one problem station out of ten

14 years ago

Thanks in advance. I am baffled. I have 10 stations, station 9 does not operate fully. It gets 27.5V, the valve kind of rattles, all heads have water with very low pressure. I replaced the diaphram and solenoid. I put the old diaphram on another leaking valve and it works. I still have the same problem with station 9. I can back off the bleed screw slightly and the system comes fully on. I can back off the solenoid and also get good pressure. When I turn off the station, it shuts down. I have no visible leaks.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Comments (4)

lehua49
14 years ago
Hi sunrise,

Gosh, I am baffled two, I mean too. You have done a good job diagnosing the valve and controller. Only two options remain that I can think of.

1. Replace the valve. Not costly nor difficult.
2. The problem is the zone is demanding more water than the source can deliver. a). The source has reduced flow, unlikely because other zones are okay, but if they're demand is smaller in relation to other zones, this is a possibility. B). There is a broken line that is bleeding off underground and not noticeable or a wet area in the zone. Ri_Ohio, Ronalawn or All Wet know more about this than I do, let's hope they will chime in on this one too. JMHO Aloha
sunriseb
Original Author
14 years ago
thanx.
1. I bought a complete valve, but only installed the lid, diaphram, and solenoid.
2. this station is no larger than the others, b. maybe broken line, but when I back off the bleeder I get full power.

a couple of times, when testing, I could manually run thru the stations - 9 wouldn't come on fully. I went to 10, then backed up to 9 and it came on. ?????
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lehua49
14 years ago
Hi sunrise,

Interesting. I agree not the zone, but the diaphragm is not moving completely off the seat when cycling through in auto or manual. Makes me believe the pressure is not bleeding off the upper chamber quick enough or fully. The only thing is to replace the valve completely or switch two valves and see what happens. If it is not the valve, then the controller probably needs to be replaced. Hope its under warranty. I appreciate your good and meaningful details and understanding as well as executing what needs to be done to find what is going on. let us all know how it goes. Aloha.
xanadue
14 years ago
This is definitely the valve, not the controller.

The pressure is not being released above the diaphragm. Look to a bad solenoid (plunger not lifting all of the way), and/or contamination in the solenoid and exhaust ports.

If the valve bleeds open fully (manually) but not automatically, the above is usually the cause.

Rather than chasing the problem, cut the valve out completely and replace.