HELP! sprinkler system pump and ??????

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Sammyhydro11

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I would get rid of the idea of using the pvc as the suction, and snake 1" poly pipe through it. Instead of coming up through the slab, just have the poly come out of the ground,over the slab, and directly into the pump with some barbed fittings. You also want to make sure your suction screen is deep enough in the water so you don't create some whirlpool action that would suck air.

sammy

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Speedbump

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You definately have to make the Ptrap go away no matter how you do it. Just remember, the fewer fittings, the least air leaks.

I didn't see a sewer fitting down by your screen did I?

bob...
 

Speedbump

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Since it's not out of the water, it's probably not a problem, but there is a difference between sewage fittings and pressure fittings. Note the difference in the depth of the female part of the fittings. Pressure is much deeper.

They don't make a 22° pressure fitting.

bob...
 

floridasun

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Since it's not out of the water, it's probably not a problem, but there is a difference between sewage fittings and pressure fittings. Note the difference in the depth of the female part of the fittings. Pressure is much deeper.

They don't make a 22° pressure fitting.

bob...

That's why I used a dwv 22. Needed to get those 90's out of there. I cut out the P trap today and put in a 90 in it's place. That pipe ain't leaking no more. For now I'm sticking with the 1 1/2" pvc suction line, but thanks for the poly suggestion. I went to look at/ get a 1 1/2 hp pump, only a couple of years old but not used. That turd never showed so I drove 25 miles round trip for basicly a cup of coffee. Friggin people don't answer their cell phones.
 

floridasun

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Red Jacket pump not working now????

My pump impeller is turning but no pressure is building up.???? plenty of water in the lines. I took off the pressure gauge and the water was shooting out a few inches but no pressure behind it, what cold be wrong now????? Pulled it apart, nothing jammed inside.....
 

Speedbump

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Could still be an air leak.

Are you using a tee on top of the pump with a plug that you can leave loose to bleed the air from the lines as your priming the pump?

bob...
 

floridasun

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Do all of the pipes on the outlet side need to be 100 % air free for the pressure to start building? also, my pressure gauge was full of water seen behind the glass....
 

Speedbump

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If they have air in them, it will be pushed out by the water once primed. Pressure will build with the closing of the main valve.

If the gauge has water in it, it might just be trapped by the glass. Take the retainer off that holds the glass and let the water out.

bob...
 

floridasun

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ok, I found the problem with the pump. Took apart the motor and pump housing and found a almond size seed pod stuck in the plastic SW
INJECTOR.????? The plastic doodad that is screwed in from the side of the pump. Pump settings are on at 30 and off at 50 psi. Tried it after building the valve manifold and the pressure just doesn't seem to be there for the # of heads that the original owner planned for each zone. More playing tomorrow. I'm finding more heads and pipe in the yard as I pressure up the lines.
 

Speedbump

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First of all, remove the cartridge from that spin down filter.

You may either not have enough pump for the number of heads, or too many heads for the pump. Same thing only different! You may have too many heads for the size of pipe feeding them also.\

In my experience, there is no planning done in a homeowner sprinkler system. Pipe sizes aren't even thought of. Number of or kind of heads is not a consideration. Then once it's all said and done, the resizing and tweaking begins.

bob...
 

Speedbump

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Not necessarilly. It depends on the kind of pump and what is capable of.

The first thing to do is determine how many heads you have on your largest zone. Then determine how many gallons they all need combined. Then see if the piping you have will supply that much water without a large amount of friction loss. Then size a pump.

bob...
 

Gary Slusser

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In addition to what Bob said. All pumps develop pressure, it is the resistance to the movement of the water etc.. You don't size a pump by hp alone.

Submersible pumps come in 2 parts, the motor and the wet end. They are sized bu the gpm you need and then the hp to get the job done at the pressure you need etc..
 

floridasun

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I'mmmmmmm Back!!!!

Hope you all had a great summer! Anyone want to come to Ft Myers, Fl and finish putting together my sprinkler system. I'm still where we left off, what, 7 maybe 8 months ago. Now that rainy season is almost over, I better get moving. Again thanks for the previous info. I'm still looking for the gallons per minute rating on the Rainbird heads that I am using from Lowes. I did purchase a 1 1/2 hp sta-rite self-priming centrifugal pump, DS2 Series. That will be used instead of the 1/2 hp pump that was in the previous pics.
I did call my usual professional sprinkler guy who does my repair work on my home. Left him a message on his machine and he never returned my call. So, I've decided to try this again. Here's my thinking. First, this system is for a rental house that I have and figure I can "tinker" with it since it looked like poop when I bought it last year. I'm figuring out what the last owner has done and where he placed all the heads and pipes. it looks like he had no clue to head placement or pipe sizing. If I paid a local professional to do this i'd get a bill that was crazy. The hours that he would have to put in to figure out what was done would be astronomical.:eek: I know how you feel about DIY homeowners trying to do your craft, but, I like to learn and try new things. I was a remodeling contractor for 15 years and went in quite a few times after the DIY homeowners tried home repairs on their own. But I never downed any of them for trying, and yes I did have to on occasion rip out what they had started because it wasn't right, safe or up to code. But at least they tried.

I just looked at one of the heads for GPM's but it is not listed there. I'll research further......
 

floridasun

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the new sta rite pump states in the instructions "Do not use in a pressure tank application" and it says nothing or shows anything about an auto on/off pressure switch like on the previous pump. What's up??? Could i hook this one up similar to the previous pump?:confused:
ry%3D400
 

floridasun

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here's my plot plan......

....so you see what I'm trying to sprinkle....... the proposed building is actually an existing 45 x 55 storage garage. The red hand drawn lines are the 1" pvc lines the previous owner laid. The x's are approx. locations of where the future sprinkler heads are located. Basically the pipes are laid right along the shrub line as you might see on the right side of the drawing. Zone 1 back around to the stream closest to the bottom and up to the house. These heads will be blocked by the shrubs to cover the lawn properly doing a 360 rotation.
ry%3D400

PS, the blue at the bottom is a stream that varies in depth from 6"s to 3' depending on the rain we get.
 
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