Nothing works at all
What has gone wrong
Not one station runs. The difference between this and several stations dying matters, because the causes barely overlap: several stations is nearly always the common wire, but everything means power, water or the controller itself.
In rough order of how often it turns out to be each one:
- The controller has lost its program, or has been left in Off or Rain mode.
- The water is turned off — an isolating tap or the master valve, usually shut for winter and never reopened.
- The controller has no power: a tripped safety switch, a switched-off powerpoint, or a failed plug-pack transformer.
- The bore pump has failed or lost prime.
- The controller itself has died.
The first two are free to fix and they account for a great many 1 September call-outs. Do them before you ring anybody.
Why this happens in Perth
This is the 1 September fault, and the reason is the ban itself.
Sprinklers are off from 1 June to 31 August. A lot of people shut the retic off at the tap in June — sensibly — and then in September only think to look at the controller. The system is not broken. The water is off.
The rest is the three-month gap doing its work. Winter storms trip safety switches, and nobody notices because nothing else is on that circuit. Power cuts wipe the program on older controllers that have a dead backup battery, and a controller with no program sits there lit up and does nothing, which reads as broken. Bore pumps sit idle for a season and lose prime or seize.
All of which means: on 1 September, check the cheap things first. The odds are genuinely good.
Is this a DIY job?
No, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Once the free checks below are done, everything left is the controller, the transformer, the mains supply or the pump. All of those are mains-powered or specialist, and none of them are something to be talked through over the internet.
There is nothing here you can safely test past the point above. Mains-powered equipment, bores and pumps are all outside what anybody should be talking you through over the internet.
Your next step: get a Perth reticulation repairer to look at it. Tell them what you have already ruled out — it saves them time and it saves you money.
Four free checks, in this order
One — is the water on? Find the isolating tap for the reticulation. It is usually near the water meter, near the bore, or in the first valve box. If somebody shut it for winter, open it and try again. This is the single most common answer on 1 September and it costs nothing.
Two — is the controller actually asking for water? Look at the display.
- Blank and dark: it has no power. Go to check three.
- Lit but nothing runs: check the dial or mode is not on Off, Rain, or Seasonal 0%. Then check a program still exists — a power cut with a flat backup battery wipes the schedule, and an empty schedule looks identical to a dead controller.
- Lit, and a manual start does run a station: the controller is fine and your problem is the programming, not the hardware. Set the days and start times again.
Three — has a safety switch tripped? Look in the meter box for a switch that has flicked down or to the middle. Resetting a tripped safety switch is a normal household job. If it trips again straight away, stop — something is faulting and that is now an electrician's call, not a retic one.
Also check the powerpoint the controller is plugged into, if it is a plug-in unit, and that nothing has switched it off at the wall.
Four — can you open one valve by hand? Go to any valve and turn the solenoid a quarter turn anti-clockwise. If water flows, you have water at the valves and your fault is entirely electrical. If nothing comes out, the water is not reaching them — which is check one again, or a supply problem. Do the solenoid up afterwards.
If all four checks come back clear
Then what is left is the transformer, the controller's internals, the mains supply to it, the master valve or the pump. That is where we stop, and we are not going to pretend otherwise to keep you on the page.
Do not open the controller. It is mains-powered. The low-voltage wiring compartment is fine and you have already been in it; the part with the transformer in it is not, and there is no sprinkler worth that.
Do not touch the bore or the pump. Bore pumps are mains-powered, they sit in water, and a pressure vessel holds energy even with the power off. Pump work is a trade, not an afternoon.
What you have done is still worth something. You now know the water is on, whether the controller has power, whether it holds a program, and whether the valves open by hand. Tell whoever comes out exactly that — it is the difference between them charging you to find out and them arriving knowing where to start.
What it costs
The four checks above: nothing, and they solve this more often than people expect.
Everything past them: we have not verified Perth rates for controller replacement, electrical work or pump repair, and the range on all three is wide enough that a made-up figure would be worse than none. Get two quotes and ask each what is included in a callout.
One thing worth knowing before you ring: a controller that has died is usually replaced rather than repaired, and if yours is old it is worth asking about the replacement cost up front rather than paying for a diagnosis first.
Common questions
My whole reticulation system is dead. What should I check first?
Whether the water is turned on. An isolating tap shut for the winter ban and never reopened is the most common cause on 1 September, and it costs nothing to check.
Why does my retic controller have power but nothing runs?
Check it is not in Off or Rain mode, and that a program still exists. A power cut with a flat backup battery wipes the schedule, and an empty schedule looks exactly like a dead controller.
Can I fix a dead reticulation controller myself?
No. The controller is mains-powered and must not be opened. Bore and pump work is likewise a trade job. Everything past the free checks needs a licensed person.