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sprinklers not working--no water

douknownam

Unregistered

1

Monday, July 25th 2011, 10:51am

sprinklers not working--no water

Just moved into a house with existing Rain Bird system in place. However, the previous owner apparently forgot to flush the system during the winter, which busted the pvc pipe on the backflow preventer on the side of the sprinklers. I fixed the pipe and tested at the controller without success. See it counting down, but none of the sprinklers came on. I am a new homeowner, so I'm hoping the fix is just a main irrigation valve that I have yet to locate. My reasoning for this is that at the backflow preventor (U-shaped thing that sticks out of the ground for me) doesn't have any water coming out of the side from the house. I've even checked the control valve boxes and it sounds like the solenoids have current running through them (slight humming when you get close enough). Also looked at the water meter at the curb, the box is full of rain water (I assume), but I don't specifically see any valves coming off of it to signify a irrigation master valve. Is there any other common place I should be looking?

Btw, I have water in the house so I know that the service line from the water meter is on. I also have water coming through each of the 3 spickets/faucets surrounding the outside of my house.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

douknownam

Unregistered

2

Monday, July 25th 2011, 10:52am

Btw, I've already checked the rain sensor.

AutomaticSprinklers

Senior Member

Posts: 17

Location: Indiana

3

Monday, July 25th 2011, 9:37pm

The majority of the systems I have installed have a separate meter for the sprinklers. Sometimes this are in a separate pit sometimes the same one. Lacking that there should be a valve between the meter and the backflow as you have guessed. Should be in a valve box. This will be a manual ball valve or gate valve. I would start looking in the meter pit. Then look around it for a box. Then check close to the house were your main water line goes in. I would be surprised if they tapped on in a different spot because they would have to dig to find it and could not be 100% sure where it would be outside of those locations. The other place it would be would be close to the backflow. The box is there somewhere. It might be overgrown with grass or covered in mulch. You might have to poke around with a screwdriver to find it. Don't worry about the electric part until you confirm that you have water.

Mitchgo

Supreme Member

Posts: 502

Location: Seattle

4

Monday, July 25th 2011, 11:20pm

also open the test cock prior to the first shut off valve of the back flow assembly- this will verify if water is on at this point

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