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HELP: Pipes shake when 2 of my drip irrigation valves are on

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Raimeiken

Unregistered

1

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 12:59pm

HELP: Pipes shake when 2 of my drip irrigation valves are on

This irrigation system I have installed has 4 automatic valves. 1 goes to the sprinklers for the lawn, 1 goes to a mushroom bubbler for a tree and the last two valves are strictly for drip irrigation.

There's no problems at all for the valves that's for the lawn and the tree. The problem is with the 2 drip irrigation valves.

Whenever my timer turns them on, the pipes conterminously shake, including the ones inside the house because I can hear them thumping. What could the problem be?

I've tried turning the flow control on the valves and this stops the shaking, but when I turn the valves off and then on, it starts again!

All 4 of the valves are brand new (rainbird) brand.

Oh and another note, if I manually turn the 2 valves on, by turning the solenoid, they work fine without shaking. Could the problem be that the solenoids don't open fully when the timer tries to turn them on?

Mitchgo

Supreme Member

Posts: 502

Location: Seattle

2

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 1:22pm

You say pipes shake, but where ?. Are they shaking at the valve, is the drip pipe shaking, have you isolated out where it shakes in your house?

Are the valves pulsing when it 'shakes' or is it viberating?

Make sure the flow control is all the way up and if there are any shut offs / ball valves prior to these valves make sure they are in the full open position.

Raimeiken

Unregistered

3

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 1:31pm

The valves pulsates and also the pipes inside the house, specifically in our bathrooms.

I've tried opening the flow control to the point where it starts leaking and it does stop the pulsating but like what i've said before is when the valves shut off and turned on again, the pulsating starts again.

There is a shutoff valve, which is the main shut off valve for the irrigation system and it is fully turned on.

Additional info: The system is connected in the front, after the water meter but before entering the house. So it is split in a tee from the mainline entering the house.

Could it be that it is sucking the water from inside the house?

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

4

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 1:33pm

You have an oscillation, which is caused by over-drawing the water supply. Try throttling down the flow controls on the zone valves.

Mitchgo

Supreme Member

Posts: 502

Location: Seattle

5

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 1:36pm

Or it's the opposite end of the spectrum and that there isn't enough water supply to these valves

In my experience the pulsing from a valve usually comes from a gate valve/ball valve that's not fully on

Raimeiken

Unregistered

6

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 1:45pm

I've tried turning them down as well and it keeps on pulsating.

It's odd though if it's the opposite that there isn't enough water coming out because this is just a drip irrigation. I dont think it's that much water coming out compared to the mushroom bubbler zone that sprays a lot of water and the sprinkler zone that has 6 sprinkler heads connected to it.

Mitchgo

Supreme Member

Posts: 502

Location: Seattle

7

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 1:58pm

It's not the zone itself it's the valve. The valve requires a certain amount of water flow and pressure for it to work properly. So its more then likely those 2 options.. the zone is asking for too much .. or not enough is being supplied

Because it's 2 valves this leads me to think it's not enough is being supplied

I would start searching around for another shut off.. check your crawlspace where the pipe exits your house to your valves. follow it back to the front of the house for the other valves ( If this is the situation)

Raimeiken

Unregistered

8

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 2:06pm

But when I open the valve all the way manually, there is no pulsating. Could it be the solenoids not opening all the way?

Mitchgo

Supreme Member

Posts: 502

Location: Seattle

9

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 2:21pm

How old is the system and what kind of valve?

It's possible, I just dealt with one like that on friday.

But to have both go out at the same time seems odd.

Raimeiken

Unregistered

10

Sunday, June 5th 2011, 2:29pm

fairly new. I installed them maybe 2-3 months ago but haven't fully tried them since a week ago because I've been working on other things in the frontyard.

All four of the valves are rainbird.

Yeah I find it odd as well and it only happens with the ones that are drip irrigation. ?(
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