Question
hi Matt,
We have a Irritrol irrigation system for our lawn and which is scheudled to run every day. However from the last 4 weeks we are hearing a huge noise before the sprinklers starts.

Since there is a crawl space underneath our house, we are getting huge echo sound and some times we are getting the vibrations.

Can you please point me to the possible issue and resolution for this sound

Answer
Hello,
There are a number of possibilities. I'll need a little more info.
Do you have municipal water supply or a well? Each one could cause the noise, but for different reasons. Can you recreate the noise by turning on the system during the day? Is this a new system? Does this noise continue for the entire cycle or just for a few minutes?

You may have a slow reacting valve or a low flow valve for the first zone. A simple check would be to open the controller to the zone wiring area. Reverse the wires from zone 1 to any other zone. By doing so you can determine if it is the valve or an overall problem with the plumbing. This sometimes cures the problem completely.

Try the wire change and if it doesn't help, send me a little more info.

Thanks,
Matt