First spring start-up

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Hammbone81
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First spring start-up

Post by Hammbone81 » March 11th, 2021, 3:26 pm

I had an irrigation system installed last fall. I did all of the plumbing on the house side and even purchased and installed my own RPZ valve.

The company that installed it wants to come out to start-up the system for me and charge for it. They say I can start up the zones myself, but they need to "certify" the RPZ. Who says? The city? (I live in a very small town that doesn't even require an RPZ). I only ran the RPZ for 1 month before I winterized, does it even need checked yet?

The company is from a more metropolitan area about 20mi away, which does have an ordinance requiring the use of RPZ's.

Can I check the RPZ myself?

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MorpheusPA
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Re: First spring start-up

Post by MorpheusPA » March 11th, 2021, 9:00 pm

I would see no reason you can't look up the instructions online and check your own RPZ if your local municipality has no laws regarding it. If there are no laws, then somebody wants a service contract. That's nice if you don't want to do it yourself, but if you can do it and are willing to do so and are allowed to, then you might as well. It takes about ten minutes to check these things for most devices. Just look up "How to test an RPZ valve."

Mine doesn't give a crap as long as one has a backflow device; my fairy godmother could magic up some mice to install it for me if she wanted and they'd be fine with that. I do my own every year and they don't even bother asking.

Hammbone81
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Re: First spring start-up

Post by Hammbone81 » March 11th, 2021, 10:35 pm

MorpheusPA wrote:
March 11th, 2021, 9:00 pm
....I do my own every year and they don't even bother asking.
Bingo - That's where I was leaning.

I live in a town of 3,000 people. I know most of the city staff personally. They didn't care what I used for backflow prevention. I could've used a check valve for all they care, so I'm sure they're not regulating RPZ certifications. They probably can't spell RPZ. I think I'm the 2nd house in town with irrigation, so this isn't even something they deal with regularly.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: First spring start-up

Post by MorpheusPA » March 11th, 2021, 11:11 pm

Are Pee Z? Whassat? :-) Just check with the Town Hall, but if they don't care, you don't care. :-) Same here, check valves are A-OK and after that, they're not concerned. Given that mine is cobbled to a hose-end, they don't even care about that.

They were much more concerned about my outside electrical until "12 volt" came out of my mouth. After which, "We don't care. Do whatever you want" was spoken.

edslawn
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Re: First spring start-up

Post by edslawn » March 12th, 2021, 8:45 am

Great way to start a relationship...lie to your customer. I'd also find a new vendor to help you with service.


Hammbone81
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Re: First spring start-up

Post by Hammbone81 » March 12th, 2021, 11:25 am

edslawn wrote:
March 12th, 2021, 8:45 am
Great way to start a relationship...lie to your customer. I'd also find a new vendor to help you with service.
Yes, I'm becoming a bit disenchanted with them. The Project Manager / System Designer was great to work with. We shot the bull quite a bit during the project. But I think it's the people he works for that are being shady. I plan to figure all of this out on my own. I was half tempted to do the entire project myself anyway, but was just too busy with work to but the time and effort into it.

edslawn
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Re: First spring start-up

Post by edslawn » March 13th, 2021, 11:56 pm

@Hammbone81 Good luck with it!

Hammbone81
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Re: First spring start-up

Post by Hammbone81 » March 15th, 2021, 10:03 pm

edslawn wrote:
March 13th, 2021, 11:56 pm
@Hammbone81 Good luck with it!
Thanks. I spoke to a tech at the RPZ valve manufacturer today. I have a much better feeling about this now.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: First spring start-up

Post by MorpheusPA » March 15th, 2021, 10:44 pm

Check pressure on both sides, and if they're OK you're good to go? Yeah, it's easy.

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