Question
Hello!  Our sprinkler system will not turn on by the controller. We went and replaced that thinking that is what the problem was, but still nothing. WE can go to the main water valve and turn the water on the it runs fine. We have tried unplugging the controller while it is running (running by turning in on manually), and it does not turn it off.

Can you please help! My lawn is burning up!

Thanks so much!!!

Answer
Hey Stacey, I hope this helps. First of all, I'm assuming when you say you turned the valve on manually, you are refering to the automatic valve. If you replaced the controller, I'm going to assume it is not the controller. I would assume, that either #1 the wire that runs from the controller to the automatic valve is bad, or #2 the automatic valve is bad. Let's look at the bad wire first. What I would do, is turn on the valve by the controller that is not working, and at the valve itself, with a volt/ohm meter, test the two wires that are hooked to the solenoid, and see if you are getting a reading between 22 to 26 volts. If you are, then it is not the wire. If you are not getting a good voltage reading, then it is probably the wire.If the wire is good, then I would check the valve. Basically there are two things on the valve that could be bad. #1 is the solenoid. This simply unscrews off the top of the valve, and a new one can be screwed back on. The two wires need to be hooked back up, but it doesn't matter which one is the common, or which one is the hot. The other thing that could be wrong with the valve is the diaphram. This piece is inside the valve itself, and to access it, the valve must be taken apart. No matter if you replace the solenoid, or the diaphram, you need to know what brand the valve is, the model the valve is, and the size the valve is. A good web site to use, to rebuild your valve is www.irrigationtutorials.com. Let me know if I can help you anymore. Good luck and have a great day.