# Narrowing done a small leak.



## Smw (Jun 10, 2020)

I've found a few issues with my system this year and need a little help on one of them.

I had a valve that was allowing a small amount of water to seep out. I ran the flush on the valve and it fix it. I'm guess small debris above the diaphragm is what caused it.

In another i have another issue I can't seem to troubleshoot correctly. I had a head that appeared to be seeping water. Open the valve and went ahead and replaced the diaphragm. However if I turn off my valve at the the back flow preventer wait a little while and then turn it back on was briefly sprays from a couple of sprinkler heads. This makes me think that the valve is not closing fully. I'm not sure if this also happened prior to diaphragm replacement.

The water meter shows a 0.08GPM leak someplace in my sprinkler system after the back flow preventer. Doesn't sound like much but that's over 3,000 gallons a month.

few questions:

should a zone allow water to flow when you turn on the main water valve or valve at the back flow preventer?

if water is seeping from a head are there other causes besides an issue at the valve? Could a bad solenoid cause this? (Seeping 24/7 not from low head pressure).

zone runes fine via the controller.


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## Tincup86 (Mar 24, 2021)

You made sure the valve is completely clean of debris? Sometimes when changing a valve and open up the supply with full pressure, the valve will kick on for a brief second. If turns off immediately youre good. One thing you could do is put van nozzles on each head and turn the nozzle off so it wont spray and let it run for a bit to see if the leak appears.


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Shut all of the valves manually, to all the zones. Shut the main shut off valve to the system off.

1.) check water meter, make sure it's 0
2.) open up main valve, wait a few minutes, make sure it's zero.
3.) start opening valves one at a time until you find the problem child
4.) post results 

Then we can figure out if it's the valve or the pipe.


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## Smw (Jun 10, 2020)

SCGrassMan said:


> Shut all of the valves manually, to all the zones. Shut the main shut off valve to the system off.
> 
> 1.) check water meter, make sure it's 0
> 2.) open up main valve, wait a few minutes, make sure it's zero.
> ...


I already did a few of these.

Flow only happens if valves at the back flow preventer are open. Leak is some place after the Back Flow preventer and is .08GPM.

I don't have anyway to isolate each zone. Each zone only has the rainbird DV inline valve and not a separate valve. The leak is there even when all zones are off.

I know at least one zone had debris above the diaphragm as it would seep out. A manual flush fixed it and it is no longer seeping. This zone is only a few drip lines so it's easy to tell if it's seeping.

Another zone appeared to be seeping, longer than you would expect if it was due to low head pressure. That's the diaphragm I replaced.

I do not see any signs of a leak where the supply line runs to the valve grouping. While .08gpm seems low that 115 gallons a day (~3,500 gallons a month).

If it's not a simple fix such as the diaphragms then I'll probably have to call someone to find the leaking pipe. Because it's flowing even with all zones off I figured it either the diaphragms or a small crack in a supply line. Shouldn't be anything after the zone valves as they shouldn't let water pass when off.

I wasn't sure if a bad solenoid would allow seepage.


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## Smw (Jun 10, 2020)

Ok I just needed to have faith.

I replaced the diaphragm yesterday and turned the main value back on. After a 20 mins or so the meter was still showing the .08GPM flow. I was frustrated and figured I would mess with it today. This morning most of the zones ran per the schedule and now I no longer show any flow when the system was off. I guess the valve running for a little bit helped to get the diaphragm in the right spot or cleared out any debris I missed.

After watching the meter for almost an hour and not seeing even a .01 gallon usage I'm ready to call the leak fixed.

My guess is when I replaced the valve at the back flow preventer last month a few specks of pvc got into the line.


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