Had a Hunter sprinkler system installed about 2 months ago. Everything was fine (4 zones, 5 heads on each zone) until yesterday. One of my zones (all spray type nozzles) now just dribbles water out of each head...like there's not enough pressure to pop the heads up. I know little about sprinkler systems but, as luck would have it, my installer is on vacation until Aug. 1st. Is there anything simple I can check to see if I can fix it?
Mike wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Sounds like you have a problem with that zone's valve. You might want to switch the wire in the control box for that valve with one that works, and see if it is the control box or the valve.
Dave
I doubt switching a wire will help. Either the zone solenoid is powered or it's not. I'd look for a leak in the ground. Look for a large amount of water percolating near a head.
Check the water meter, does this zone consume water at the same or nearly the same rate as the working zones? Then it's definately a leak. If not, I'd take the zone valve apart and look for a clog.
A leak in the hoses, perhaps? You can turn on that zone for a while, and then follow the line to see if you find any soggy spots or puddles along its length.
HTH
FurPaw
Is there a back flow preventer with an handle on it? Crank the handle until they start to work. This also adjusts the pressure and volume to the zone. Is there a shut off valve ahead of the backflow preventers? Is it open all the way?
What happened to the paperwork for all of the stuff installed? Google for the directions for the valves after you find out what kind they are.
It is very easy to do, and if you buy a few cheap items to do this repair, you will end up doing others in the future.
Make a sketch or drawing of what you have. Be sure that you know what size pvc you are dealing with, that is the most important thing.
Take the drawing to Home Depot or Lowe's or Ace Hardware, and show them what you have. They can tell you exactly what you need to do the simple repair.
At a minimum, you will need:
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Saw the pipe so that you can slightly bend them up out of the ground and allow the coupler to join the two sides together. You may have to use trial and error, and don't make your cut "gap" too wide, so that the coupler doesn't fit solid. You can hold the coupler down to the cut pipe to see how wide to make the gap.
Put the glue on the outside edges of the 2 cut sides, and the insides of both ends of the coupler. Twist and join them together tightly. The glue will set in just 1 or 2 minutes, so you have to operate fast. You can use the sprinkler within a few hours.
Let us know how this works out !!
--James--
Its an easy repair , get pipe, sleeves-couplings , primer and glue . Cut it clean it and be sure to remove PVC debris in pipe as it will clog downline heads. Then glue it up, it will last fine if you do it careully.
Get one of those cable PVC cutters. It is a steel cable with red plastic tube handles. Just slip it under the pipe and pull it back and forth. It will quickly cut the pipe. You can do this with nylon string but the cutter works faster. They sell a repair coupling that does not have the shoulder so you can slip it over one pipe all the way, align the two pipes and slide it back over the other one. It is easier if you can get back to an elbow. Dig out enough so you can easily flex the pipe and get "heavy duty" cement (green can). It has a longer "open" time. The wet/dry stuff sets up instantly and regular is only "open" for 20 seconds or so. If you don't do this a lot you will be futzing with the pipe longer than the cement takes to set. Having a helper is "helpful". You quickly run out of hands trying to hold the pipe, hold the cement and align the other pipe etc.
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