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imperial valet timer

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weimadave

New Member

Posts: 2

1

Sunday, July 13th 2008, 1:04pm

imperial valet timer

after eight years of owning my home my trusty imperial timer has a problem. i had an irragation company look at it, al they wanted to do is replace it because it came over on the mayflower. i really don't care from where or when it came. it has not giving me a single seconds problem since i purchase my home more than eight years ago. i have friends and neighbors that have to reprogram or reset every time the wind blows.

that being said. i have an eleven station unit, but only utilize eight of the eleven. four stations will not come on and one station will not go off. i unpluged the system, turned the power off the power to the entire house but did not get it to go off until i turned the water off at the street.

can it be repaired or does it truly need to be replaced. if replacement is my only option, what do you recommend. not really wanting to spend hundreds of dollars. i know that whatever i replace it with will not give me eight years of trouble free service.

thanks in advance,

david warrick, texarkana, texas

hi.todd

Supreme Member

Posts: 417

Location: Houston, Texas

2

Sunday, July 13th 2008, 2:23pm

Your timer may not be the problem at all. It could be cut cables that are causing your 4 zones to not operate. The one zone that won't turn off can be a malfunctioning valve. In both cases, changing the controller will not solve your problem. You may need a company to put a multimeter on the valve wires to determine if the wires have been cut. Have you done any recent landscapeing, patio, or a new phone or cable line run?

If you have you may be able to look around and get a little bit lucky and find the broken cables. You will probably need to find the valve in the yard that will not turn off and check the solenoid to make sure it is tight and the bleed screw is tight.

I may be wrong and it could be the timer.

I don't think it is the timer.

Dan
Good Luck

:thumbsup:
:thumbup: :thumbsup:

weimadave

New Member

Posts: 2

3

Sunday, July 13th 2008, 8:24pm

imperial valet timer

all of this happened at the same time, which leads me to agree. the only problem is i have no drawings for the system, and to make matters worse there are no visible access ports anywhere in my yard. the only wiring that is visible is in one of the flower beds, and it is intact. the only way i found that was digging in the flower bed. how would i trace down the wiring/valve problem?

on the other hand, there has not been even a teaspoon of dirt moved in months, or have i had anything done around the house. we have had several super cell storms that ended with the power being out. this would normally affect olny the manual timer, for which i would just run the time forward and all was back to normal.

one thing that i failed to mention was that one of those stations is getting water, but only a trickle, not even enough to pop the heads up. this makes me think that it could be a timer problem? low current to that station and even lower to no current to the others? i don't know, i just did not think the so called experts knew what they were talking about. the one's that came to my house, not u guys.

got any other ideal's?

hi.todd

Supreme Member

Posts: 417

Location: Houston, Texas

4

Sunday, July 13th 2008, 8:39pm

Valves can be located with a Progressive 521 wire and valve locator or other similar device. The fact that your getting some water through the valve indicates either a leak in the zone whether in the heads or the piping, or the valve is malfunctioning which is probably the issue. It could be a weak electrical current getting to the valves due to a bad timer like you said, but from everything that you have mentioned, I don't think it is the timer. In my opinion the timer is probably not your issue.
If you do need to get a pro involved check them out with a Local BBB and ask them if they have a valve locator and if they use a multimeter to diagnose electrical issues.

Good Luck

:thumbsup:

P.S. These types of issues are usually over the heads of the average home owner, and the average sprinkler repair guy!!!!
You need an expert.
If you are in the great state of Texas you need a Licensed Irrigator that Specializes in Repairs not Installs!!
:thumbup: :thumbsup:

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

5

Monday, July 14th 2008, 5:49am

  1. Find your zone valves. All of them. Identify the make and model, and post that information here. (photos can help)
  2. See if they can be manually opened to turn on a zone.
  3. Check the resistance of the wiring from controller to valves. Readings should be similar, if all the zone valves are the same.

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