Siphon won't break on pressurized system, discharge going one floor below?

M

MashrafeMortaza

New Member
I cant get my irrigation setup to break the siphon.

The system is as follows... foot valve > 1" pvc suction pipe > Leader 1/2hp pump > 30' of discharge pipe travels one floor below > manifold feeds (3) tables, each table has a pressure relief valve at the end of each loop. Room has 144 sites with (2) 0.5gph emitters.

I believe the drop of the feed pipe going to my tables one floor below has created enough siphon to keep my foot valve open. I realized this morning when my res dropped over 100 gallons overnight. It's a real slow siphon.

I thought it could be coming out of my pressure relief valves, three of them in the room, but I closed the shut-off valve just before each relief valve and my water level in the res still dropping very slowly. Is it possible that there is enough pressure from the 10' drop in elevation of the discharge pipe that water could be coming out of my PC emitters? Either that or there is a leak somewhere in the system.

Anyways, I really don't want to install a solenoid on the discharge line. Any other options?
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
It's hard to visualize what you're talking about, but I think you're supposed to make a small hole in the tubing above the water line in the res to break the vacuum to stop the syphoning.
 
A

Apalchen

Well-Known Member
I’d say dropping that far has created enough pressure to open the pc emitters. I mean if you shut off the relief valves and still leaked water where else could it be going you would notice 100 gallons of water if it wasn’t going down the drain. So it’s gotta be making it to the tables right?

I think a solenoid right after the pump would be best if you don’t mind losing some water out the relief valves when pumps shut off. Unless this turns out to be an excessive amount of water I like that idea because you don’t have feed sitting in your lines going stagnant for hours at a time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top