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An elusive problem... front yard is always on...

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GatorGuy

Moderator

Posts: 458

11

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 11:32am

Your 'master valve' is an anti-siphon above ground valve(ASV), similar to THIS. These are USUALLY used to control one zone at a time. However, in some cases it is installed at the backflow preventer for a complete system, which is a bad idea. Most municipalities will not approve that installation.

I'm still stuck.
I'm dying to know if water is truly going through those three valves.
I'm wondering if they were eliminated at some point in the past.
Full of water when you took them apart?
If you are really bored, pop the top on one and turn on the system.
See if you geyser.

Only if you are really, really bored.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

12

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 11:45am

a manual antisyphon valve is not functional as backflow protection in a multi-zone system - that is a code violation now and forever, and I don't even need to know the location to be certain of that

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,510

Location: USA

13

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 12:07pm

The problem's definetly a valve.
You said you swapped out the bonnets of the valves. Did you inspect the diaphragms? I believe one of them has a hole/tear in it.
Possibly there's a rock or something keeping the diaphragm from closing.
I've never seen this valve but maybe the diaphragm came apart and you can't see the problem until you take the diaphram out of the valve.

seth

Unregistered

14

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 12:16pm

wet boots - do i have a code violation?

mrfixit -

i have taken the tops of the valves off once more. i have brought them inside, and washed them under running water in my kitchen sink. they are now drying. i will take photos.

i thought it was a diaphragm issue as well, HOWEVER, when i swapped the tops of all valves and interchanged them, the front yard was still the only zone on. is that possible if it's a diaphragm? wouldnt the problem have moved to a different zone wherever the diaphragm was moved to?

i am going to take my shop vac and removed the filter and use it to "suck" out the bottom of the valves. maybe that will help too.

seth

Unregistered

15

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 12:19pm

Quoted from "GatorGuy"


I'm dying to know if water is truly going through those three valves.
I'm wondering if they were eliminated at some point in the past.
Full of water when you took them apart?
If you are really bored, pop the top on one and turn on the system.
i'm gonna work this lead as well.

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,510

Location: USA

16

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 12:29pm

You still haven't said you swapped the diaphragms. You said you swapped the top of the valve. The diaphragm is the guts of the valves. The innards. The rubber piece below the top half of the valve.

If you swapped the diaphragms and bonnets and still had the same problem then you're working on the wrong valves unless the valve seat is missing a big piece.

seth

Unregistered

17

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 12:47pm

Quoted from "mrfixit"

You still haven't said you swapped the diaphragms. You said you swapped the top of the valve. The diaphragm is the guts of the valves. The innards. The rubber piece below the top half of the valve.

If you swapped the diaphragms and bonnets and still had the same problem then you're working on the wrong valves unless the valve seat is missing a big piece.
i swapped the diaphragms as well. so when i took the top half off, the spring and diaphragm was also switched.

i was taking pictures of my cleaned diaphrams/top of valves/springs, but realized that you guy cant see much with the quality of pic my phone takes. long story short, everything looked okay.

i gave the system water when the valve tops were off and water was coming out of the valves. sprinklers didnt come on.

i re-installed freshly cleaned valve tops/diaphragms/springs and the same issue still persists.

guess i should get some new valves?? haha. i dont think that removin them will be easy, looks like that put the glue on the "twist" connections.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

18

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 4:08pm

Quoted from "seth"

wet boots - do i have a code violation?
You don't have a backflow preventer. The brass thingie is pretending to be a backflow preventer, but no one's fooled.

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,510

Location: USA

19

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 6:58pm

I still think you might be working on the wrong valves.

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,510

Location: USA

20

Thursday, May 10th 2012, 1:28pm

I was curious about your valve box picture. I see numbers written on there. Three valves, #3, #4 and #5. I also see a number 2? Does that go to a valve?

Also on your controller picture. There's a switch just above the wires. You'll need to learn what that does. It has nothing to do with the problem at hand though. Manual < Click on that.

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