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orbit valve flow rate on timer/off timer

11 years ago

I have installed a sprinkler system in my front lawn as a part of installing new sod (marathon II). I am using orbit Saturn iv sprinklers and an orbit valve. The system works and as a part of adjusting the distance and coverage I went out to make some minor adjustments this morning. I noticed that a few of my sprinklers were not getting the kind of coverage that I had expected so I adjusted the distance screw on the heads and still was not satisfied so I went to make sure that the valve was fully on and also decided to turn the valve "on" manually at the valve while it was running from the timer. I noticed an immediate increase in flow rate, back to where it was originally when I installed the system. I am wondering if this could be an issue with the timer? For some reason when it is powers on manually at the valve it has a much better flow rate/distance from the heads. I am really not sure why this is or how to correct it.

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Comments (5)

lehua49
11 years ago
ITT,

Could describe the difference in throw distance in feet or a percentage drop of the distance. One way to determine the actual difference is with a cup on the lawn that is timed and see the difference is depth in the cup. You could do this with several sprinklers at once and see if there is a difference between sprinklers close to the water source and farther away. ALoha
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iThinkTank
Original Author
11 years ago
The heads shoot 1-2 feet farther when I make this adjustment. The thing is that they were already 'on' from turning them on at the timer. The only thing I did was turn it 'on' at the valve also, which should have already been on fully since the sprinklers were running. The precipitation rate appears to be the same, the only thing that changed was the distance the heads shoot. I am wondering if this could mean a problem with the solenoid?
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lehua49
11 years ago
itt,

I am somewhat confused because once the solenoid coils and moves the pin and cuts off atmospheric pressure in the valve, you should get full flow if the the gate in the valve is fully open. The only thing I can think of is the solenoid pin not quite closing over the atmospheric port completely and therefore the gate doesn't open fully. I actually don't know if this could even happen. There are more experienced people in this forum who troubleshoot system, hopefully they will chime in on this one. I would check the voltage to solenoid for 24V or replace the valve and solenoid and see if there is a difference. Maybe chat with the people who you bought the system from. aloha
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iThinkTank
Original Author
11 years ago
Lehua13

Thanks for the information. I purchased the system at home depot, so i doubt they will be much help. I can take the solenoid off and the valve apart to make sure that it is not visibly jammed or aligned properly with the connector. The voltage should be 24V as i am just using a standard digital timer from rainbird, but I can also check this out with an ohm meter and see what the voltage is running at. At this point i am hesitant to replace the valve because that involves digging up a portion of my new sod to get down to the pipes.
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iThinkTank
Original Author
11 years ago
I took apart the valve and did not see any problems. I also cleaned out the solenoid just in case it was not depressing properly. I do not think this fixed the issue. I was not able to test the voltage on the wire going to the valve to see if it was 24V, I dont know where my ohm meter is at.
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