stogie1020

The two grass circuits are OK, it the whole yard drip circuit for the shrubbery that got possessed.

stogie1020

^ I think that's the first time I have EVER typed the word "shrubbery"...

litesout

Conrats?

Anyway, running a new line under the driveway isn't as tough as you might think. Most companies that do it don't actually dig up the driveway, they just use high pressure water and run a new pipe and tie into the existing system. I've never done one under a drive way, but I've gone under sidewalks before.

stogie1020

They guy seemed really nonchalant about it, so you are probably spot on with how he does it. Hopefully he does a good job and doesn't burn down my house in the process. He said he would swing by "whenever" and get it done, and then leave the bill under the front door mat! Pretty trusting guy IMO.

(That may also be the first time I have ever typed "nonchalant." What's going on here??)

stogie1020

$100 and it's fixed!

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

And you guys in Arizona want to get rid of the illegals

svtmike

stogie1020

This guy is legal, licensed, bonded and BBB A+ rated.

litesout

Awesome! Was it you looking for the low voltage lighting controller or is my crack habit starting to get to me?

stogie1020

It was me.

Got it.

Installed it.

litesout

Gotcha... Did you ever look into getting the module for the Rainbird and using it instead of using a dedicated controller?

Moog-Type-S

not really a ...but my valves were acting odd.

The solenoids appeared to be going off and on in rapid succession during the watering cycle....so I bought new solenoids....nothing changed....I know the valves are fine because the work well on manual watering......so I figured I had a short.

Long story short...before going crazy and rewiring everything, I bought a new timeclock-controller.....problem solved!

...and here is the cool part: I bought one that has a RF remote
Now I can shut my sprinklers off and on anywhere in my yard without having to go back to the timeclock....makes adjusting the sprinkler heads sooooo easy. Not to mention if I need to do some extra watering I can hit the remote inside the house and the watering begings.....or turn it off in rain mode when it rains.

I highly recommend a remote control for your timeclock-controller.

1StGenCL

That is awesome. There is nothing worse then adjusting heads and getting soaked

stogie1020

Just had a failure of the line that runs under the concrete driveway...

Again.

According to the repair guy, the soil plus rocks in the ground here cause failures at the edges of the under-driveway sleeve all the time...

Same day service, and a nice honest seeming guy too.

doopstr

What is the failure? Leak, crushed pipe?

stogie1020

Honestly, I don't know. The tubing that runs under the driveway eventually breaks and I get a small geyser in my yard coming up through the dirt and gravel. There is a sleeve under the concrete, but as soon as the tubing comes out of the sleeve on the sides, it open to forces of sharp rocks, soil settling, etc. and fails.

pmptx

They should just make the whole system out of sleeving material...kind of like they should make the airplanes out of the black box material..
Seriously it sounds like they need to make the sleeve to open ground transition nicer so that the settled area or rocks aren't killing it every year.

litesout

Never tried it personally but maybe right at the edges of the sleve use flex pipe or maybe try to tie in a small piece of braided stainless steel? Nothing big, maybe just jumpers. I've used Sharkbite fitting before and they're awesome.

Costco

Possibly irrelevant but I heard that if possibly, get copper/brass/whatever pipes if they're getting replaced. Obviously they'll hold up much better than PVC. Just more expensive, I guess.

csmeance

I had this problem, they will need to put a new joint further back under the slab and as well will need to give it some "slack" in a sense so when a car drives over it doesn't flex at the edges. (Think like putting books on a shelf, it bows in the middle every time you put heavy books on it).

Also what else can be done is using "dual" PVC piping. Basically you slide a 1 inch pipe though a larger 2 inch pipe and double protect the pipe. That way the larger one will absorb a bunch of flex vs. the smaller one.

stogie1020

^ Thanks for the info, guys...

Next time it blows out, I am going to re-enforce it like no one's business...

csmeance

well for your sake lets just hope that the repair that was done before corrected the tension and added a little slack and it doesn't happen again!

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

Agreed on the double sleeve reinforcements.

stogie1020

Drip irrigation issue...

For some reason ONE flag dripper at the lowest point of the entire system is now doing a slow continuous drip whether the system is on or not. it never did this before and has been in operation for at least 4 months normally. I generally do every other day waterings, so I know the lines are not simply clearing out and flowing downhill, it just slowly drips, drips, drips. It's 1/4" tubing connected to the 1" line and a flag dripper on the end.

Any idea why it (and only it) would continue to drip even when the system is off?

svtmike

Leaky valve?

stogie1020

I would think all the emitters would drip slowly then, no?

Weird it's only one, although it IS the lowest elevation one in the entire system.


How do I test to confirm it's a leaky valve?

stogie1020

I will try to flush the valve and if that does not work, look at replacement.

svtmike

I always just replaced the crappy diaphragm in mine to see if the problem went away. Eventually I just had all of my valves replaced with Hunter valves rather than deal with the constant failures.

But if water's getting through when the station is off, it pretty much has to be coming through the valve.

Moog-Type-S

^^ More than likely the anti-siphon valve will need to be replaced.

stogie1020

Well, I flushed it with the flush knob and it seems to have stopped, so maybe there was some debris keeping the diaphragm from sealing.

I guess since the pressure was so low in the leak that it just flowed to the lowest point in the system which is where I saw the leaking.

Scrib

I am likely going to grab one of these in the coming days.

http://rainmachine.com/

stogie1020

That looks awesome Scrib.

If I had that, it would get bored.... 100 degrees and sunny, day after day after day....

Moog-Type-S

What's rain

svtmike

pmptx

Very cool. It looks like they only make one version with 12 zones and it is not expandable. I have 27 zones so if anyone has seen one that will accommodate additonal modules, please post up.

stogie1020

You said TWENTY SEVEN zones?

Holy cow...

Scrib

Da fawk? You have a golf course for a back yard?

BeezleTL85

27?

stogie1020

Each plant has it's own zone apparently...

Moog-Type-S

27 zones