Ok, Moved into a new house last year. Had a guy stop by and asked us if he could winterize our irrigation system. I let him for 50$ (probably too much).

Anyway, it is now about time for me to turn it back on.

There is a central control unit in our garage.. Rainbird brand similar to this:




And here is the piping outside.


There is also this pipe that was working in the summer, but after he shut off the system it no longer works.


Can you all help me save 50$ and get this thing turned back on?

Thanks!

I have zero experience with this particular brand but for the most part you want to give your system a once over to make sure you don't have damaged sprinker heads, cracked lines (visable ones obviously), and that the ground is actually thawed out. Then you should be able to turn your system back on a lower pressure. I have seen neighbors blow out heads and pipes because they re-engaged the system at full pressure.

ETA: Bored so looked up the company and came across these two pages.

How to winterize the Rain-bird system

And

Spring start up

I posted the winterization guide since it has good step by steps to give you an idea of what was done.

he shut off the feed to your system.
the valve closest to the copper turned 90 degrees from the pipe is off.
turn it so it is lined up with the pipe. you should hear water start to flow.
that valve that worked before he did it should work again.

then you can put your system into test mode and it will fire off all of the stations.
it will sputter for a while because he blew air into it to get the water out.
follow the stations around as they fire and make sure you don't see any streams of water flying into the air.

1.) Open the faucet that is in the last pic
2.) then turn the faucet on the right side of the first pic 90°  
3.) Once all the air is out of the line close the faucet in the first pic
4.) then manually cycle your sprinkler system long enough to get the air out of each circuit.

I don't know what kind of pressures you have if they are low you can probably skip step 1.  If we don't open valves on ours we blow shit up when we turn on the irrigation water in the spring.

I'll add to this and say some of those screw valves (the four stubby things sticking out towards you from the valve/screen assembly) might also be open and will need to be shut.  On my system they are left open during winter to let air in in the winter to keep it dry inside those valves and whatnot.  I can't remember if mine were turned that way or not when open.  They are 1/4 turn to close/open.

I would also pull that screen after startup and initial run to make sure no junk got washed through on the inital fill.  You'll basically unscrew the thing that is at about 45 degree angle and check the screen inside if there is one.  mine doesn't have this.  Turn off the supply before doing this, turn back on after checking

There may also be a shutoff valve in the house and possible another drain valve to full drain the pipes headed outside (again, mine is this way).

I'm not a yard irrigation specialist, but that's what I would do.  My system is a self draining and has fewer valves than yours, no screen, an air lock, and check valves in two spots, but I got it started and tested OK a week ago.  Advice is worth what you paid.  YMMV, FBHO, and all that.

Perfect thanks..

If you have the rain sensor you might want to test it out, just spray it with a hose to make sure the system shuts off.

Thanks, I have no idea where it would be if I had one..

Got the system on, now i have to adjust the heads, they are going everywhere..

thanks for the help

If you have one, it may look like one of these:
https://www.google.com/search?q=rain+bird+rain+sensor&client=firefox-a&hs=le2&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=jmRaU9eRIMOwywPw8oKYDA&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAw&biw=1680&bih=956
It could be mounted to a fence, gutter, or some other location around the yard that has a clear view of the sky.

I used to work for RainBird, and what's been said already is correct. Visually inspect everything you can get to, open the valves and slowly turn the water on. You don't need to pay for system start-up, but I would recommend paying for the winter shut-down. Could be a very expensive repair bill if you don't.