Levolor Autofill - Won't fill with water until I turn water source ON/OFF

[cking27]

Hello,

First time poster but very thankful for this site and you all. I have kind of an odd problem so here it is:

1. I have a Levolor LX2 Autofiller. I just had the sensor replaced as it had burnt out.
2. The lights on the LX2 correctly tell me when the sensor is triggered. If it is triggered for more than 20 minutes it will auto shut off. I'm able to reset it (by turning off power) if this happens.
3. When triggered (so it wants to fill) - water ONLY turns on if I quickly (like 1 second) turn the source ON/OFF (red circle below).
4. When not triggered (so sensor thinks pool is full) - toggling the source ON/OFF won't cause the water to fill (which is good ).

Thoughts on what this could be? Why do I have to turn the source water ON/OFF while it wants to fill to get water to actually fill the pool. The sensor seems to work. The solenoid valve does seem to OPEN/CLOSE in coordination with the autofiller telling it to fill/not fill based on sensor. I've attached a picture of this below for reference. I somehow picture in my head a flap (my technical term) stuck in a position and then when I turn water on/off it can move to where it wants to be and then water flows.


Thank you all not only for your help with this but all the times you help with folks on this site.

Charlie

 

[wireform]

Just thinking outside the box, do you know what your water pressure is, maybe too high of a water pressure against the the solenoid.

 

[cking27]

Hmm..good question. I don't know the water pressure rate, but that is something to consider. Maybe the pressure is too high for the solenoid to open the valve? Then when I turn on/off it does it and then water flows. I am going to try and only partially open the ball valve..maybe that will lower the pressure to help diagnose. Thank you.

Quick update: I barely turned the valve so a small trickle came out. Unfortunately cycling through to get it to the point when it should be filling the pool didn't work. I then quickly turned it off/on and of course it flowed.

 

[wireform]

Can also be a defective solenoid valve.

 

[cking27]

True. Do they somehow lose their ‘strength’ over time or is it all or nothing? I am going to explore this and may purchase one to see if I can easily swap it out. Trying to see if I can purchase the solenoid separately from the valve or if that is all just one piece.

 

[Toxophilite]

Hmm..good question. I don't know the water pressure rate, but that is something to consider. Maybe the pressure is too high for the solenoid to open the valve? Then when I turn on/off it does it and then water flows. I am going to try and only partially open the ball valve..maybe that will lower the pressure to help diagnose. Thank you.

Quick update: I barely turned the valve so a small trickle came out. Unfortunately cycling through to get it to the point when it should be filling the pool didn't work. I then quickly turned it off/on and of course it flowed.

Water pressure hold the valve controlling flow closed. When the solenoid is energized, its port valve moves up, then opens port and dumps the pressure on top of valve to the discharge side and the flow valve can then open under spring tension. Same thing with a manual vent cap on some models. So, pressure helps the valve, not hinders, but they can hang or only partially try to raise when energized. You can test the solenoid action by by using 9V batteries, or, first check the voltage. If you back off the solenoid a couple of turns and it still doesn't open, something inside with the screen or valve is hanging. Not hard to disassemble and reassemble and clean tiny ports, lube it up where moves, clean screens, and clean out.

 

[cking27]

Thank you that makes sense. I am going to focus on seeing if the solenoid maybe is partially raising the valve and/or if something is blocking the ports.

 

[wireform]

As this is new territory to me I resorted to youtube under "Levolor LX2" there's some good stuff on it you may want to check it out before you go any further.

 

[Toxophilite]

Thank you that makes sense. I am going to focus on seeing if the solenoid maybe is partially raising the valve and/or if something is blocking the ports.

Barring any voltage problem from your controller, you are just dealing with a standard irrigation flow control valve. Yours is a Weathermatic Silver Bullet. Like all sprinkler control valves, they can get finicky with either solenoid issues, diaphragm issues, or trash inside. There's also a manual valve just below that solenoid to turn off and on. The top spider is a flow control that limits operating range of diaphragm. You might run it full in and back out to see if clears issue.

 

[cking27]

Thank you all for your help. My problem is solved! It was the Solenoid. I unscrewed it from the valve and saw that it was a Weathermatic M24E Solenoid. A quick search and I saw that these are now being sold as Weathermatic S20P (compatible with M24E). Purchased it for 20$ and replaced the M24E. And just like that, the pool began to fill itself WITHOUT me having to turn the source water on/off.

Charlie