Brendan Hughes

Sorry, not sure of the correct term, but it's like one of these http://www.twowests.co.uk/TwoWestsSi...t/COCOMPFT.htm (but a different brand and model that I can't easily find )

Had it for a year. It's stopped letting water through, even when it should. There is an audible click, as usual, but no water. Battery shows "low", so bought a new one. Fitted it last night - again, an audible click, but no water. Obviously the batt wasn't the problem, maybe the valve is jammed shut.

Anyone got any suggestions? It cost fifty quid and I don't want to buy a new one every year but if I take it back to the shop they'll send it away for a month.

thanks in advance

PS hosepipe bans don't apply where I live, before you start

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Gardena timers are crap (for the money).We had one 65odd euros. Casing cracked.

Anyhoo I took it apart to fix (and see how it works ), it is a solonoid diaphram valve, basically a coil and a magnetic disc operating a rubber diaphram. So it's possible it could have scaled up/corroded and become stuck.

Or the coil has burnt out, or maybe a dry/corroded solder joint.

The valve is a bit fiddly to get everything in the right order (keep a note/pic of what goes where otherwise you'll spend ages working how it goes back together - like me ).

Good luck.

I binned ours and bought a 28 euros "Verde Art" timer from Leroy Merlin. Uses a motor to open and shut, cheaper and best of all - it works

Brendan Hughes

Tx Ali. This one's Ciaber Video 2 (I thought, but Google doesn't recognise it). It looked all sealed under the casing, but perhaps a closer look will reveal access.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

No worries, I thought you meant a variation of the Gardena one in the pic. But I suppose different brands will be fairly similar.

My motto is: if it's bust, you can't make it any worse

jasey

Turn the tap on.

With your record we can't omit the obvious

Brendan Hughes

Jasey - with your record, only you would think of that

jasey

I bet you check again though

Flatcapdriver

Seriously, you have checked the supply in to the unit? Does the unit have a two-way valve? One for the irrigation system and one for the tap to fill buckets, for instance? The other issue may be a build up of calcium, which mine suffers from and merely involves scraping the deposits off with a knife around the ball valve, or it may be downstream - could there be a kink in the tubing further down.

Lastly, what colour is the unit? I have one that has an orange cover and another with a blue cover and although I can't remember the brands, one is Spanish and the other Portugese. The Portugese one has caused me problems when swithcing over batteries because there is a sequence you have to adhere to which is something along the lines of waiting five seconds for the flashing light to come on before it 'rearms' itself.

Brendan Hughes

Right, I'm not mad. I know I'm not. So please will everyone stop suggesting otherwise, otherwise I'll get paranoid.

The unit is Claber - this one http://www.intwoplaces.com/video2.htm

It's connected to a double-exit tap, as FCD says, one for the hose/buckets, one for the irrigation system. Both taps work perfectly - I should have remembered when I answered this afternoon, as last night I didn't screw the unit on tight enough and got sprayed when I turned the tap on. So it ain't the tap. And I've checked again tonight (happy now jase?)

I've got the instruction booklet. It says change the batt within 15 mins to avoid losing programming - I did that. And the batt sign went from BA to BATTERY, so it registered the newly charged one.

There's no info on troubleshooting. All it says is don't let it freeze - well we had snow for 15 mins one day, but that's about it. And I guess the freezing is because it would crack and leak, not because it would malfunction.

No kink downstream - if I bypass the unit by connecting the hosepipe to the irrigation with a male-male junction, it works perfectly.

Tomorrow, dv, I'll take the cover off again and see if it looks vaguely serviceable.

Brendan Hughes

Bugger, can't edit the above? Just to clarify, the unit itself only has one entry and one exit - it's the tap that it's screwed onto that has two exits. And both work, I've tried them.

Flatcapdriver

Disconnect all pipework, turn the unit to 'ON' and see if the ball valve opens. If it doesn't squirt some Agua Fuerte in it (or the Portugese equivalent) and see if that frees it up.

Brendan Hughes

Thanks - not sure what Agua Fuerte is, but I thought last night your suggestion about descaling was a good one, and a likely culprit in our area. I'll give that a try when I can.

Flatcapdriver

I'm not sure what Agua Fuerte is in English, other than a literal translation of 'Fire Water' but if you squirt it round the edge of a pool it fizzes and dissolves the calcium build up. It's an acid of some kind which can mildly burn your skin. It'll shift any calcium build up in your system.

Brendan Hughes

Update - I took it back to the shop, without receipt, and they took it in and repaired it under warranty

It seems it was the shaft that held the diaphram had snapped/corroded. It was only the diameter of a needle.

Hope it doesn't break again

Flatcapdriver

Yeah, right. I bet it had a kink in the pipe.

jasey

Yep - Tap was off