Solution: Find the Valve Box: First thing to do is to locate the valve box. The valve box is generally a green box located somewhere on the lawn. Inside the valve box there is generally 1-4 valves as pictured below. If you can’t find the valve box call us:
Locate Correct Valve & Turn on Manually: The best way to locate which valving on, is to e isn’t turn on each valve manually. This is done by twisting the solenoid ¼ turn counter-clockwise. The solenoid is the cylinder looking part of the valve with the two wires sticking out of it as seen below (for most valves).
This should turn open the valve, and turn on the sprinklers. If the solenoid will not twist, the bleeder screw can also be loosened to turn on the valve. The bleeder screw is the smaller screw that is also located on the valve. When the bleeder screw is loosened it will leak a little bit.
Confirm Wiring is Correct: Once the valve is located, make sure the wires are connected correctly. As shown in the picture, each valve has two wires coming off of it. One wire from each valve needs to be connected to the common wire. This wire is usually colored white or black. Then, the remaining wire from each valve needs to go to its own differently colored wire. For instance, if there was a valve box with 3 valves: valve 1, 2 and 3. Then I would connect 1 wire from each valve to my white wire. Then valve 1’s extra wire would go to a red wire, valve 2’s extra would go to a blue wire, and valve 3’s extra would go to a green wire. It doesn’t matter which wire from a valve is connected to the common vs. its own strand.
Check the Solenoid: If the zone is still not turning on after the wiring is confirmed to be correct, check to see if the solenoid of the malfunctioning valve is working or broken. 3 nine-volt batteries connected in series are needed in order to check the solenoid. Take both wires of the solenoid and touch them to the battery, one to the “+“ end and one to the “–“ end as pictured.
Once the solenoid is touching both ends of the battery, the solenoid should start clicking. If the solenoid doesn’t click, it needs to be replaced. To replace the solenoid simply twist the bad one off and screw in a replacement. When removing a solenoid from a valve the secondary water needs to be shut off.
Redo Wire Connections: If the solenoid is working and the valve still will not turn on when turned on from the timer, redo the wire connections that are involved with the malfunctioning valve. Simply cut off the old wire nuts, strip the two wires that were cut, and reconnect the wires with waterproof wire nuts. Also try and trace the wire as much as possible. Look for any cuts or big scrapes along the wire where one of the strands could have been cut off. Also look at the timer and make sure that the wires are all connected correctly to the timer. Each timer should come with it’s own user guide to help with wiring.
vi. Extra Trouble Shooting: If you have done all steps, and the zone still isn’t turning on, then you may want to replace the entire guts (diaphragm, spring, etc..) of the valve. To do this please refer part b where I explain how to repair a valve that is not turning off.
Another thing that could happen is that the flow control could be all the way off. The flow control is another screw on the valve. Not all valves have flow controls. The flow control screw needs to be loosened all the way for full pressure. If the flow control is tightened, then the pressure will be so bad that the sprinklers won’t even come up.
If the zone isn’t turning on all the way and it isn’t a flow control issue, look for areas in your lawn where there might be a broken line. Broken sprinkler lines will take all the pressure. This causes the other sprinklers to have low pressure or even not come up at all.
If are still having trouble with your sprinkler valve not turning on call click here to contact us.
Why would my sprinkler valve do the opposite of what it should? When I turn it off at the timer the valve turns on the water and vice versa. When the timer turns the zone on. The valve turns the water off.
Hello!!
Sorry for the really late reply. We’re making an effort to be better at getting back to you guys.
Hopefully this video helps if you haven’t fixed your issue!
It might be wired wrong, or the timer may need to be replaced.
https://youtu.be/-4LUeOq1VbY
my sprinkler system can turn on only with the bleeder screw not by control box inside the house
how much your company charges to fix this problem
thanks
Kazi97@hotmail.com
516 263 7526
Hello! I hope you got your problem fixed!!!
If not, we’d love to come and help you if you haven’t gotten help yet!!
Please visit https://sprinklermaster.repair/sprinkler-master-locations to find out if we are in your area!!
Hi my issue is that I turn the sprinkler main control in basement on and zone 4 starts to run when inside my garage the program control is in off mode. I looked outside at the green boxes but confused .
Hello! I really hope you got your sprinkler system problem figured out.
If not, we’d love to come help if we’re in your area. Please visit https://sprinklermaster.repair/sprinkler-master-locations to find out which branch is near you!
Super sorry about the late reply.
If I loosen my solenoid a touch the zone will go on normally, once I tighten it the zone immediately shuts off. Any thoughts?
It might be an issue with the solenoid itself on the valve. Luckily this is pretty easy to check. Turn off the water to your sprinkler system and swap out the solenoid with another valve that’s working well. If the problem moves to a different valve, then the solenoid is faulty and needs to be replaced. If the problem remains on the old valve with a different solenoid, the issue is almost definitely mechanically inside the valve. Try cleaning out the sprinkler valve to see if that fixes the problem.
Here is a video we produced that goes over how to replace a sprinkler valve: https://youtu.be/-4LUeOq1VbY
Skip ahead to about 3 minutes to look at how to disassemble a valve.
Did this help??
Good evening. I replaced an old dial timer with the pins to an orbit 4zone. The only problem is it’s was wired to a indexing valve and some other type of valve. I don’t know what spot to put them on the timer as though they are not a zone. (24vout,com, sen,pump). The indexing valve works if I turn the 24v solenoid left and right. Any help
I would definitely check the manual that came with the specific timer you got to check if it supports an indexing valve. The wire connectors on the timer itself should also be labelled (somewhere on the timer there should be a diagram, if not it will be in the manual) on how much the voltage out is.
The station will not turn on at the electronic control box at the house. The other 7 stations all turn on as they should. When I turn the solenoid in the valve box a 1/4 turn, the faulty station will activate correctly. Any help is appreciated.
Try turning on the timer, and while it’s running, check the voltages coming out of the timer. If it’s reading 12v, then move to the solenoid itself, and check the wires there. If they read 12v as well, then you likely have to remove the solenoid. It sounds more likely that there’s an issue with your wiring. Hope this helps!
My sprinkler only turns on when i turn it it on at the valve.. wont turn on with the timer.
Try testing the 3 problem sources for wiring… The solenoid (turn off the main water shut-off, then swap out the solenoid with valve next to it, then turn everything on, and try turning on the new solenoid) the wiring (try combining the problem valve wires with another valve next to it) and the timer (swap out the zone wire with another one, see if both work or neither work).
If you can figure out if it’s the solenoid, wiring, or timer that’s the issue, that should make it easier to find out what you need to replace!
Do this at your own risk. We’re not responsible for any damage caused by DIY repairs. The best option is to call someone who is licensed and insured to come take a look!
Hope this helps!
I have a new timer that phone app can control. I have 12 zones. 9 zones work fine, but 3 zones acting strange. We setup the timer to water 3 times a day. These 3 zones sometimes turn on and sometimes show at fault. I am not sure why. We can turn them on manually from the phone app no problem. Any idea what’s wrong ?
Hmm. If it’s a smart timer, try to look up and see if the timer is giving an error code for you that you can google. Another thing you can do is try turning off the “smart” watering feature that the timer probably has. That could solve your issues. Let me know if it doesn’t!
One of my zones won’t turn on. The voltage and the solenoid are all looking good. Manually turn the solenoid won’t activate it either. However, when I try to loosen the valve cover with water seeping out, it activates the sprinklers. Tightening all nuts back immediately turns the zone off. I have also examined the diaphragm, which looks good. Any thoughts? Thanks a lot.
It is not a smart one. Just a regular controller. I tried to google why the valve stays off all the time but could not get any answers. I disassembled the system and cleaned the valve, got it to work in the morning. It stopped working in the evening. Water flows as it sprays water when I twist off the solenoid. It just won’t activate the zone either manually or using the controller. Thanks.
Hmmm. Is it just one zone? If it is, try turning off the water, and swapping the solenoid with a zone you know works. It could be a broken solenoid. Make sure that the flow control is all the way out as well.
If that doesn’t fix it I’m wondering if something might be lodged in the body of the valve itself.
Has this zone always worked in the past? If it’s a new zone or valve, it could have even been installed backwards, which would prevent any water flowing through it.