Hi IRR,

There description needs a fuller explanation. What tripped when your irrigation came on? Is the pump on your house power and your fuse trips on your pump circuit? Is your pump 120v or 240v? What is the amp draw from the pump when operating? What is the amp load from the irrigation system? What is the capacity of your fuse for the pump circuit? You may need to look at what is causing the pump to trip on its circuit. Is the irrigation system on the same circuit as the pump? I would have an electrician friend or a professional analyze what is happening on the pump circuit. The pump could have a reoccurring short of some kind as the temperature goes up in the pump motor. The electrical load from an irrigation system would not, it seem to me, be able to trip a pump's fuse. JMHO Aloha

Hi. I posted a reply, but it has been erased for some reason.

Anyway, the pump itself is resetting, not any trip or fuse that supplies the pump. The pump uses the same electric supply as the house. The solenoids are controlled by a 9v battery in the RainBird; they are not using mains electric.

The pump is 240V and we are on three-phase power. Nothing in the house trips; just the pump resets and I have to press a little button to get it started again. This only happens when the irrigation is on its timer; if I operate the solenoids manually it will pump all day without problem on any zone.

Driving me nuts :(

Hi irr,

Explain the resetting process of the pump. Does the resetting mean the pump has it's own electrical breaker that if overloaded trips and the breaker needs to be reset for the pump to operate again? This is similar to a disposal. If a disposal is overloaded or jammed or shorted the disposal shuts down and the reset button on the bottom needs to be reset before it operates again. Maybe when you run your irrigation system you suck up sand or block the inflow with sand or you draw down the well below your pump intake and the pump can't deal with it. Is your irrigation systems demand greater than your pump delivery capacity? Do you know how to check this? JMHO aloha

Hi. The pump has a reset button on it, and that is what I press to restart it. There is also a red light that comes on, on the pump, to say it needs a reset. The pump sits on its own - how would it suck up dirt if its a closed unit with a water supply coming in from a water deposit?

Hi Irr,

Since I don't know your system and have to deduce what is going on from what you write, I apologize for being in the dark. Since different parts of the country use different terminology for the same thing, I may not understand the terminology you use. Please explain what you mean by a water deposit. There is something that is overloading your pump when an irrigation zone is on. Does it always happen on the same zone? Whether the pump is undersized for your irrigation, I don't know. It is something you can look into. Your pump is being asked to do more than it can do that is why it trips off. Is your irrigation demand for a certain zone more than your pump capacity? Is this something you are able to determine? JMHO aloha

Thanks for the reply. The water deposit is a large tank essentially, for holding a reserve of water (4000 gallons I think, big anyway.) The deposit is itself fed by mains water.

I did think that the pump was resetting on a particular zone, except it has not been doing that recently - it seems to now cut out on the final zone; previously it was cutting out in the middle - no pattern really.

This pump has worked fine for 2 years previously and the irrigation has not changed. I think the pump is man enough for the job. If it was not the pump, what else could it be. Pumps need a certain bar to run I recall; perhaps it is water pressure problem? Thanks again.

Hi Irr,

What do mean by " Pumps needs a certain bar to run.."? Is that millibars or a pressure term? Is the main water from a larger reservoir at a higher elevation in you community (municipal water)? Is the main water flow into the 4000 gal tank under pressure and provides the tank with pressure? or does the water mains gravity feed into your tank with very little pressure in the tank? Like a large rain barrel. Is your pump adjacent to your water tank or inside it? Is there an easy way to get to your pump? Can you make the pump reset by doing certain things. A pump electrician can monitor your pump to see what happens with the voltage and amps when it trips and give a better idea of what is going on. I believe it is an electrical problem caused by the pump being overtaxed or blocked somehow. The impellers might need replacing. A piece of the impeller may be broken off causing the pump to work harder than it should as well as the piece of impeller could be restricting the pump every once in awhile. Hiring a professional pump guy might save you from a catastrophic pump failure down the road. This might be a minor symptom of things changing with your pump. Good luck. JMHO aloha

The pump manual says it needs 1 bar pressure to run. By "bar" I mean the unit of pressure - sorry, it's a British unit, similar to an atmosphere, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_(unit)

The water flow into the tank is under pressure (from the mains). I don't think the tank is pressurised as the lid opens (unscrews) very easily, but saying that it may have some pressure when it's sealed. The pump is adjacent to the tank, it sits at just below ground level in its own little house. Thanks for your help. Time to call a pump guy! Last night it tripped 1 minute before the irrigation cycle was due to stop :(

Irr,

You are doing the right thing. Enjoy your born again transfer pump. Aloha

A follow up for you. The RainBird was the problem, not the pump or anything else. I reset the rainbird by taking out its batteries. After that the pump has worked fine. It seems the RainBird's faulty programming was causing the solenoids to misbehave and this caused the pump to reset. Just, how I do not know, but there you go. Hope this helps someone else.

I am having the same issue with my pump and rainbird! Thank you fortaking the time to post. I will remove the batteries and reset and see if it happens again tonight at 4am. It's no fun waking in the morning to no water!