I've been hacking at this problem for over two years now, and I've been lurking on this forum for a couple weeks. I keep thinking it's just a simple clogging issue with my solenoids, and I keep poking at them, and it still isn't working.
Finally got around to drawing up a rough schem of my valve setup -- see the PDF attached. It was much prettier before I had to shrink the quality to get it under 20KB, but you get the idea.
Here's the problem: Zones 1 & 2 won't come on via the electronic controls. Zone 3 works sometimes. Zone 4 works all the time.
It's all Rainbird, here are the specifics on the manifold valves:
- Zone 1: APAS 075 - clicks and hums, releases water, sprinklers won't start; manual start only
- Zone 2: APAS 075 - clicks and hums, releases water, sprinklers won't start; manual start only
- Zone 3: APAS 075 - clicks and hums, releases water, sprinklers start slowly and unreliably
- Zone 4: ASVF 100 - works every time
I think the wires are working -- nothing's dead. I've messed around with the flow rings on the APAS valves until I can't see straight. I've flushed and re-flushed. I've swapped the solenoids for zones 1, 2 and 3 (the wires aren't long enough to swap #4), but that hasn't helped. I've replaced the solenoid for #1.
This was a custom install by the original owners of the house, and they were idiots. Almost all the zones mix flowers with shooters, so half the lawn stays thirsty while other parts flood. For coverage reasons (and in hopes of somehow fixing the flows) I've replaced all the old impact shooters with gear-driven rotors. It's tolerable now, but I still can't get the stinking thing to turn on from the control panel, and I'm getting tired of crawling through the holly to turn them on and off manually. Doesn't work so well when we're away from the house, either.
Anybody got a silver bullet? Pleeeeze? Thanks!