PopUp Sprinkler Issues/Query

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tdgeek

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#246674 16-Feb-2019 13:50

I have 16 Pope popups on a 4 line each with 4 popups. I've never used them before so known nothing. They are 7 years old. They were sunken so I have raised them, by adding a 15mm adaptor.

Ive had them working before. But they don't popup and just work. I need to hold one up, it rotates slow, about a 400mm radius, and after a few seconds, bang, away it goes, and the other three popup and all good. Now as I said, Ive never used them before, but the neighbour said they should all popup by themselves. he said they leak, which they do. As they all "leak" I assumed that was normal. When I turn them on, water seeps out, if I hold the popup up, water is flowing out, I can move the head a little and it seems less water is flowing out, then away they go, I assumed it was just getting rid of air bubbles. It seems odd they all leak. Clearly they should be sealed, as the excess water flowing out reduces pressure, but once they decide to work, all is very good, a 3.5 meter radius. It was like this before I raised them.

Any ideas? If one was doing the, its a fault, but they all do. The only sensible thing I can think of it that before install, each had to be set as I think this model has a 4 setting option, although there is no screwdriver notch on the top. Maybe each is "loose" as they have not been set, that still seems odd. Maybe as they have probably not been used much by the previous owner as they sunk, they could have had seal damage, or seal got stuck, and are leaking? When they are up and working well, they are not leaking, when they are being held up, they leak, so once something sets them going well, then they are not leaking water/pressure. When I raised these a few weeks ago, I hosed them out to clean out soil and the odd plant roots.

ajobbins

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#2181242 16-Feb-2019 13:54

They rely on water pressure to make them pop up. Do you have enough pressure to run all 16 at once?

Where are they leaking from?

Maybe replace them? The ones I have are 100mm pop up and are only about $10/each.

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tdgeek

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#2181245 16-Feb-2019 14:06

ajobbins: They rely on water pressure to make them pop up. Do you have enough pressure to run all 16 at once?

Where are they leaking from?

Maybe replace them? The ones I have are 100mm pop up and are only about $10/each.

Its a 7yo house, pressure is very good, i just use one set at a time, so 4 popups. Once going, it's great. If I turn water on, they gurgle away, the head tries to raise itself. If I hold the head fully up, water is flowing inside the unit, as if a sealing ring is not there. They all do this. Once it starts after a few seconds, perfect, so yes the water pressure is fine, but its being lost by all this excess seepage in the unit, until it "fires up" then its fine. If one or three were playing up, id replace them, but they all do this which seems odd.

richms

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#2181248 16-Feb-2019 14:21

Theyre cheap enough to replace if you think they are faulty. Otherwise you might find that there is a filter that is clogged up. They need pressure to build to extend so if the sprayer is adjusted wide open then it may not get enough pressure to fully extend out.

When I had some in here they would just slam up out of the ground, no issues about raising them or anything. Not sure what brand they were tho.

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tdgeek

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#2181253 16-Feb-2019 14:33

richms:

Theyre cheap enough to replace if you think they are faulty. Otherwise you might find that there is a filter that is clogged up. They need pressure to build to extend so if the sprayer is adjusted wide open then it may not get enough pressure to fully extend out.

When I had some in here they would just slam up out of the ground, no issues about raising them or anything. Not sure what brand they were tho.

No issues replacing them, just weird they are all faulty, given that they have probably not been used much. Ill take one out soon, dismantle it and see what I can see. They leak when turned on, and dont work well (I can pee much further :-), so at that point most of the water is leaking, and when I hold the head up, I can feel something gradually changing, hard to explain, then the it must seal itself and away it goes and the other three popup quick and they are working great.

andrewNZ

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#2181278 16-Feb-2019 16:08

There is probably a diaphragm or something similar that's perished or split. If you don't use things like this, sometimes the soft parts don't like it.

Thinking out loud, if there is a soft start device in the system (don't know if they exist for water, but they do for air) failure to build pressure will prevent it from switching to full flow.
An air soft start slowly builds up pressure to prevent things moving too quick. Seems like something that could cause this.

tdgeek

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#2181325 16-Feb-2019 19:16

andrewNZ: There is probably a diaphragm or something similar that's perished or split. If you don't use things like this, sometimes the soft parts don't like it.

Thinking out loud, if there is a soft start device in the system (don't know if they exist for water, but they do for air) failure to build pressure will prevent it from switching to full flow.
An air soft start slowly builds up pressure to prevent things moving too quick. Seems like something that could cause this.

I think you nailed it the more I think about it. The red herring is how can every one fail in a newish property? Built in 2011, we bought 3 years ago, the grass was rubbish, broken and thin. Last thing I though of was water, as its new, landscaped and all the other fancy stuff, but I asked the owner where the popups are, he said he gets his son to locate them, so they haven't been used. Lawn is good now, I've fixed it, but it does marry up with your opinion, that lack of use is the issue.

When I manually get them going they go well, the water is sealed, between the tap and the sprinkler. But on first use, they gurgle. Some mechanism, maybe spring loaded, is not sealing them, so that the tap pressure pushes them up. I will remove one and dismantle it. See what I can see. When I did this earlier to raise them, they're clogged with soil and roots, that may be the issue internally

Thanks for that

Madmat

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#2184777 21-Feb-2019 12:08

The issue is bypass flow, the sprinklers dont actually seal until popped. Either your main valve isn't letting enough flow or you have too many sprinkles on the one line. Possibly using water somewhere else at the same time?

nickb800

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#2184787 21-Feb-2019 12:32

Madmat:

The issue is bypass flow, the sprinklers dont actually seal until popped. Either your main valve isn't letting enough flow or you have too many sprinkles on the one line. Possibly using water somewhere else at the same time?

Or a spade has gone through the irrigation pipe, causing a leak somewhere?

tdgeek

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#2184791 21-Feb-2019 12:38

Madmat:

The issue is bypass flow, the sprinklers dont actually seal until popped. Either your main valve isn't letting enough flow or you have too many sprinkles on the one line. Possibly using water somewhere else at the same time?

Main valve. In each sprinkler unit? Only 4 on each line, nothing else on. If I push one down while its going, its a lot of pressure, I was quiet surprised

Water pressure here is good, although I haven't measured it, i might do that later today.

One other thing I realised. As Ive had them all out to raise, I googled what model they are, I couldn't read that on them, label too decayed. Pope and low pressure model was what they may be. Its not low pressure here, maybe the owner who built the house got them so as to have more on one line? The water sprinkles by way of a rotating spinny thing, like you can get in above ground garden sprinklers. Like this

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/neta-drip-irrigation-micro-sprinkler-adjustable-1-5mm/p/277005

From what I can tell, most popups seem to be non moving part sprays, just like the typical $10 plastic sprinkler? Like this https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/neta-drip-irrigation-360-degree-pop-up-sprinkler-100mm/p/276991

Hope this gives a clue. I would have thought that when the tap is turned on, they may seal (but might break if they got stuck), or not seal but not leak much (so that they retain a lot of water pressure and force the unit top popup) and that maybe as they have probably been unused for some time, 2,3,4 years, they are all not closing properly so leaking more, so not enough pressure retained to popup?

tdgeek

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#2184794 21-Feb-2019 12:44

nickb800:

Madmat:

The issue is bypass flow, the sprinklers dont actually seal until popped. Either your main valve isn't letting enough flow or you have too many sprinkles on the one line. Possibly using water somewhere else at the same time?

Or a spade has gone through the irrigation pipe, causing a leak somewhere?

There are 5 pipes, 4 feeding 4 popups each (16 in total), so there would need to be 4 spade issues. Oddly I did just that on the 5th that feeds a tap in the rear area where raised gardens are. Silly person ran it too shallow as I tided up the lawn edges one day

Ill test the pressure after work, and run off the off the other rear tap as a test

Bung

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#2184796 21-Feb-2019 12:57

tdgeek:
Water pressure here is good, although I haven't measured it, i might do that later today.

Knowing what pressure you've got might be important.?!

I know our pressure is on the low end for town supply but always seems ok for hosing. The neighbour had ready lawn and pop up sprinklers installed and the supply wasn't enough to pop them up. She's had to connect the lawn sprinklers to her rain water tank pump. Tank isn't that big so sometimes she has to load up the tank with the hose.

tdgeek

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#2184798 21-Feb-2019 13:12

Bung:
tdgeek:

Water pressure here is good, although I haven't measured it, i might do that later today.

Knowing what pressure you've got might be important.?!

I know our pressure is on the low end for town supply but always seems ok for hosing. The neighbour had ready lawn and pop up sprinklers installed and the supply wasn't enough to pop them up. She's had to connect the lawn sprinklers to her rain water tank pump. Tank isn't that big so sometimes she has to load up the tank with the hose.

Ill do a rough pressure test, is it like this?

https://www.completehome.com.au/outdoors/bucket-test-measure-water-pressure.html

Note that the popups leak when turned on, as the other poster says bypass flow. The first of the set of 4 will gurgle, the lid will try to lift, they all do this, but the first one tries to lift more, as its the first in line. Once I hold it up, after a few secs it all fires up, 3.5m radius so all fine. The lack of pressure appears to be the bypass flow leak inside the units, not to the units