Caretaker Zone not working

[firepilot]

Hey All,

I have a care taker system 5 zone installed in the pool. Right now it will cycle normally through 4 then locks up on the fifth doing crazy things to the pressure.

I read the trouble shooting and back flushed the top dome with high pressure (garden nozzle) water and re-installed. Same issue still exists.

Thought I would see if anyone had any ideas before ordering a new one for $275.00.

I am thinking about taking it apart but will hold out for good ideas until later today or tomorrow.

Thank you

Phil

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Can you take apart the dome and see what's going on? It sounds like there's a problem with the mechanism inside and it's jamming on the one zone. If you can see what's wrong, it's probably a much cheaper fix...maybe a set of gears or something.

 

[malcolmb5325]

the 5 port water valve has a set of gears and gogs inside and after about 11,000 hours they tend to wear out, also the diaphragms on the piston heads breakdown, all these parts come with a "rebuild kit". very easy to replace. also check the heads on that bank to make sure nothing is blocking the heads. remove the heads on the faulty bank and run the system to see if anything is caught in the lines. make sure you remember which heads goes into the correct collar

 

[firepilot]

Thanks Malcolmb,

I did order a rebuild kit. It may be here today. I also have 2 heads in the system that consistently "pop" out. I have tried moving heads around a some and I have some extra heads. I have wrapped the trouble heads with black tape where they sit in the collar and they seem to stay longer.

I'm not sure what the solution to that problem. Just looking it looks like putting a new collar in is major surgery.

Thanks

Phil

 

[malcolmb5325]

Zodiac have a small plastic washer that fits onto the cleaning head that gives it the extra purchase on the bayonet collar so it bites and hold in.

 

[firepilot]

UPDATE: I installed the repair/overhaul kit I had ordered yesterday, and I have some observations. The kit was really easy to install. The old teeth were definitely worn a lot compared to the new ones. The system before when it changed zones would kind of hammer the system. Now the transition between zones is very smooth. I had 2 popups that were consistently popping out of the collars. I had wrapped one of them with electrical tape to make it bigger and it had stopped doing that. After seeing the transition being so much smoother I removed the tape. After running the system for 5-6 hours yesterday that head is still where it is supposed to be. The other problem child will have the tape removed today and hopefully that will fix that.

I think that maybe the hammering that was occurring during the zone change may have been the problem.

Anyway the bottom of the pool looks great this am. Now in a bit the system will kick off and the skimmer should get rid of last nights flying ant harvest.

Thanks for the help.

Phil