JBW2017
New Member
My widowed brother died 8 years ago and did not use his 1980s-installed lawn irrigation system for 5 years before that. My young nephews, who have inherited the house, decided to upgrade the system, which pumps water from the adjacent lake for the lawn. They were too young 13 years ago to know where the sprinkler heads are at, let alone know where the the zone valves are located. There are no indications of these components in his yard.
We have replaced/upgraded the pump, controller, pump start relay, and the original power line going to the pump from the PSR box. (We found the original buried line would not carry 115 volts in both wires for a 230 volt supply-- it was compromised somehow over the years).
Tomorrow we will power up all of the new components via the new buried #10 line, but preliminary (troubleshooting) tests of the lake pump using a temporary (unburied) line showed no sprinkler heads popping up and distributing water and no wet areas on the ground that might be generated from buried or broken sprinkler heads or lines. We hooked the temporary line via the PSR, so the zone valves should have been energized by the controller settings during this test period. (The pump was definitely running).
I have to assume the electrical cable to the zone valves has been damaged or the zone valves are not functional.
Other than trenching the back yard while following the multi-line 24 volt cable to find the valves, my guess is that they are likely buried closer to the house than the to the lake (??). (There is a 140 foot distance between the lake and house). My nephews think there are three zones-- (1) lake side of house, (2) street side of house, and (3) both sides of the house... but this is only a guess.
Does anyone have suggestions on how to locate these hidden components? Thanks in advance for your response.
We have replaced/upgraded the pump, controller, pump start relay, and the original power line going to the pump from the PSR box. (We found the original buried line would not carry 115 volts in both wires for a 230 volt supply-- it was compromised somehow over the years).
Tomorrow we will power up all of the new components via the new buried #10 line, but preliminary (troubleshooting) tests of the lake pump using a temporary (unburied) line showed no sprinkler heads popping up and distributing water and no wet areas on the ground that might be generated from buried or broken sprinkler heads or lines. We hooked the temporary line via the PSR, so the zone valves should have been energized by the controller settings during this test period. (The pump was definitely running).
I have to assume the electrical cable to the zone valves has been damaged or the zone valves are not functional.
Other than trenching the back yard while following the multi-line 24 volt cable to find the valves, my guess is that they are likely buried closer to the house than the to the lake (??). (There is a 140 foot distance between the lake and house). My nephews think there are three zones-- (1) lake side of house, (2) street side of house, and (3) both sides of the house... but this is only a guess.
Does anyone have suggestions on how to locate these hidden components? Thanks in advance for your response.