BigEmdee
New Member
This is going to be long, as I am trying to include every detail regarding the last 3 months I've been dealing with this issue.
I have a pretty simple sprinkler system. It was here when I bought the house. I've only replaced bad valves and the Comm box in the time that I've owned it and have it blown out every year for winter as it gets cold here for a few months. My sprinkler service line is teed right off the service line to my house, so it is before the pressure reg that operates my house. I was told we get around 100 psi at the meter so we have decent water pressure. My sprinkler system does NOT have a pressure regulator on it, which I know, I should probably put one on it. It has a simple anti-syphon valve instead of a traditional backflow preventer. I have about a1.5-acre property, that for some reason they built the house on one side of the property and brought the water from the clear other side. My ASV sits right next to the meter out that far away, and it's a 1" service line from there to my 1st valve box. I have 3 valve boxes total, as who ever built it probably just added parts of the property they wanted irrigated over time. 6 valves in total throughout those 3 boxes, so 6 zones. There is a hose spigot at the end of the irrigation line that comes in handy for our vegetable garden. All other hose spigots on the house come off the service line for the house. Its all operated by an orbit comm box. No rain sensors, pumps, or electrical backflows or regulators at all. All that being said, here is my issue:
Back in late May, when I decided to fire up my system I did it the same way I have for the last 5 years. Valve for the irrigation opened, then the valve on the ASV opened. All was good. I opened the valve on the irrigation spigot to let out any air and was getting great pressure. Go and start zone 1 to check the valve for damage from the winter and it fired up great. Great pressure, no leaks, then after about 2 minutes the heads started dropping, until all that was left was them bubbling at the surface. It was like this for all 6 valves. I went back to the spigot, opened it and let it run for a bit and watched it slowly fizzle out to a trickle. I went and grabbed my screw on pressure tester and put it on there and it was only about 20psi. I took it off, let it sit for about 10 minutes, screwed it back on and it was like 75-80psi. OK, so I go back to test zone 1 again, and it fired up great and slowly fizzled out again. Not sure what to do, I go back to the ASV and it was leaking a tiny bit of water, not from the bell however, just from the connections to the piping. I took it off, went a bought a kit with the guts for the ASV, and rebuilt it and redid the fittings for it onto the pipes. No leaks, fire up zone 1 and same thing. I asked my wife to stand at the ASV and see if water was coming out of the bell while the sprinklers ran and it ran dry the whole time. I knew the tee and shutoff in the hole where the irrigation line came off the house service line was all galvanized and had been down there for God knows how long and could be corroded possibly causing a blockage. So I went and dug it all up. Replaced it all with all new brass fittings and a new stop and waste valve that was not in there before. After all was said and done, I go to fire up zone 1 and same thing. Great pressure and it fizzles out.
I do not believe there is a crack in my irrigation service line because as test I had the irrigation service line pressurized, with no other water running in the house or from any valves and watched my water meter for the property and it didn't budge at all. I did that several times in fact and all with same result.
I'm at a loss at this point. My wiring is correct, does not seem to be any leaks in the system, and all new shutoff and ASV. Any ideas on where to start? I just now did a GPM test on my irrigation spigot. The first test was 12 GPM, the second was 5 GPM. I watched it slowly die out during the 1st fill. And a pressure test just now showed 100 PSI upon first try. Took it off, ran the spigot for 30 seconds or so, and put the tester back on and got about 20 PSI. Any suggestions on where else or what else to look for?
I have a pretty simple sprinkler system. It was here when I bought the house. I've only replaced bad valves and the Comm box in the time that I've owned it and have it blown out every year for winter as it gets cold here for a few months. My sprinkler service line is teed right off the service line to my house, so it is before the pressure reg that operates my house. I was told we get around 100 psi at the meter so we have decent water pressure. My sprinkler system does NOT have a pressure regulator on it, which I know, I should probably put one on it. It has a simple anti-syphon valve instead of a traditional backflow preventer. I have about a1.5-acre property, that for some reason they built the house on one side of the property and brought the water from the clear other side. My ASV sits right next to the meter out that far away, and it's a 1" service line from there to my 1st valve box. I have 3 valve boxes total, as who ever built it probably just added parts of the property they wanted irrigated over time. 6 valves in total throughout those 3 boxes, so 6 zones. There is a hose spigot at the end of the irrigation line that comes in handy for our vegetable garden. All other hose spigots on the house come off the service line for the house. Its all operated by an orbit comm box. No rain sensors, pumps, or electrical backflows or regulators at all. All that being said, here is my issue:
Back in late May, when I decided to fire up my system I did it the same way I have for the last 5 years. Valve for the irrigation opened, then the valve on the ASV opened. All was good. I opened the valve on the irrigation spigot to let out any air and was getting great pressure. Go and start zone 1 to check the valve for damage from the winter and it fired up great. Great pressure, no leaks, then after about 2 minutes the heads started dropping, until all that was left was them bubbling at the surface. It was like this for all 6 valves. I went back to the spigot, opened it and let it run for a bit and watched it slowly fizzle out to a trickle. I went and grabbed my screw on pressure tester and put it on there and it was only about 20psi. I took it off, let it sit for about 10 minutes, screwed it back on and it was like 75-80psi. OK, so I go back to test zone 1 again, and it fired up great and slowly fizzled out again. Not sure what to do, I go back to the ASV and it was leaking a tiny bit of water, not from the bell however, just from the connections to the piping. I took it off, went a bought a kit with the guts for the ASV, and rebuilt it and redid the fittings for it onto the pipes. No leaks, fire up zone 1 and same thing. I asked my wife to stand at the ASV and see if water was coming out of the bell while the sprinklers ran and it ran dry the whole time. I knew the tee and shutoff in the hole where the irrigation line came off the house service line was all galvanized and had been down there for God knows how long and could be corroded possibly causing a blockage. So I went and dug it all up. Replaced it all with all new brass fittings and a new stop and waste valve that was not in there before. After all was said and done, I go to fire up zone 1 and same thing. Great pressure and it fizzles out.
I do not believe there is a crack in my irrigation service line because as test I had the irrigation service line pressurized, with no other water running in the house or from any valves and watched my water meter for the property and it didn't budge at all. I did that several times in fact and all with same result.
I'm at a loss at this point. My wiring is correct, does not seem to be any leaks in the system, and all new shutoff and ASV. Any ideas on where to start? I just now did a GPM test on my irrigation spigot. The first test was 12 GPM, the second was 5 GPM. I watched it slowly die out during the 1st fill. And a pressure test just now showed 100 PSI upon first try. Took it off, ran the spigot for 30 seconds or so, and put the tester back on and got about 20 PSI. Any suggestions on where else or what else to look for?
