Total Eden had passed on a reticulation repair job for a customer in Carine, a suburb of Perth. Thanks to the Carine customer for the great review on the job we did for her.
The customer had a bore and their reticulation controller was faulty. One of our retic service team confirmed the reticulation controller needed to be replaced and we replaced the controller the next day. It was a standard outdoor model with built-in transformer.
Pro 469 Reticulation Controller
Thanks to Total Eden for the referral and thanks to the Carine customer for the kind comments and feedback about the friendly & knowledgeable team.
We have fixed or replaced hundreds of faulty reticulation controllers. If you have a problem with your reticulation controller call us on 9246 0111 or book a reticulation service online HERE
Whether your reticulation system draws water from a bore or from mains scheme water, if suddenly no water is coming out, the first thing to check is your reticulation controller.
Turn on the reticulation controller and set it to “run”, “manual” or whatever iniates a manual start of station one. Does the digital display look OK? In most types of reticulation/iirigation controllers used in Perth you would expect to see time left to run counting down in the display. Consult your user manual for details. Retic controller manuals are often available online and some are available by clicking here.
Hunter Retic Controller
Make sure your controller is actually receiving 240 volts from mains power and not just running on the 9 volt back-up battery. 9 volts is not enough to open solenoid valves or start a 24 volt pump relay. Mains 240 V in controllers is stepped down to 24 V for operation of solenoid valves and relays. If it is a model that is plugged in to a power point you could try another appliance in that outlet.
Rain Dial Retic Controller
If that all seems normal but there is no water try another station. Still no luck? If your system runs from mains scheme water then it may be that the “master” solenoid valve is not opening. If you can locate your master valve you should be able to manually open it. Some have an on/off lever or try rotating the coil about a quarter of a turn anti-clockwise. If you suddenly get water then congratulations you have found the problem! If your system runs from a bore then check that the 240v or (or 440v if three phase) pump isolation switch is turned on and that no circuit breakers are tripped. You should hear a pump start relay “click” or “clunk” somewhere when you start the system, indicating the retic controller is sending a signal as it should.
If none of the above has helped give us a call on 1300734 300 for further advice or to book one of our Perth mobile service men to fix the problem for you. Or visit our main website here for more info.
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.
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.
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.
Lowara submersible pumps and motors are a good reliable Italian brand but, like anything, they can have their own idiosyncracies. We specialise in servicing Lowara submersible pumps and their stablemates, Centripro and Marlow. We have over a decade of practical in-the-field service and pump repair experience. A problem that does from time to time present itself with some of the earlier Lowara single phase motors is blown start capacitors in the bore start box. It is an easy fix for someone experienced in Lowara pumps and motors. Give our Perth bore service and repair hotline a call on 1300 734 300 and our mobile bore service team can help you. Or visit or main Virgin Bores website for more bore info and help.
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.
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!
Our mobile service teams do prompt repairs to ALL TYPES of Water Bores & Reticulation Sprinkler Systems Perth metro-wide. Free phone advice. Our experience saves you time and money. Bore repair HOTLINE 1300 734 300 North of River: Troy 0408454130 South of River: Brett 0411511611
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