head properly?

The city's "How to Cap Off Sprinklers" sheet lays out the method. Dig carefully around the head with a pointed shovel until the pipe and fittings are exposed, because a careless shovel cracks the PVC you're trying to save. Unscrew the sprinkler, using groove-lock pliers if it won't turn by hand. Fit a cap or plug of the right size, with Teflon tape on the threads.

Then comes the step people skip. Run that zone manually from the timer or the valve and watch every cap for a leak before you backfill. A weeping cap under fresh mulch soaks one spot, feeds weeds and wastes water for years without anyone noticing. Once the caps are dry, fill the holes level so nobody trips.

How does the old sprinkler line become drip?

The city's drip guide uses a universal pop-up conversion kit on the one head you kept. In plain terms:

• Keep dirt out of the open pipe while the sprinkler is off. Debris in the line ends up in the drip emitters.
• Seat the conversion canister, then flush the line through it before fitting the filter and top.
• Run ½ inch polyethylene tubing to the planting, stake it down without pinching it, and cap the far end.
• Choose emitter sizes by each plant's water demand, not one size for the whole bed.
• Turn the pressure down before the first test. The guide warns that too much pressure can burst emitters and connections.
• Cover the tubing to protect it from sunlight, then reset the timer to the city's watering rules.

The same guide notes that well-designed drip systems use at least 30 percent, and in some cases 50 percent, less water than sprinklers. That saving only holds if every emitter is delivering water. The guide asks for a monthly check for clogged emitters and loose tubing, which lines up with the city's five-year upkeep condition. Our drip versus sprinklers guide covers which plantings suit drip and where micro-spray still makes sense.

When is the best time to do this in American Canyon?

Fall is a good window for the planting itself. A UC Davis article on replacing lawns says autumn, with cooler weather and expected winter rains, is the best time, because roots grow before summer heat. In November that means the new plants settle in while rain does part of the watering.

The timing that matters for the rebate is the city's. Nothing comes out until the Notice to Proceed arrives, and the six-month clock starts with it. If you're approved in late fall, most of that window falls in the rainy months, which is a fine time to plant and a slow time for testing drip. Run every new zone manually at least once before the inspection, rain or not, so a pinched line or an open head shows up while the trenches are still easy to reach.

What to check before you apply

Walk the lawn with the system running and note which zones water it and whether any of those zones also reach beds or grass you're keeping. Mark heads that already leak or tilt. If the lawn shares a valve with areas that stay, the conversion means splitting that zone or adding a valve, and that's easier to plan before the Notice to Proceed starts the clock.

If a zone has never worked well, a sprinkler diagnostic before the lawn comes out tells you whether the valve and wiring are worth building drip onto. American Canyon is covered city-wide on our routes, and the American Canyon service page has the city's watering rules alongside the services we offer there.