Question
QUESTION: I moved into a house with an existing Toro sprinkler system.  I had a company start it up the last two years and usually it works fine. Every so often, the controller would turn on, but now water would come out.  The technician that de-winterized showed me a little valve close to the main water valve into our yard. The valve is in a small circular case buried in the ground. He unscrewed a small, little screw that had a long, metal, thin 5" pin in it.  When he would loosen it and replace it, the system started working.  The little screw also had water coming out of it and there were wires attached.

Now, it doesn't work. The controller lights up, but the sprinklers won't fire up after I messed with the screw/pin.  Although it doesn't sound like it, I am fairly handy, but I don't have too many clues about sprinkler systems.  Any help?

ANSWER: Hey David, I hope this helps. The valve (with the pin) you are referring to, is probably what is considered the master valve. What this valve does, is before any water flows to the rest of the valves, the controller must open up this valve. If this valve does not operate, then the rest of the system will not operate. The pin you are referring to, is called a bleed screw. To operate the valve manually, without the controller, the pin can be unscrewed, and water will bleed out of the top of the valve, and the valve will open. The only time it wouldn't open, is if the diaphram is broken, or if there is no water to the valve(the main valve is not open). When you open this pin, do you get water out of the top of the valve? If you don't, check the main valve, and make sure it is open. Also, some valves have a flow control handle on them, that needs to be un-screwed counter clockwise, to also open the valve. If this valve has a flow control handle on it, and it is closed (screwed clockwise ) then the valve will also not operate. You need to determine if this valve is operating, before anything else can be addressed. It could be the controller is not working right, it could be the wires are not making contact, it could be the solenoid on the master valve is shorting out, etc. Check it out and let me know if I can be of anymore help, thanks and have a great day.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the response.  You explained it very clearly.  Here is the deal.  If I unscrew the bleed screw (I just learned that from you, so don't think I know what is going on) and water comes out.  When I do that, the next station works and completes its cycle.  Most of the time, it won't go to the next station unless I unscrew the bleed screw again.  Any ideas what to do help get this back working?  Thanks again for your kind help.

Answer
Hey David, I probably wasn't clear the first time I answered you. If this valve is working correctly, it should work from the controller, and you shouldn't have to manually bleed this valve. I would suspect that the diaphram in the valve is old and needs to be replaced. It is fairly easy to replace the diaphram, and a good website that shows how to rebuild or replace a valve is www.irrigationtutorials.com. Let me know if I can be of anymore help, thanks and have a great day.