Need help - 5 zone but only 2 need to use a pump

Hi guys,
My house has 2 different sprinkler systems, one is on a well and has a pum and only 2 zones and the other is on city water and has 3 zones. Is there a way to only use the pump for some zones ?

I was thinking of hooking up a relay to the zones that need the pump to turn on the pump only when they get 24 volts but this seems like it could be a software fix or might already exist.

Another question i guess is if i’m not using a zone if the pump turns on will it damage anything ? My guess was the pressure would damage the pump or blow a pipe but not sure if pumps have some sort of protection against that ?

Currently not, but that feature is in our backlog.

Hmm…out of my depth :wink:, @emil thoughts on this?

:cheers:

“Another question i guess is if i’m not using a zone if the pump turns on will it damage anything ? My guess was the pressure would damage the pump or blow a pipe but not sure if pumps have some sort of protection against that ?”

If it’s a centrifugal pump, you’ll burn it up by doing this.

Another solution I was thinking to try was wire a 24 volt relay to the zone outputs that require the pump and have these relays trigger the pump only when the corresponding zones are on. One relay per zone but both wired to the pump.

@sebastienb, I’d advise against running the pump when it’s not needed.

Out of curiosity, how is your system setup? Are pump/well zones for the back yard and city water zones for the front yard? Or vice versa?

This should work. You’d need to install a pump start relay to kick on the pump – do you already have one of these?

Do you already have an Iro installed?

1 Like

I bought a few automotive 24 volt relays, might give it a try tomorrow. Not sure why but the well and city water operate different zones in both front and backyard. What is even weirder is both systems are about 6-10 feet away form each other. Wish it was all on the well.

@sebastienb, just wanted to check in. Did you have a chance to install the relays yet? Let us know if you need any help. Would love to know the type of relays you used and a few photos of the wiring once you have it up and running.

Happy Thanksgiving!