How to test Ballast

[brain_rinse]

If the goal is to verify that your valves seal tightly and open individually, you could just pull the 1 1/8" hose that goes from pump to manifold off. Instead of using the plunger style fake-a-lake make something like this: https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?t=9968

[mmandley]

HAHA AL that was awesome. Well you got a lot better pressure them my home course yours is a lot newer. I cant run the washer and take a shower at the same time.

I still say you cant test the ballast sprinkler valves off the garden hose. Thats my story and im sticking to it.

[DOCDRS]

it all has to do with volume......so if you can fill a 5 gallon pail in 30 seconds with your garden hose then you are putting out about 10gpm......the basic sprinkler ballast system generally won't be using any more than this (not yours steroid enhanced one Mike) and as most residential water pressure should be between 60 - 80 psi it may work........but if you cant keep up with the demand as mike states you won't have enough pressure to test for blow by



my.02

[brain_rinse]

I tried it yesterday and couldn't get the pumps to prime.

[cab13367]

Mike,

Thought u would get a kick out of that! I bought that gauge when I was thinking about putting in a drip irrigation system for my wife's garden at the last house. So when I saw ur post, it reminded me that I had that gauge so I decided to check the pressure here. Sorry to hear you've got low pressure at your 'hood.

Doc,

Remember that the op wants to check if his ballast will autofill so whatever pressure is generated by the scupper at speed is what he is trying to duplicate. I don't know how to calculate that.

Al

[mmandley]

Mike,

Thought u would get a kick out of that! I bought that gauge when I was thinking about putting in a drip irrigation system for my wife's garden at the last house. So when I saw ur post, it reminded me that I had that gauge so I decided to check the pressure here. Sorry to hear you've got low pressure at your 'hood.

Doc,

Remember that the op wants to check if his ballast will autofill so whatever pressure is generated by the scupper at speed is what he is trying to duplicate. I don't know how to calculate that.

Al

Its all good Al lol. I prolly need to have my lines checked anyhow. I think i might have a cracked feed pipe under the garage. I just hate to think about that in the summer. Im not about to spend 2K on a plumber to dig me a new pipe. Id rather go on paying an extra 50 a month for a few months in water bills. I know it all adds in the end but 2K now is my fuel budget this summer. To me water to board in is more important then water to the house. LOL. I know i am such a man in this situation, "Claudia, yes dear thats right you want a shower goto the lake with a bar of soup" LOL sure that will fly right? LOL

[DOCDRS]

This is not difficult but at 75 psi you will basically get about 173 ft per sec or 120mph of velocity, way more pressure than you will ever develop at your scupper . so there should be plenty of pressure to test your system ........the trick is you have to hook your hose up directly to your intake line and have no leakage. So Al is right very tough to duplicate unless you can control your water pressure . In that case 12.5 psi would give you the equivalent of about 20mph at 40 mph around 25psi

[viking]

I couldn't get my pump to prime today either trying to test my ballast!

I also was going to make a "homemade" fake-a-lake as I'm tired of the plunger. Is that 1inch Inside diameter hose everyone is using? I bought some 1 1/4 OD Hot Tub hose at Home Depot but couldn't get the hose clamps tight enough on them. The ID was too big and kept breaking hose clamps trying to seal it off on the intake??

Thanks!

[walb0244]

Forgot about this thread of mine. I did hook it all up. I was able to test what I wanted to partly. When I was on the lake the problem was that even when stopped if I turned on one pump it would pump water to all the bags. So I was able to check that part and make sure I could control each bag seperate. I wasn't able to check to see if it would fill going across the lake. No biggie. It seemed to fix it all. Only thing I get now is the front bag fills with air when going to the lake.