After doing major repair work on my sprinkler line, I'm facing the following situation: I turn on the sprinklers and get about 70% pressure from them. After about 40 seconds or so, they kick into high gear and deliver 100% pressure. Is this normal, and it just simply takes that much time for a sprinkler line to get fully pressurized? Or does it indicate a problem that has yet to be detected?
Thanks.
do you have auto drains, they close under pressure then release so you dont freeze in the winter.
the
70%into high
simply
pressurized?
Normal. The drains in the line don't close until the pipe fills with water and the air is expelled from all the sprinklers. Then, since water doesn't get out as easily as air, the pressure increases, and the drain valves close.
Bob
My ignorance will be evident here, but I'm not sure I even have drains. Unless they're built in to the valves/backflow preventers. I live in Northern California where freezing usually isn't a problem. And I installed the sprinkler line myself and don't recall installing any drains. :/
Is air comming out first ? If yes then you have another leak, I dont know either what you used.
Air coming out first? Well, water comes out of the sprinklers almost instantly, just not at full pressure at first. It's not like they hiss air for any length of time before the water flows through them, if that's what you're asking.
How many zones? If you only have one zone (or just one zone that is displaying this 'slow start' behavior) then the likely cause is a sticking valve actuator.
It's just the one zone that starts off slow, a pretty consistent 40 second delay. It's a brand new valve assembly, so I'd be a little surprised if that's it. But hey... So what is the valve actuator, and is there a way to keep it from sticking?
Thanks.
-F
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