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System not starting after manual zone install

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sprinklerkrat

New Member

Posts: 4

1

Monday, September 17th 2012, 11:10pm

System not starting after manual zone install

Need someone to point me in the right direction please.....
I had a perfectly fine, working Hardie 9 zone system. I just installed 2 manual ball valves off of my 9th zone (after the 9th zone valve). My intent is for one ball valve to feed my small vegetable garden drip system 7 days a week. When I want the zone to operate as normal with pop up sprinklers, I'll close the drip irrigation ball valve and open the ball valve that feeds the several pop-up sprinklers.
My problem...I tested my ball valve installations for leaks by turning on the 9th zone with both ball valves closed (the 9th zone valve opened with water reaching both ball valves and stopping). No leaks...hooray! I turned the system off. Now time to open the ball valve to my drip irrigation system and turn the 9th zone on again. Uh oh. The 9th zone valve will not open. Zones 1 through 8 will not open either. Nothing, no pressure, no water, no leaks. I think I did some damage by operating the 9th zone valve with both ball valves closed. Again, the system was working fine until I added the ball valves and tested. Could I have damaged my main valve? I do have a main backflow preventer as well. Not sure if I have a pressure reducing valve or not. Could either of these have blown out or gotten stuck? thanks in advance!

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,308

Location: USA

2

Tuesday, September 18th 2012, 1:14am

Did you shut the water off at the backflow device?
Could be a problem with the master valve.

sprinklerkrat

New Member

Posts: 4

3

Tuesday, September 18th 2012, 4:07am

No, I haven't shut the water off at all. I just kept my system off while I installed the ball valves.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 3,619

Location: Metro NYC

4

Tuesday, September 18th 2012, 8:25am

Very low flow is outside the capability of most zone valves. You can buy a special valve designed for low-flow drip, but they cost big bucks.

sprinklerkrat

New Member

Posts: 4

5

Tuesday, September 18th 2012, 11:47am

Ok. So is it possible
I did permanent damage to my main valve?
I believe I have Hardie (or iritrol) 205 valves.
Is there any way to fix or reset the valve? How do I best troubleshoot it?

Thanks for chiming in.
I certainly appreciate all the great info on these forums.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 3,619

Location: Metro NYC

6

Tuesday, September 18th 2012, 2:38pm

the 205 valves are always repairable, and you should have a spare valve on hand, in case you need to do a swap of all the parts plus the cover

sprinklerkrat

New Member

Posts: 4

7

Saturday, October 6th 2012, 8:53am

Update: A day later all zones/valves worked fine turns out I have some kind of short on my rain sensor. When bypassing it everything works. The zone I split into 2 different manual zones with ball valves (low flow drip zone and regular sprinkler zone) operates fine. Thanks for all the comments though! See you next time something breaks.

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