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

Help -we're going nuts here! We bought a house with the above system installed, six stations. There are three sets of two valves. We had been having trouble with the set outside our bedroom window, solenoids making noises keeping us up at night. I replaced both solenoids and that temporarily fixed the problem, but then one was making a hissing noise and water was dribbling 24/7 along the driveway and at the fruit trees (I think they are the same station), so I replaced one of the solenoids again and that seemed to fix it...but then not! Most recently, a hissing noise was coming from the solenoid(s) again and the water was dribbling out in the same locations, so I shut the water source off to that set of valves.

Also recently, my husband was throwing a ball for our dog on the lawn, and the ball bounced into the valves set serving the lawn and the sprinklers came on and wouldn't go off! He shut everything off at the timer, with no effect. He shut the main off for the house and then turned it back on and the sprinklers came on again. Finally, he went out to the well pump and shut it off overnight, and when he turned it back on in the morning, the sprinklers didn't come back on. That was a couple of weeks ago, and the sprinklers were going off at night as programmed.

However, the valves by the window were still making the noise, with surging sounds as if the pressure was rising and falling. I had a plumber come out via our home warranty service, and all he could figure was that the two sets of valves were leaking and bad and should be replaced.

So, DH and I bought new valves and set about replacing them this weekend. We replaced the two 1" valves by the lawn and then I tested the system with the timer. I set the first station for 2 minutes and those heads went on and off fine. Then I did the same for the second station, but this time the sprinklers never went off! The troubleshooting section for Rain Dial says that when the water doesn't go off it because the valves are bad - well these are brand new, new solenoids and all! I will go down and shut off the well again, but any ideas why all of this is happening?!!

Is this related to a bigger problem with our well pump?