sprinkler system nightmare

[miketyler]

The new house I just bought has a sprinkler system that hasnt been maintained. It covers about 75% of my acre+ lot and is setup with 8 zones. We powered it up for the first time today and have leaks everywhere. Several of the zone valve stations filled with water when I turned the ssystem on. Still have to locate one of the zone valves but only one of the zones pressured up. Not too good.

A friend was saying I could use a metal detector to locate the missing zone valve. He also said with all the leaks you might be better to salvage a zone or two and run all new plumbing, valves and heads.

Any tips on chasing down these leaks? Have you had to abort a system before and run all new equipment? Please share your experiences

[mikeb]

The new house I just bought has a sprinkler system that hasnt been maintained. It covers about 75% of my acre+ lot and is setup with 8 zones. We powered it up for the first time today and have leaks everywhere. Several of the zone valve stations filled with water when I turned the ssystem on. Still have to locate one of the zone valves but only one of the zones pressured up. Not too good.

A friend was saying I could use a metal detector to locate the missing zone valve. He also said with all the leaks you might be better to salvage a zone or two and run all new plumbing, valves and heads.

Any tips on chasing down these leaks? Have you had to abort a system before and run all new equipment? Please share your experiences

Finding a buried zone valve can be fun :)

It is not rocket science, just pvc pipe and glue. If you have the ability to dig and glue pvc pipe together you can fix the problems. Sprinkler parts are pretty cheap as well. Wiring issues can be a bitch to find. I just had to rewire my entire system as the existing wiring quit working from one season to the next, and it was easier to just run new wires than to troubleshoot the old ones.

[doopie]

That sounds like a lot of work.
When I was younger we did the following on sprinkler repairs for other peoples systems.

Draw a picture and put locatiosn then connect the dots per zone and you could see how they built it to find the missing zone.

for that many leaks it sounds like a poor design. For 3/4 acre and only 8 zones you must have great pressure to run that many heads per zone.

Can you tell if they used single strand or multi strand on the ones you found? Sounds like they cheaped out and used multi which may make it easier. Find a friend that can hook up a toner to the line to help you search

Good luck

[miketyler]

yeah, I guess on the upside of things, they aren't buried very deep and PVC repairs are a snap. The leads at the controller are single conductor. I have a tone generator and inductive amp for ringing out voice and data lines. Will that work on single lines? Will it PU tones when the source is underground?

I'm reluctant to just "give up" especially since it looks like sprinkler systems are more labor than parts. Maybe I'll take it a zone at time. I need to map it out as was said and try and determine how the system is laid out. I havent found all the sprinker heads yet either for that matter. They did a poor job on filling the trenches so that should help.

[Vertnut]

yeah, I guess on the upside of things, they aren't buried very deep and PVC repairs are a snap. The leads at the controller are single conductor. I have a tone generator and inductive amp for ringing out voice and data lines. Will that work on single lines? Will it PU tones when the source is underground?

I'm reluctant to just "give up" especially since it looks like sprinkler systems are more labor than parts. Maybe I'll take it a zone at time. I need to map it out as was said and try and determine how the system is laid out. I havent found all the sprinker heads yet either for that matter. They did a poor job on filling the trenches so that should help.
The real "work" has already been done. Replacing parts takes a little money, and time.

[5.0LiterRiceEater]

I have some sprinkler work to do myself today. I have a busted line in the front yard and when that zone is on i have a geyser.

[zemog]

could be as simple as your valves are clogged up and not opening and water pressure is simply building up and pushing out. take the top off of one of the valves and clean the diaphram and internals, put back together and see if it works. and on the one zone that doesnt work, turn on that zone and check for voltage at the soleniod on the valve.

[junior]

its going to be a pain,

i can locate the valves for you for $30 a valve or i can do the whole job for you ;)

when you fix that leak be ready to get at least one more

in some cases to be honest if the system is that messed up your better off replacing the whole thing,

the lines can be brittle(sp) and the wires too and its a even bigger pain to find shortages in the system

hit me up maybe i can help

[miketyler]

Hi Junior - can you PM me your contact info? I want to attempt this if I can. I need to get a watering system setup so I can get weed'n feed down. I have an acre of weeds and really want to get this started asap.

I have found 8 boxes and 7 valves. One of the boxes appears to be a junction with no valve. Also it looks like half of the wiring at the controller is solid conductor and the rest are stranded. The power suppy is a 26VAC. Is that the voltge I should be checking for at each valve?

[junior]

pm sent hit us up ill be sure to help as much as i can