After replacing 4 of the solenoids I have the system working again. Still not sure of the cause but I have a theory. Those solenoids were damaged somehow by lightning or a short and had kept the valves closed until I opened up the bonnet to inspect and clean. Once I opened them up they could not close because the solenoids were shot. So they remained open until I had the solenoid replaced. Is that feasible?
I'm baffled by a problem with my 9 year old Rainbird 100-dv valves. I got in this mess because my pump was cycling on for no apparent reason. I isolated the problem to be in the irrigation system when I shut the gate valve leading to the irrigation from the pump. The cycling of the pump stopped and the pressure held steady for 6 hours. So I'm figuring that one of my 7 valves is leaking or partially stuck open. There was no significant leaking from any sprinkler head so I figured that I'd disasse...
