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

Ok, so I blew a 1.5 HP pump that pulled water from a lake behind our house to water our lawn for the last 7 years. The pump was down for 3 weeks before we realized something was wrong and could get it fixed (we water at night when we are asleep).

I installed a new 1.5 HP flowtec pump yesterday and it seemed to be a clean installation, no problems and easy to swap out. I am no plumber/electrician but I'm fairly handy.

So, I go to turn on the new pump after installation and priming according to instructions and it sounds perfect, like it is pulling a vacuum, no problem there. Indeed there is some bubbles/foam coming from the overflow valve, and pressure would build when I put my hand over the valve. The problem is that there was no significant water coming out. So, I primed again a couple of times, just in case...and nothing...same thing, motor runs fine, but no water coming into the system. Finally, I thought maybe my plumbing job was not perfect, so checked the pipes with soap and there was one small hole, which I filled with epoxy. I checked again and the hole appears to have been successfully plugged.

Even still, I am not getting water coming from the lake. I'm thinking that the lake-submerged filter could have clogged in the 3 weeks that the sprinklers were not turning on, is that possible? I don't really want to go swimming to see, but I will if I have to. If it is clogged, is there an easy way to unclog it?

Is there anything else that I could be missing, I am almost certain that I didn't introduce a leak in my pipes. How big would a leak have to be for there to not be any water? (the lake level is ~10 vertical ft below the 1.5 HP pump).

The other problem I was thinking is that the wiring might be backwards in the control box (I double checked my own wiring and there shouldn't be a problem there). What would happen if the wires were reversed? Would the pump run at all or possibly run backward?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't have a lot of money, so calling someone out to fix the problem is sort of a last resort.

wow!!! you guys are great, you've given me a lot to work on but it gives me hope that I am not the only one who experiences this!!

Thank you all so much for the help, I appreciate it so very much!

Ok, so I got my problem solved. Turns out that I had to call in help because I was out of options.

I tried all the suggestions that were posted. The intake was clean, so there was no problem there. And the pump just wouldn't pull water, no matter what I tried. I called in a guy and he was very helpful and identified the problem as being me.

You see, while I consider myself handy, I am apparently not that handy. He identified the problem as being the epoxy that I used to seal the little air hole. I had thought I got it, but I was wrong. I'd seen other posts on the net suggesting that epoxy seals are not that great, and I am now saying the same thing: don't use epoxy. I will never use epoxy again, chalk it up to experience.

So that's it. I am just a really bad plumber!!! The worst part: my wife will never let me live this one down, ugg!

Thanks again for everyone's help, I appreciate it a lot.