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

Installing a new fence at the high school baseball field and while using an auger to dig post holes we hit an irrigation pipe and managed to also cut three irrigation wires. I managed to repair the pipe no problem but have not had any luck with the wires. There must be nearly 12-15 wires running along the pipeline. The irrigation system serves 7 zones on the baseball field and 4 on the softball field. All are single wires running along the pipe. The three that were cut are all red. I attempted to splice the three wires using common 16 gauge low voltage wire and thought I tried every combination but I could not get any zones to come on at either field. Is that wire not what I need? Am I doing something wrong? I may just have to call someone to come fix it because it needs to be done soon but I am baffled as to why that didnt work. Is there a way to tell which wires match each other? I am fairly certain that I have one pair figured out for sure but the other two pairs I'm not sure about.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Well, after a day of troubleshooting it looks like the wiring is ok, fuse is ok, and all zones seem to be working. I just dont have any water pressure. I happened to catch a few sprinklers sputtering briefly that led me to this. No heads are popping up but if I manually pull them up when on there is some water flow (sprays about 18 inches) Air in the line? Some heads arent even getting enough pressure to move enough to let water out. Sounds like a leak but doesnt appear to be one anywhere. Im at a loss. 11 zones. All seem to be getting water, just no pressure. I had plenty of pressure before. What could have happened? (All hooked up to city water without a pump)

Leak? (Doesn't appear to be one)

Clogged Line (Took extra care to clean out pipe at location of the fix)

Air in line (Is that possible)

Any ideas?

Turned water off at sprinkler system. Didnt touch valve at meter. Not sure about a pressure regulator? How would I know if I had one and why would it break all of the sudden?

The valve I closed to make repair is the same one I opened up all the way after the repair.

Well, I checked the water meter today and with all the sprinklers off the meter was still running at a very good pace. Logically that would indicate another leak. Correct? We are talking about 2 1/2 inch pipe so what has me baffled is with the water running for around 48hrs why cant I locate the leak or even locate a wet spot? One would think that a leak that would drop my pressure so drastically would be easily located with a pipe that large. Any advice on how to locate the leak. I may just call the water department tomorrow and see what they have to say. Also, if each of the 11 zones has low pressure, the leak would have to be located somewhere before the system branches off into zones right?