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drhod

New Member

1

Friday, April 15th 2011, 7:49am

Zone nill not turn on...? Valve issue?

Valve won't turn on


Hello, I am a relative noob to irrigation and I am trying to chase down a gremlin in my new installation. Any help is greatly appreciated as I have already stumped the technical assistance at Rainbird. I installed a 4 zone system. 2 rotor zones and two spray zones surrounding my home. All but one of the rotor zones will turn on with the controller. This zone will turn on when I manually turn on the valve or open the bleeder valve. However, when I turn the controller to that valve and enter a few minutes and press 'start', I hear the solenoid working, but no water is coming out of the rotors = no flow. This zone is 5 rotors and is situated about +/- 2'-3' higher than where the valve is located. My controller is a Rainbird ESP indoor Modular. The valve is a "standard" Rainbird 1". I do not have the model information with me at the moment...but these valves seem to run the spray zones and one other rotor zone just fine. In an effort to this problem I have taken the following measures.

-Switched the wire at the controller from a different zone to that one, did not work.

-Switched the solenoid at the valver from a different zone to that one. The solenoid was fine, but that particular zone still will not fire.

-Switched the "guts" from a different zone into that one. The other zone fired just fine, still nothing on the problem zone.

-Tested the current being delivered to the zone. If I remember correctly, I was getting approximately 27.5 - 28 V. The rainbird tech. assistance said that was well withing the operable range. Still nothing

-Hooked that valve up to a new piece of wire incase there was a short somewhere....? No change, zone will not fire.



All that being done already, what am I overlooking here? What could it be. I am, truly stumped and could really use and advice offered. Thanks in advance for the assistance!

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

2

Friday, April 15th 2011, 9:06am

If the only thing you didn't change was the body of the valve, then expect a blockage. This can happen with do-it-yourselfers who get too generous with the pipe cement.

drhod

New Member

3

Friday, April 15th 2011, 9:13am

Wet bots, I "would" agree with you that it seems like a blockage could be a rational explanation to this problem, except for the fact that the zone will turn on with the maual control at the valve and with the bleeder screw. That being said, could the location of the heads being above the valve create enough pressure to not allow the diaphgram to rise/open? I appreciate you chiming in, but I am sure it is not a blockage in the valve as I have completely disassembled the valve and flushed it... I definitely have flow through the valve.

drhod

New Member

4

Friday, April 15th 2011, 9:14am

oops, meant boots.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

5

Friday, April 15th 2011, 5:12pm

Bleed screw operation bypasses the valve internals, so it doesn't indicate that the body of the valve has no blockage. Use a wire to probe the passageway under the solenoid.

Shaw

Unregistered

6

Sunday, July 31st 2011, 1:07pm

Awesome! I had the same problem and troubleshoot'd the same. The problem was too much glue. It was covering the solenoid's bleed port. Stuck the wire side of the sprinkler flag down the port to clear it out and now it works like a charm. You guys are awesome!!!

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