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We have a sprinkler system that was already installed in the house we bought. It is from Lawn Genie. I'm sure it's a plain vanilla system, very rudimentary. It runs 2 programs, A and B. Recently it is only activating one program (A) which waters the flowers, while not activating program B for the lawn area. If I test it manually and ask it to run program A or B, it always (for both) waters the flowers. I tried unplugging it completely, including disconnecting the back-up battery, thinking that a power outage might have affected it, but that hasn't changed anything.
Anybody have any suggestions before I'm forced to call a service?
You might try reprogramming it if you haven't tried that already. I think it's a problem with the controller rather than the valves because if the valve for section B was broken then nothing would happen when you tried to manually run program B. These controllers don't last forever, so it's possible you just need to get a new one. That happened to me last year, the controller just stopped working right, all sorts of little bugs like what you're seeing, so I went to the irrigation supply store and got another controller box that was the same brand/model as the old one and plugged it right into the system and everything was fine after that (getting a new one may be cheaper than calling someone for service if it's really a rudimentary plain vanilla system). You could also try searching for your brand and model number on the internet, I've done that with a lot of things around the house if they don't work right and very often the mfg will have a troubleshooting guide on their website.
I had my sprinkler system professionally installed. It has 12 zones. Anyway, my point is, mine is inspected by the installer twice a year, in the spring when it is initially turned on and then again in the fall when they inspect and drain the system for the winter months. I would suggest you get in touch with the installer and have it come and check/service your system. Sometimes it is better to bite the bullet rather than try to save money.
