Anyone seen a Fimco Hydro-indexing valve?

[justgeorge]

Ran into one of these at a fairly new house (4 years old) the other day: http://www.fimcomfg.com/

1 line (the 'mainline') into the valve, 8, count em, 8, lines coming out the bottom of the valve then I guess running all over the yard for the 8 zones. The valve was maybe 10" in diameter so there had to be quite a mess of pipe down in the ground leaving the valve. From the controller you could only tell it to turn on and off, there was no selecting which zone to turn on; it only turns on the next zone in line. Limit of 8 zones per device (and per controller), so since the yard had 11 zones there were 2 controllers and 2 of these devices. To run zone 4 if zone 5 had just ran, you had to cycle all the way thru all the zones to get back to zone 4.

Sure hope I never have to repair a leak in all that mess.....

George

[PurpHaze]

They actually intrigue me although I've never run into one in the field.

[Wet_Boots]

Just wait until it's winterizing time....

[londonrain]

That is similar to a k-rain indexing setup. I replaced one this year that was a 4 zone. The one I replaced used a master valve (hr-1) to stop the flow while indexing for the next zone. The body had cracked and the homeowner hated it so I replace with Hunter valves and controller.

[SprinklerGuy]

Ran into them sometimes in AZ ... WaterRotor they were called....have a buddy (suck tube guy) that makes a repair kit for them, gears and all....

they actually work great and lasted a long time....took up very little room....sort of like the indexing valve on a pool...

[PurpHaze]

Originally Posted by justgeorge

Sure hope I never have to repair a leak in all that mess.....

I can imagine that the piping would be a jumble right in the area of the valve. Guess one would be best to install it in the center of an area so the pipe would be going in different directions from the valve but I know this wouldn't be feasible.

[justgeorge]

Originally Posted by londonrain

That is similar to a k-rain indexing setup. I replaced one this year that was a 4 zone. The one I replaced used a master valve (hr-1) to stop the flow while indexing for the next zone. The body had cracked and the homeowner hated it so I replace with Hunter valves and controller.

The homeowner is actually open to replacing it, which might be possible but a lot of digging, and then the problem would be running 18/9 wire to the garage (the "valve" is not near the garage and the basement is finished which would make it tough to run the wire thru the basement to get to the garage).

[londonrain]

Originally Posted by justgeorge

The homeowner is actually open to replacing it, which might be possible but a lot of digging, and then the problem would be running 18/9 wire to the garage (the "valve" is not near the garage and the basement is finished which would make it tough to run the wire thru the basement to get to the garage).

If you do end up replacing it do yourself a favor and run at least 18/10 or greater. It only costs a little more for the extra wires but if a wire ever goes dead, which I have seen on many occasions, the extra wires sure do come in handy. Two of the biggest culprits is lightning in my area or someone cutting the wire and not using a DBY kit. Explain this to the homeowner and I guarantee they will OK the extra cost. I always run extra wires on my all of my systems.

[PurpHaze]

Originally Posted by justgeorge

The homeowner is actually open to replacing it, which might be possible but a lot of digging, and then the problem would be running 18/9 wire to the garage (the "valve" is not near the garage and the basement is finished which would make it tough to run the wire thru the basement to get to the garage).

Not knowing exactly what you're facing there's always the possibility of running conduit from the valves(s) location(s) to the garage or other location of controller.

[justgeorge]

Originally Posted by PurpHaze

Not knowing exactly what you're facing there's always the possibility of running conduit from the valves(s) location(s) to the garage or other location of controller.

It's a finished basement so I can't go thru there. I could rent a small plow used for burying invisable fence wiring and hope all the irrigation pipes are at least 6" down..... (yeah I know I could bury the new wiring 2" down then it would get nailed by aerator some day).