SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

NOW I feel a bit like an idiot.... I didn't see the second page of help/suggestions.
You all have my most humble apologies..
Bill

YUP!!
Dig at the Ell/Tee, cut, re-insert the tape and continue on... there won't be that many.
Good Luck!!

It was the common wire. I rented a circuit tracer and found where the wire had been cut. I was working on the pipes at the same time which is what threw me off. I thought it had to be related, but it wasn't. The gardener was digging out some plants and that is where the break was. The circuit tracer was a little difficult to use, but once I got the hang of it, it worked great. Thanks everyone for the input.

Don't know if you are still seeking suggestions or not, but, you might want to check the common wire. It usually is the white one in color and is sometimes the culpirt. I have seen that one connection can be bad and cause a "daisy chain effect". Check all connections to the valves in question and maybe even redo the connection. Make sure you use good waterproof connectors.

As for the timer / controller, what make and model is it? Have you done a full reset on the controller?

Did I miss something? What work did you do on the PVC pipe. I saw no mentioning of it in your post, and yes, it could also be the problem.

repost.

Ok. Here is another update. I was WAY off with what the problem is. There is a large part of the back yard that is not functioning. I thought because Valve 5 was not working it was the valve that powers the sprinklers that don't work. I was wrong. Valve 5 definitely doesn't work, but I have finally come to the conclusion that it probably worked at one time but is now obsolete. I consulted with my gardner and he showed me more valves that are up in the hill buried underground (6 of them). These are the valves that bring water to the area that currently is not working. Confirmed this by opening the bleed screws. Since the area that I thought was controlled by one valve is actually controlled by 6 valves and none of those valves are working, I concluded that this has to be a wiring problem. Since all 6 zones are not working at the same time, I'm pretty sure it can't be 6 solenoids going bad at one time. I took apart my controller to gain access to the station screw terminals. Based on some research I did, I figured out how to test the controller, but I don't really know exactly what the test results mean. I was told to activate a station and put one lead on the common and the other on the station screw terminal to get a voltage reading. After the reading is confirmed, with the zone still active, put the lead on the other zones to make sure the voltage reading on those zones is zero. So, I activated zone 1 and got a normal voltage reading from zone 1. But with zone 1 still active I placed the lead on station screw 2 and also got a voltage reading. I repeated for zone 3, etc. and got the same result - voltage reading on other zones, when zone 1 is active. What does this mean??

The thing that threw me off about this whole process is that these zones stopped working right after I did work on the pvc pipes. But it appears to be entirely unrelated.

I would just dig up that elbow and take it apart.... start running it from there. You may have to do it again if you hit a Tee but after a couple holes you should be able to find what's blocking you

Try the backwards flush again, especially if you can cap off or throttle down the other heads on the zone. No snake will deal with these pipes, and the last resort is digging, and replacing pipe and/or fittings.

I tried the fish tape, but it was not pliable enough. It wouldn't push past the first elbow. Do they make a snake that would be thin enough for a 3/4 inch pipe? Or can you think of something else I could try?

Thanks!

Very good. You obviously almos thave it. Keep going.