Understanding How a PGV Irrigation Control Valve Works, PGV-101G

[@thebambooman7]

It's 3:30am and I couldn't quite fall asleep until I knew exactly how the valve worked. Excellent video!

[@Gustavorj956]

😂

[@SquadUp1019]

Awesome now I know what's wrong with my valve. I got water at the bleeder but no water to the heads. All other zones work fine. Huge thanks

[@yeetyeetlson5476]

starting an apartment maintenance job in 8 hours. I told them I have extensive irrigation experience. Now I know everything lol.

[@Hunter_Industries]

Sounds like a gamble but we're glad that you learned something from the video.

[@maoycaza138]

I know very little about sprinkler systems. One of our valves was leaking and doing the flush in this video fixed my problem. Thank you!

[@Hunter_Industries]

Perfect!

[@LordHog]

Great explanation of how these values work. Thanks

[@Sully_On_Maui]

Thanks guys! You helped me troubleshoot my system. $9 part and it works perfect!

[@Hunter_Industries]

Glad it helped.

[@DuxRiser34]

The problem I had was I was randomly getting both zones watering at the same time. At first I thought it was my program controller and maybe a defective diaphragm. I have two zones. Zone 1 is three feet higher in elevation than zone 2. Both zone valves are located at the level of zone 2. When the program interval for zone 1 was complete, gravity pressure would open its anti-siphon valve and essentially drain all the water from the zone 1 pipes. The horror of it all! I live in a desert so wasting water is a cardinal sin. The second problem here is I setup both zones to irrigate back to back (zone 1 turns off at 8:00 PM and zone 2 turns on and 8:32 PM). The problem here is zone 1 was still draining through the anti-siphon valve when zone 2 turned on. Since zone 1 was still draining through the anti-siphon valve the pressure differential that holds the valve diaphragm for zone 1 closed, wasn't there. When zone 2 turned on its pressure forced open the diaphragm of the valve in zone 1 meaning BOTH zones were turned on at the same time, resulting in half the water for the plants in both zones 1 and 2. I solved the problem two ways: First, I reversed the order in which I irrigate. I adjusted the program to turn on the zone 2 first, which is at the same level of both irrigation valves. Its anti-siphon valve closes almost immediately after watering. I then set the "On" time for zone 1 to come on 5 minutes after zone 2 turns off to ensure adequate drainage of zone 2 through its anti-siphon valve and establish adequate pressure on the valve diaphragm for this zone. This fixed the problem of both valves being open due to water pressure. To fix the wasteful water draining from zone 1, I eventually put a check valve in zone 1. This stopped the waste of water from zone 1. I thought these lessons might be useful to other battling irrigation system problems since I find real world solutions in the comments of these videos, sometimes way more helpful than the video itself.

[@shotelco]

Thank you sir (or Miss). I too live in a desert, likely the same desert as you do - as 4-drops of water getting to the curb causes an Amber alert around here. Nonetheless, I am attempting to troubleshoot perhaps a similar problem. Making matters worse, this is an _Intermittent_ issue: Occasionally, the main sprinkler zone will not turn off. It starts on-time, the system says its off - but the sprinklers are still running water. So I turn the water supply to the manifold off. I may come back in several hours, turn the water supply back on...and the sprinklers for this zone are still flowing. If I wait a couple of days, _Then_ turn on the water supply to the manifold, the sprinklers just flow out the remining water in the pipes (still under pressure I presume), and remain off. The system will function properly for another week, or another 2 Months. Then back to not shutting off for that valve. The valves are about 2.5 years old. Using this video as a tutorial for understanding the _Fluid Mechanics_ and _Fluid Physics_ of a "sprinkler valve", It's clear that my issue may be pressure related? Where somehow, the solenoid can't close, or the diaphragm can't close due to not enough/too much pressure above it. Or the solenoid isn't closing completely? In any event, when the water is off to the manifold (which has two other zones - a drip zone, and another sprinkler zone - where the 2nd sprinkler zone is timed to come on right after the main zone) for enough time, there is a release of water pressure somewhere in the system - keeping in mind the sprinkler controller is still functioning, turning on and off the 3 valves per the schedule. As a desert dweller, you are also aware of the "allowable" times during the day - and days of the week - that one can water. I will try and spread out the scheduling of the zones with a buffer of perhaps an hour between them. If I don't update this comment in the next few Months, that means this scheduling delta worked. Thanks again.

[@Hunter_Industries]

Thanks for sharing.

[@e.a.p3174]

I used Rainbird’s DV100 for many years but switched to Hunter in 2021, so far Hunter has been very reliable.

[@Hunter_Industries]

Thank you

[@Anchor2012]

Very clear explanation, thanks so much.

[@Hunter_Industries]

Glad it was helpful!

[@patrickrawlins2516]

If i turn open the cylinoid and open the bleeder at the same time, what will happen?

[@Hunter_Industries]

Either action will manually open the valve and there's no issue should you do both at the same time.

[@fess9867]

Thank you.

[@westvalley411]

Wow, love the high tech video. Best one online...lot of terminology and explanation. Still don't quite get the pressure gradient and channels sequence...more arrows please...

[@Hunter_Industries]

Thank you

[@andyv8889]

My IQ just increased by a couple of points. Thank you.

[@Hunter_Industries]

Thank you

[@jacobh707]

Fantastic video my next valve purchase will be a hunter!

[@Hunter_Industries]

Glad it helped

[@CarlosCastro-ht2xl]

Thank you for the help greatly appreciate it!

[@Hunter_Industries]

You're welcome!

[@stormmodrak]

Very helpful!

[@Hunter_Industries]

Glad it was helpful!

[@PEACE_LUVR]

Thank you. Question, my valve only works with bleeding screw. I could confirm the solenoid is working. I cleaned up the tiny hole where solenoid fits…but still it didn’t work. Can I simply get a new valve and replace the whole plunge/solenoid/bleed screw mechanism, and avoid a complete cut pipe and replace the whole valve kind of effort?

[@Hunter_Industries]

It's common for irrigation technicians to replace the entire top assembly, leaving the valve body in place. It's critical that you have the same model valve and that the remaining valve body is not damaged though.

[@martin1b]

Would low water pressure situations affect the PGV? Would it remain closed?

[@JanTijmes]

What's a good setting for the diaphragm, the screw in the middle of the bottom?

[@AesirVarus]

close it all the way, turn on the water, open the flow control valve until you get the desired spray pattern from your heads.

[@Hunter_Industries]

Exactly!

[@nationalshiningvision5173]

Interesting fact and very informative, thank you sir!

[@Hunter_Industries]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Moondoggy1941]

So I have been using my valves manually by turning the bleed screw, somehow another screw was turned and the valve would not work anymore, how do you fix that?

[@Hunter_Industries]

Take a look at the flow control handle. If it's turned down to low, water will not flow through the valve. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnPEm3asgbOYo5osi=WERN_7pFXqi_wmlB

[@1yyymmmddd]

Does solenoid need to be energized all the time we want water to flow or is it enough to energize it for a few seconds until the chamber changes pressures?

[@elihall123]

It has to be active all the time for the valve to open. The solenoid activates a tiny electromagnet and if the current is off, the metal plunger will drop, causing the valve to close.

[@Hunter_Industries]

Nice, you have it down!

[@1yyymmmddd]

@@Hunter_Industries What do you mean?

[@szl3701]

During the winterization of the system, the blow-out port should be on inlet side or outlet side?

[@Hunter_Industries]

Winterization and blowout steps vary by contractor and by region. Generally, you want o remove water from the valve and any other device that would be damaged by freezing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6CYgXumYpt2Z5Isi=8PZ18C5ohmM-uxI9

[@mikehydroseed1282]

I maintain a 4 house estate and pull water from a river behind the property and there’s a little over a 100 PVG valves and on occasion I will have a valve just stay stuck on. Sometimes I will find a pebble inside from a break in a supply line but most times I find nothing. Sometimes just flushing the valve out while open does it but sometimes it still stays stuck open or will do it the following week. If this happens I will just replace the top 1/2 with a new one and most of the time that works but not always. I wish I could know why they stay stuck open. The weird thing is it’s usually the same 2-3 zones that malfunction even after replacing the entire valve. Can you tell me why a valve would do this?

[@Hunter_Industries]

Debris in your water supply can cause a valve to stick open or stick open part way.A pebble would likely prevent the diaphragm from fully seating. You may need to contact and irrigation professional to install a system wide filter or screen.

[@jacobwtyler]

What’s the difference between using flow control and using your Accu-Sync valve pressure regulator? I’m trying to adjust 1 of my 16 zones (coming from a 2HP sprinkler pump at an always consistent but pretty high psi) down to use 5 bubblers for this one zone along the fence. Ideally, I was thinking I could use the flow control for this and regulate all 16 zones to the appropriate psi. But it confuses me that there is a $65 pressure regulator accessory that is sold as well. I’m not understanding how they differ from the flow control that is already built in.

[@bygonebob]

I'm confused as well. Hopefully Hunter can explain.

[@stoaguilon]

I think it's better just get an water pressure regulator or a valve with pressure regulator

[@dalyclose7815]

Flow and pressure aren't the same thing. The accusync lowers pressure with less flow loss. Pressure reducers don't reduce pressure by restricting flow. Rather they use a plunger that pulls back and creates a suction force that tries to pull the water backwards, thereby reducing its velocity and psi. Basically, it takes advantage of the principles that cause backflow. The practical benefit is that you can run more emitters on one drip zone than you could by restricting the flow rate.

[@Hunter_Industries]

It's correct that flow and pressure aren't the same thing. Using a pressure regulation device on an irrigation station is more reliable and more accurate than adjusting the flow control knob.

[@thudinthenight8150]

Ugh somebody help me out. One of my two PGV valves developed a slow leak; I replaced the top bonnet with a new one from Home Depot. That fixed the slow leak. But now, when the valve is opened, it shoots a jet of water out the side. Based on the video, the water jet is coming out where the bonnet exhaust port is; and it happens as soon as the downstream pipe is full (i.e. exactly at the 3:00 mark in the video). I have unbolted and reseated the bonnet multiple times, and the diaphragm is new and no sign of debris around the edge of it. But I'm always getting a water spray out of that same spot. Do I need to replace the entire valve?

[@Hunter_Industries]

You likely have two different versions of a valve installed. When replacing just the valve bonnet (top), it's critical that they match 100%. It sounds like you'll want to replace the entire valve at this point.

[@AhmedMohammed-pl3ud]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@Hunter_Industries]

Thank you

[@Zhana.M88]

👍

[@Hunter_Industries]

Thank you