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Toro Sprinkler system will not come on
I have a 9 zone Toro sprinkler system. When I attempt to turn on the sprinkler system, water just comes out of from all the sprinkler heads but none of the sprinkler heads actually pop up. Months ago, our local cable company had to replace the cable that runs to our house. I realized that they had hit one of the valves and ripped the wires off that run into the solenoid, would this prevent all of the other valves from working? Any advise is greatly appreciated.
What, if any, repair work was done after the cable drop? Torn wires aren't enough to cripple a system as you described.
Do ALL heads in ALL zones leak water at the same time?
Is your water on? Is your backflow preventer open all the way? Are the valves bleed screws closed?
There has not been any additional work done in our yard. Water does come out from all the sprinkler heads at the same time. I have not checked the bleeder on the valves. I did have a sprinkler guy come out about 6 months ago and he was just as puzzled. He stated since we had had a bad winter, that possibly the diaphram in each of the valves were frozen and remained open. He stated that I had 9 valves throughout the front and back yard and he would have to dig each one of them up and replace the diaphram to the tune of $1600.00. So far I have found one valve...which is the one that the cable company yanked the wire out of the solenoid. He seemed very puzzled. I failed to mention that the sprinkler system is about 15 years old. I have not checked the backflow preventor.
Does the system have a master valve? If so, is its location known?
I find it curious that a professional could diagnose what's wrong with 9 valves when he doesn't even know where the valves are.
Are you saying that all 9 valves are trying to run at the same time or are you saying that each valve when operated individually don't have enough pressure to pop up the heads?
If it's the second scenario there might be a pressure regulator on the system that's broken.
Boots asked if you have a master valve. That too could be the problem if it's not allowing enough water through to pop up the heads. Again on the second scenario.
Me again, you said you just had a really bad winter. Did you drain the system dry of water? If so I'll come back with what I'm thinking.
Mrfixit and Boots....no, I did not drain the sprinkler system. I am not sure where the master valve is at. Is it the same as the backflow system? I know where thats at. In regards to the professional not knowing where the valves were at, he made an assumption based on him trying to turn one individual station on at the controller and all the heads would slightly pop up and leak water. Therefore, he assumed that the diaghrams in each of the valves were stuck open.
The pro probably made a correct diagnosis - I have seen similar situations, and the cure was a complete replacement of all the zone valves, at a cost of over a thousand dollars
(any day now, you might tell us your location - it matters as pertains to diagnosing the situation)
You do know where the one valve is. The valve the cable company damaged. What's the diagnosis on that valve? Take it apart and look at the diaphragm.
If the master valve has it's own seperate ground wire from the rest of the valves. Try disconnecting all the ground wires but the master valve. If the heads still leak then you have stuck diaphragms. If not it's a wiring problem.
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Toro hydraulic controllers
(Aug 7th 2007, 11:14am)