11 replies to this topic

[Teljkon]

So im trying to get my irrigation up and runing I have a decent size yard in the southern united states. Problem is i have no steady supply of water for it so planting is near impossible. If im not irrigating it turns to sand.

Long story short I have a old decrepid water pump that im preatty certain is not working any more. At first it was thought that the pump was not geting charged because there was no back flow valve between the pump and water source so a back flow valve latter.

Im noticing as im hose charging the pump one of the heads coming on but the others hardly giving a dribble. between this head and the other heads is what i think is a zone splitter. At first I thought that the head between the zone splitter and the pump was stealing the charge as it was operating at full pressure. But once i cut the hose off to stop the manual charge of the pump the head was no longer operating. So my line of thinking is that if the pump is runing and is not pulling from the water source then the pumps not working.Is this the correct line of thinking I know jack and all about water pumps and irrigation systems so any help would be greate.

[El presidente Hillbillios]

What kind of pump is it? can you take a pic?

[dr dognutz]

pumps are a reoccurring nighmare scenario for me.

common problems are usually to do with either the pump not "priming" or an loose fitting that is sucking in air for me.
i find its best not to let the problem overwhelm you as its usually something quite simple and easy to fix thats causing the problem, if you get all flustered about it you overlook tiny details... well i do anyway

[Magicdirt]

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Edited by Magicdirt, 08 May 2011 - 04:54 PM.

[Teljkon]

Im preatty sure it is a centerfugel pump and im also preatty sure that its to far from the waterline its almost 3 feet higher than the watter source. Secondly i put my check valve in very close to the pump and considering that the pump has about 6 feet of line before it hits the water that probably why im not getting suction so im going to fix that first.

Will update after that.

[Teljkon]

Ok I know its been a while since I posted on this one but the pumps fixed and know I am having trouble with the irrigation system For what ever reason I cant get proper flow threw the system dosent matter what zone im in. The inlet is getting clean suction and when I first started playing with the system I had great pressure threw the whole thing then and I though I just needed to fix a few bad heads but then boom the pressure went to crap. IDK why im not getting proper push but I have not needed to adress it as it is preatty wet right now. So in the next few months it will dry out again and ill be up shitz creek.

[El presidente Hillbillios]

if you pull of the pipe at the outlet of the pump has it still got good preasure?

How far is it pushing upto your zones?

Is you water source nice and clean? do you have a filter in there somewhere?

[Teljkon]

Pump should be fine it was just serviced not very long ago and was working so good when i first started it that it blew one of lines in a zone in fact this happened twice so after two repairs it blasted off like a rocket. The pump is not the worry I am missing some thing in the system. short of digging up the whole darn system IDK what to do.

[El presidente Hillbillios]

Might be just dirt in there somewhere

[Teljkon]

Hmm ok how do i rectafie this.

[El presidente Hillbillios]

process of elimination. Have to disconnect pipes in places until you find it. Start at the pump then work you way down stream.

Do you have a filter in the system anywhere. Its usually a good idea to have a mudbox before the pump and then inline filters that are easy to get too coming off each leg or zone, depending on how its set out.

[Teljkon]

The guy who owned my house before me was a priest so every thing that has been done was like a hack knee job by some parishioner or another on the cheap. So to answer you ? no there are no filter or mud boxes.