Question
ok here goes. i recently took over a ball park. i been searching the place for all sprinkler heads and valves and so on. anyway the system seems to run just fine. i have 16 zones on one controller and 7 zones on another. i noticed i had three zones out. 2 of the zones was a simple fix. nothing worked so i changed the silenoid out and they work fine but zone 2 has through me for a loop. when it comes on the timer counts down like it uppose to like everything is working but no water is coming out.. pump comes on and everything no fault comes up on the controller or nothing.. but here is whats weird to me. when i do a test where i can make the zones pop up with out the pump coming on the zone works. so the valve is opening. but when i try to set zone 2 in any kind of way where the pump comes on nothing happpens. just sit and water the timer count down like its working just fine. any suggestions? thanks

Answer
Hey David, I hope this helps. First I'm going to assume that the pump has a relay that is hooked to the controller, and that the pump is turned on by the controller. I would suspect that maybe zone #2 is somehow affected by the pump relay. Either a short in the controller, or in the field wires. Again, without alot of information, I'm assuming some things. Try unhooking the pump start relay wire from the controller, and with a volt/ohm meter see how many volts your getting at the #2 field wire terminal in the controller(turn #2 zone on manually). It should be about 22 to 26 volts. Now hook your pump start relay wire up to the controller, and check your voltage at the #2 terminal again, and see if you're getting the same reading. If the reading is not the same, you might have a short in the wires or a problem with the controller. Now, if all this checks out, and there doesn't seem to be a problem in the wires or the controller, I would suspect the valve itself. With the extra pressure from the pump, it could be your diaphram. I would either rebuild the valve, or replace the valve. Let me know if you have anymore information. Good luck and have a great day.