Brighton Reticulation
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My Reticulation Doesn’t Come On At All

Ok so nothing works? Here is a series of checks to eliminate the most obvious possibilities: 1. The first thing to check is whether the control box has power and is functioning. I know this sounds obvious, but firstly check for a display. if there is no digital display then the controller may be fried. 2. If there is a display check for power. Put the leads of a multimeter on common and master/pump terminals and see if you get at least 24 volts. If not then you have a tripped RCD, or your transformer may have malfunctioned. If this […]

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Solenoids and Planning for the Future

If you are installing your own solenoids then do it with a view to one day having to service them – or with a view to someone having to service them! The more serviceable they are the less it will cost you if they need replacing – and of course the opposite is true too. So to that end when you install a solenoid: a) Always try to allow at least 150ml gap between the T joint and the solenoid and also between it and the next closest solenoid. That way they can be dismantled and replaced easily and without having to pull […]

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When Sprinklers Just Don’t Work Any More

I was at a job today where sprinklers that had once performed well were now not popping up at all and we were trying to determine why the water pressure had decreased so markedly. The water meter had been tested, so we were able to rule out that possibility immediately. The next most obvious fault was going to be a broken riser or a broken pipe somewhere, but there was nothing visible and it seemed it was going to be almost impossible to find the problem. I let the client know that I really didn’t have a guaranteed solution, but my hunch […]

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Pants First Then Shoes…

  If you are planning to install both retic and turf then make sure you get the order right. Some folks don’t have enough money to do both and so they settle for turf first… Bad decision! Firstly its a bad decision because now you need to water that turf 3 times a day to get it established. Its also a bad decision because it will actually cost you more for retic once the turf is down. Its harder to dig through and as a result an installation will be more expensive. Finally, it looks much better to have it […]

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Help – I’m Watering the Road!

I often get asked if I can rig up a system that doesn’t end up with water on the road. Nope. I’d really like to be able to say yes, but it just isn’t that easy.  If I could control the wind direction and strength then I’d be ok, but in the absence of godlike qualities I can only do my best. So while we try to avoid water overspraying onto roads, walls and the like ultimately in a windy city like Perth we can’t control this as well as we would like. When setting up a system I always seek to […]

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Broken Wires in Reticulation?

Sometimes a solenoid isn’t working because there is no power getting to it. What to do?… Firstly – check that there is power ‘leaving the control box’. Put the multimeter probe on the station terminal and on the common and the reading should be 24V+. If not then the problem lies there. (This does happen) Simply change the wire to an unused terminal and you should have power.  Voila! If there is power there then the break is somewhere between the control box and the solenoid. Depending on how easily accessible the wire is will determine what you do next. […]

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Unknown Error Message on Holman 1248 Controller

I was doing a backyard install yesterday on a home in Carramar where the developers had used a 6 station Holman 1248 Control Box. Everything was looking sweet but each time I tested the new stations (5 & 6) an error message would appear on the display. It said ‘error 2 station 3’ and the ‘fuse’ message was flashing. So the puzzle was that: a) I hadn’t messed with station 3 so it should have been ok b) The controller fuse was intact c) I got the message intermittently and there was no consistency to it. Sometimes it would stop the […]

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You Get What You Pay For in Sprinklers

Its not particularly difficult to change a sprinkler, but what matters is getting the right sprinkler. If you buy a quality ‘brand-name’  product then there is no question it will last a lot longer than those purchased from a local hardware store. Its really a classic case of getting what you pay for. My sprinkler of choice for normal pop-up work is the Toro 3P available at all Total Eden Stores. You’ll pay about $10.00 for sprinkler and nozzle but you can expect to get around 4-5 years out of a quality sprinkler whereas  ‘cheapies’  from the hardware store will […]

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Don’t Forget The Conduit

If you’re building a new home then one of the ‘must dos’ is to put a length of 90ml stormwater pipe under your driveway and any paved areas. If you forget this then it’s likely we will need to lift your paving and then relay it – an unnecessary expense if you plan ahead. And make sure you use at least a 40ml pipe as we will need to get both a 25 ml pipe and wire through it. As well as digging the pipe in be sure to mark where it is with a couple of stakes. It’s amazing […]

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My Most Common Fix

  If I had to name the most common ‘fix’ I do over summer it would be replacing the risers on sprinklers that have been driven over. It happens all the time! If you discover that your system seems to have lost some pressure on a station then look for 1 or more sprinklers with water pooling around them. The most likely place you will find these sprinklers is by the kerb as typically cars drive over them and the pressure snaps the small black poly riser that joins the sprinkler to the PVC pipe. Unless you have a ‘riser […]

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