I have my system set to come on at 3:00am and to water for 30 minutes on each station twice a week. Friday morning I went outside around 6:30 and one of the stations was still going. Everything should have been done by 5:00am. All other programs are set to off. Anyone have any idea why it would still be running?

you could have a valve stuck open


Keo1
Landscaping and Irrigating BCS since '91
If its growing we can mow it

Not a valve. I ran a test program at 2 minutes each and they all shut off properly

1. Make sure your other programs are off
2. Could have been a valve that is just starting to stick. I have seen valves stay on for a additional 5-60mins and then all of a sudden shut off.
3. Controller is putting out power at that station. Check port w/ volt meter

It's a brand new system on a new house. If I set it to manual everything works fine.

Has it done it again recently?

I'm waiting until it's next programmed start tomorrow. One thing I noticed is that on the other programs I had the run times set to zero but the timer was set for the same time as 3:00am. I set the timer to off so let's see if that works

Ok, let me know what happens. If the run times are off or the days are all off or the start are off then it shouldn't run. Doesn't matter

I just went through the same thing. Had a zone that intermittently wouldn't shut off. Took the valve apart and there was a small rock interfering with the solenoid. Haven't had an issue since (3 months).

Double check that you don't have an extra start time in there somewhere.

Okay so I watched it this morning and the problem is it goes into a second cycle. It watered for the correct times but then it started over again. I have checked all the settings and I can't see anything that would cause this. We have a wireless sensor on it, is there a chance this could be causing this?

Nope, there has to be another start time programmed, check all programs & start times

Same thing happened to me on a new build. The builder had programmed an additional cycle that I just missed when I was setting up my desired start and run times.

Actually if u have clay soils its best to run 2 start times at half your normal run time to allow the water to percolate thru soil. "Cycle & soak"

I have checked and rechecked. There are three available programs. Program A has run times and start times. Program B and C both have start times set to off and run times set to 0:00. I cannot figure out why it would try to cycle through again.

So start times 2-4 on program "a" are off?

Dolphin,

Program A only needs one start time.

ftworth, yes

Topaz, the start times are for the 4 different stations.

Here is what it is set to:

Program A:
Station 1: Start time - 3:00am, run time 1 hour
Station 2: Start time - 3:00am, run time 1 hour
Station 3: Start time - 3:00am, run time 20 min (flower bed)
Station 4: Start time - 4:00am, run time 1 hour


Total run time, 3:20 for program A

Do I need to change the start times to coincide with the run times?

[This message has been edited by Dolphin Jumper (edited 7/5/2013 8:09a).]

dolph, where do you live?

prg A
start time 1: 3am
start time 2: off
start time 3: off
start time 4: off

zone 1 run time: 1hr (hope these are rotors but still a lot of time)
zone 2 run time: 1hr
zone 3 run time: 1hr
zone 4 run time: whatever u had

water days: if you're on restrictions then usually twice a week (thurs & sun or wed & sat)

I've had numerous customers think that the different start times applied to each zone. They would set start time 1 at 3am, then start time 2 at 3:30, then start time 3 at 4am, etc. START TIME ONLY STARTS THE ENTIRE PROGRAM: ONCE ZONE 1 IS FINISHED THEN zone 2 WILL AUTOMATICALLY START and so on!

I lived in South College Station. This is a brand new home with new St. Augustine sod. It has taken root well and is looking great. Stations 1, 2 and 3 are stationary, and station 4 (back yard) are rotors. I water on Mondays and Thursdays. I was originally told for St. Augustine to water deep once to twice a week.

I will set the other stations to off. Thanks for helping me solve that problem! Now, what do YOU recommend for keeping my yard looking the best? I mow high and mulch.

-set the other start times to off not the station times
-i always recommend putting out a tuna or coffee can and run your system and see how much precip you get from each station. Then you can adjust you run times accordingly. We usually run our pop up sprays 15-20mins & rotors anywhere from 30-45mins.
-we have black clay soils here so we set 2 start times, and run them at half the normal run time to allow the first layer of water to percolate by the time the second hits
- mow it high, water deep, and I recommend sending in a soil sample to A&M and then apply fert accordingly

Good luck w/ the new home!