Drat, That Irrigation System . . .

After having spent a ton of money getting both the well pump being lowered (an additional forty feet) and a new pump, I am  experiencing control valve problems.  The old pump was simply worn out, they usually last 8 or 9 years but this one lasted 16 years, not bad at all.

Most of my control valves are "Dirty Water" valves, that is they can tolerate the amount of sand in the water.  The sand is very, very fine to the extent when you taste the water it is sort of grity.  In normal valves designed to be used with city water systems, there is not such debris, it has all be filtered out.  And you can get a sand separator installed but they must be back flushed occasionally and do develop rust holes in the sides.

We had a separator, got it welded up once and there after removed it and threw it away whe it developed another hole.  I replaced most of my control valves with the dirty water valves.  But there are a few of the clean water valves still in use.

And one of them acted up.  They get stuck open, run and run and run until the well is over drawn.  The up side is the area gets well watered, the down side is nothing else gets watered as the well is not capable to supply more than one irrigation circuit at a time (only so many gallons of water per hour).  Luckily for us, this valve was the last one in the series, that is it was the last one to run last night.  So the other 9 did their job.

So I had to take it down, clean it out and reassemble it.  I was able to get farther down into the valve this time, cleaned out the old sand with an old tooth brush and running water.  I got it reassembled, bled the air out and once that was done the valve worked like it was supposed to do.  It shut down and stayed shut down.  When they get curded up with sand, they tend to stay open or on.

The valves are not complicated, a diaphragm, spring, and solenoid.  But are indeed sensitive to grit (aka fine sand).  This time when I reassembled the valve I added a little grease to the assembly.  I know that the lubrication will wash out pretty quickly but it will get the valve functioning correctly for a while.

We are going through a terrific heat wave and the grass is suffering from lack of water.  Our yard stays green because we can water it.  If we were to use city water which we do inside the house it would cost three or four hundred dollars a month to irrigate.  That allows us to amortize the well in about a year and half.  Our well when first installed cost about $5,000 to drill, get the pump, pressure tank and hook it up to the existing irrigation system.  Today that cost over $10,000.

The well has been in use for 16 years now.  And of course is showing its age (a new pump for instance, they do wear out) and me cleaning out control valves and sprinkler filters.  The sprinklers are easy to deal with but you have examine them every once in a while to make sure they are working correctly.  Usually a brown spot shows up and one needs to take the sprinkler head off and usually the little nylon plastic screen is full of debris.  Wash the sand/dirt and/or debris out and reassemble and the sprinkler works just fine.  Lawn mowers and weed eaters can also do a number on exposed sprinklers.

So it is constant maintenance.  I am adept at it having had two previous sprinkler systems.  It is just one of those things.