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

****o!

I am new to this forum but not to sprinkler systems. I am not a prof. installer I do it because it is something I enjoy. So here is my problem....


I installed a system for a friend of mine last week. 5/8" meter, 3/4" all copper interior plumbing. I increased to 1" for the system, Watts PVB, 1" Rainbird DV valves, 1" poly pipe with funny pipe connections to the heads (Rainbird 3500 rotor .75 nozzle), 3 heads per zone. When I checked psi and gallons before install we had 70 psi and a very poor 3 gallons per minute. Other neighbors are running 3 old brass Rainbird heads with no problems! I have checked all valves in the house and they are full open, I took the meter out of the supply line and checked it and it appears to be clean. I can find nothing that would cause this. The sprinklers take about 1 minute to rise. The best part is when they do rise and pressure builds they start fogging. So I switched to a 1.0 and then a 1.5 nozzle. When the system is running you can change to them and it works a little better. However, if you turn the zone off and then restart it they will not rise. I have never had this problem before. I'm begining to think we need to add a booster pump but would that help?

Any suggestions would help as it is a real sore sight to see them running.

Thanks
Rob

UPDATE!

All fixed! I had the county come out and do a low pressure hammer flush of the main line from the road to the house. Well the water coming out during the flush was like a rust colored tomato paste. It took about a half hour to clean the line. Pressure is up and gpm is awesome! Sprinklers are cranking with #4 nozzle!

This system is on a community well. So twice a year the county does a line flush of the subs on the well. The home owners have owned the home for 1 years and never knew they needed to flush from the road to the house. So it as 11 years of build up.

What they did was shut the water off to the house and disconnected the meter and attached a 1" hose to the line coming in the house. On the hose was a brass ball valve. They turned the water back on to the house and they would turn the ball valve on and off about 5 times quickly and then let the water the water run. After doing this a couple the line was clean and everything is working fine now.