CIT case studies
CIT · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Certified Irrigation Technician (CIT) is a credential for the people who install, service, and repair landscape and turf irrigation systems - field technicians, installers, service crew leads, and the supervisors who sign off on their work. It is aimed at practitioners who already spend their days at the trench and the controller, rather than at designers (who have a separate design-side credential path) or at trainees with no field time at all. The exam samples broad working knowledge: hydraulics and design fundamentals such as pipe sizing, pressure and flow, and precipitation rates; backflow prevention and cross-connection control; valves, wiring, controllers, and sensors; components and materials; installation and trenching practice; troubleshooting and repair; and safety, codes, and water-management rules. Items are multiple choice and lean on practical judgment - diagnosing a weak zone, spotting a wiring fault, matching a backflow assembly to a hazard - more than on memorized formulas. The CIT case studies are 5 cases and about 3,819 words.
1The Zone That Fails by 23 psi Before It Is Even Built
You are laying out a new lawn zone for a home fed by a 1 in. A flow test at the meter gives 66 psi static and 22 psi residual at 16 gpm.
748 words, about 4 min2Dribbling RPZ on a Fertilized Nursery Service
RPZ is mounted indoors immediately downstream of the meter on a line serving a 22-zone irrigation system at a wholesale nursery. A fertigation pump injects 12-0-0 liquid fertilizer through a Venturi into the mainline about 40 ft downstream of the RPZ.
769 words, about 4 min3Two Zones, Two Unrelated Faults, One Controller
A 9-station residential controller in a garage uses a 24 VAC, 1.0 A plug-in transformer. The homeowner reports two problems.
770 words, about 4 min4The Pump That Quits at Minute Fifteen
A 3 hp self-priming centrifugal pump lifts water 8 ft from a pond through 25 ft of 2 in. suction hose with a foot valve and a 1/4 in.
754 words, about 4 min5Expired Locate, Faded Gas Mark, Open Trench at Quitting Time
You are the lead installer on a 200 ft, 2 in. PVC main extension along a city parkway feeding an HOA irrigation system.
778 words, about 4 min