Page 1 of 1

What is This Thing?

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:47 pm
by SteveHGraham
I have two of these in my yard, right next to each other. I thought they were manifolds for the pool. Wild guess. Now I'm not so sure. Any clues? Mine have pressure gauges on them.

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:57 pm
by SteveHGraham
I think it may be an "indexing valve."

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 2:02 am
by Harold_V
Time bomb.

H

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 4:45 am
by tornitore45
The cap has a bail latch. It may be easy to open and seeing the inside may give you a clue of what it does. Not necessarily what is the purpose.

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:38 am
by curtis cutter
Before you pull the cap off to investigate I would recommend throwing the breaker to any septic pumps you may have. :) Just a thought.

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 10:55 am
by ctwo
It kinda looks like some automatic sprinkler valves I've seen, or the anti-backflow valve part of it...

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 12:31 pm
by SteveHGraham
I have never heard of septic pumps. Sounds horrible

It appears that this thing is an indexing valve, which is a primitive and unreliable tool for shifting between zones when using sprinklers.

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 4:07 pm
by spro
Anyway. It is a thing which you don't want to take head off just now. Plenty of water now but who knows about next year's drought. Stick a little wire flag pole next to it, so don't mow it down.

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 6:16 pm
by John Hasler
SteveHGraham wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 12:31 pm I have never heard of septic pumps. Sounds horrible
in Wisconsin we have something called the "Wisconsin Mound System". It's what you must use if your soil is judged inappropriate for a conventional drain field. Basically, they build a mound of sand and gravel and install the drain field in it so that it is above grade. They then install a timer-controlled pump to lift liquid from the buried tank up to the drain field.

This is, of course, much more profitable to the plumbers. The plumbers also do the perk test to determine whether or not you need one.

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 6:41 pm
by SteveHGraham
Rather poop in a bucket.

Re: What is This Thing?

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 8:03 pm
by GlennW
I knew them as Fimco Valves back when I was in High School, named after the manufacturer.

Every time the pump cycled off and back on it would change sprinkler stations.

It didn't take much to make them stick on one station...