Category Archives: Uncategorized

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Fixing Blown Poly in Submersible Water Bore

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Blown poly
Blown poly

A common call to our Perth Water Bore repair line 1300 734 300 starts with the plea “my bore has stopped pumping water”.

In a submersible water bore (as opposed to a centrifugal pump in the old well style bore) 40mm flexible black poly pipe is often used to deliver the groundwater to the surface. The submersible pump is inside the 100mm bore-casing, under water near the bottom of the borehole.

If the pump is dead-headed (allowed to operate with nowhere for the water to flow to, such as when solenoid valves in reticulation systems fail to open) the pump motor will overheat. this causes the 40mm poly pipe to overheat and can quite commonly blow a hole in the side of the pipe just above the pump yet still under water. Hey presto no water to the surface but pump still runs. This picture is what the poly pipe looks like after winching to the surface for repair.

If you have a problem with a submersible pump that appears to still be running but no water is coming to the surface then a  blown poly pipe could be the cause. Contact our team Perth metro wide and we will help. 1300 734 300 or visit our main website here.

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Iron oxide problem on Perth submersible Bore

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Look at the iron oxide on this submersible pump.
Look at the iron oxide on this submersible pump.

We winched this submersible bore pump to the surface recently in an outlying Perth suburb. No prizes for guessing this Perth bore has an iron oxide problem. The bore pump was covered in orange slime.

Iron oxide bacteria can clog bore screens and reduce flow. Call us 24/7 on 1300 734 300 to discuss solutions or visit our main website http://www.virginbores.com.au

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Total Eden Christmas Party

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Total Eden Christmas party Total Eden Christmas party[/caption

Thanks Total Eden for a wonderful Christmas Bowls night held at the Warwick Bowling Club. Total Eden are one of our main suppliers of water bore equipment and deliver bore casing and submersible bore pumps to our new water bore drilling jobs all over Perth. If you would like a new submersible bore drilled anywhere in Perth please phone 1300 734 300or visit http://www.virginbores.com.au

Electrical Problems, Reticulation systems, Uncategorized

Find my solenoid valve Perth

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“Help, I can’t find my solenoid valves!”

Solenoid valve Perth

As Perth people are beginning to turn on their reticulation sprinkler systems for the first time this season we are getting a lot of calls to our Perth Bore and Retic SERVICE HOTLINE ( 1300 734 300 ) reporting faults. A very common fault is to do with malfunctioning solenoid valves. Solenoid valves are the devices, normally hidden underground, that allow the reticulation system to change from one station (group of sprinklers to another).

If a solenoid valve fails open then that station will be allowing water out each and every time any station is turned on. If the sprinkler system is fed from mains water and a master solenoid valve fails open, in conjunction with a station solenoid valve sticking open, then that group of sprinklers will stay on all the time regardless of whether the retic is turned on or off!

If a solenoid valve fails to open then that station or group of sprinklers will not work under any circumstances. This may happen if the solenoid valve is broken or if the field wires (cables) to the solenoid valve are cut.

Solenoid valve locator Perth

Solenoid valve problems are relatively easy to fix as long as you know where the valves are located. If not we then we get the call ” Help I can’t find my solenoid valves” or “how do I find solenoid valves?”.

We can give you some free tips that may help you locate your own solenoid valves  so please give us a call on Perth 1300 734 300 ( South of River, Brett : 0411 511611 or North of River, Troy 0408 454130).

If you need more help we can book a service technician to attend with a special cable tracing wand to locate the solenoid valves or trace cable that may be broken. Or visit our main website for more retic help here

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Not enough pressure for sprinklers?

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“hungry” mountain mist sprinkler
typical pop-up nozzle

Sometimes the flow from the Perth mains scheme water supply has diminished in a suburb or the power / flow /pressure from a bore has deteriorated over time, to such an extent that a reticulation system no longer works adequately. Result is maybe sprinklers only half pop up or fixed sprinklers don’t spray as far as they used to. One remedy is to reconfigure the reticulation system in to smaller stations (zones) with less sprinklers so each station uses less water. Another solution can be to change the sprinkler heads to models that use less water. As an example the old style “mountain mist ” chrome or brass flat disc sprinklers with a 3/8 inch aperture use 17 litres per minute each whilst a typical 360″ pop up sprinkler with a 10 ft nozzle uses half of that. Some new low precipitation sprinklers such MP rotators use as little as 2 litres per minute. Call us anytime in Perth on 1300 734 300 for free advice or to book a reticulation or bore serviceman to remedy your sprinkler or bore problems. You can also visit our main website here.

Bore Repairs & Service, Uncategorized

Can a submersible pump replace a centrifugal or jet pump in a well?

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Old well near Waneroo

Today we got a call from Hamilton Hill and another from Dianella. Both wanted to know whether could we replace their old centrifugal pump in their well style bore with a modern submersible pump. It is a common question from all over Perth in older suburbs where centrifugal pumps or jet pumps were common in the old well style bores and now need replacing.  Answer….sometimes we can substitute with a submersible pump installation but ONLY if the casing at the bottom of the well liner(s) that goes into the ground ( some people may refer to this as a spear ) is of 100mm ( 4 inch ) or more. Typically that would be when it has freestanding suction ( where the pipe from the existing centrifugal pump suction side goes in to the ground inside a larger outside pipe) or where the bore has been redrilled within the last 15 or so years. We can also substitute a centrifugal or jet pump with a submersible in the (rarer) older wells with open water in the bottom.  Call our Perth bore service hotline on 1300 734 300 for free advice or a quotation. You can also visit our main VIRGIN BORES website here.

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Perth bores and bore repairs.

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Perth Water Bore Troubleshooters are part of Virgin Bores. We are the go-to, can-do people when it comes to garden bore and reticulation in Perth. Because we install and repair reticulation and irrigation as well as install and repair water bores we can fix anything to do with Perth bores or sprinkler systems.

  • insurance work including  pump fusion claims and lighning and storm damage to reticulation and bore systems. Burnt out motors, damage from lightning induction and power surges.
  • repair of rising main lines, poly and pvc
  • lowering of boreheads necesitated by landscaping ground level changes
  • bore water testing
  • solenoid valve finding / locating
  • all electrical repairs for pumps and reticulation systems
  • replacement of reticulation controllers.
  • leaking reticulation pipes
  • broken sprinklers
  • automation of sprinkler systems off bore or mains scheme water

Call us on 1300 734 300 for prompt service all over the Perth metropolitan area.  For more bore and reticulation information visit our main website.

Bore Repairs & Service, Bores & Pumps, Uncategorized

Bore repair Joondalup.

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winching up a Perth submersible bore

Got called to a water bore in Joondalup today. Quite deep for a Perth garden water bore even for the highest parts of Joondalup. Bore total depth was 66 metres with the pump sitting at 60 metres. Unfortunately the submersible pump that had originally been specified was inadequate for that depth. It had never had enough power to deliver the flow ( litres per minute is how we typically measure domestic bores). We winched it up and replaced it all in only a 4 hour turnaround. For bore repairs Joondalup, Connolly, Edgewater and surrounding suburbs give us a call on 1300 734 300 as we can normally attend promptly and with our local knowledge and experience have your broken water bore up and running with the minimum of fuss.

Bore Repairs & Service, Bores & Pumps, Electrical Problems, Uncategorized

Bore light stays on?

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Familiar call today from a lady who happened to live in Sorrento, but we get similar calls from bore owners all over Perth. “the light on my bore box on the wall has stayed on even after I have turned the reticulation controller off “.  This can turn in to a bigger problem so first things first, if you are reading this blog and your bore box light is on but there is no water pumping out anywhere please straight away turn the bore mains power off.  Turn it off by either turning off the circuit breaker ( or pulling the fuse) labelled “bore” or “pump” that you will hopefully see in your meter box. Or turn off the bore box isolation switch that is located on the bore box on the wall. ( this is called a bore start box, not to be confused with the reticulation controller). Worst case if you can’t turn it by either of these two methods then turn off your mains power master switch and call us pronto on 1300 734 300.

Lowara bore start box

What has most likely happened is that your automatic reticulation controller has correctly sent the 24 volt start signal to the relay in the bore start box and this has started the 240v bore at the same time as the reticulation controller has correctly sent a signal to open a solenoid valve allowing water to flow to the sprinklers. All good so far but then when the automatic reticulation controller has run through its cycle and shut the last solenoid valve the pump has continued to run. Most likely the start relay has stuck on and needs replacing. Prolonged operation of any bore pump with no water being able to flow (dead heading ) can cause a multitude of problems. Most commonly with submersible pumps the rising poly mainline will overheat and “blow”. With centrifugal well pumps overheating leads to several serious problems. Give our Perth bore service hotline a call on 1300 734 300 or visit our main website for more help on bores and reticulation.

Uncategorized

Bore Pump stopped working?

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Check the pump circuitbreaker or fuse.

Seems today was “D” Day with many Perth bore owners turning their water bores on for the first time this season….or should I say trying to turn them on. Calls today from Joondalup, Floreat, Landsdale, Safety Bay and Armadale all with a similar story. Either the pump cicuitbreaker was tripping ( or fuse blowing ) when the bore was turned on or nothing was happening at all. Some simple tests and solutions can be found in our Perth bore troubleshooting guide in this blog or call our Perth Bore Service Hotline    1300 734 300      Perth metro-wide    All Suburbs     We are specialists in both water bores and reticulation ( irrigation ) systems so whatever your problem we can fix it!