Irrigation 2-Wire Class / Irrigation Pump Class

Hello again

I recently attended two more classes. One covered basic 2 wire systems and the other one covered basic pumps.

2 Wire is a new(er) technology that is currently beneficial on larger commercial projects and is the norm on Golf Course systems. Most irrigation systems are installed with a multistrand wire, one wire for each zone plus a common wire (and hopefully plus a few extra zone wires and an extra common wire.) I have installed commercial systems with up towards 50 zones in single strand 12 gauge wire. To give you an idea of how much wire that is, if you bundled those wires it would be similar in size to a 1.5” pipe. 2 wire is just one (2 strand) wire that will have a decoder at each valve, sensor, pump, grounding area and so on. So you can image how much easier the installation process can be. The wire is a huge cost savings but the Controller and decoder technology does not offset system savings until 25 zones depending on the size of the system and the level of the 2 wire system controlling it. We are training on servicing this newer type of system nice it is starting to become more common in the commercial / municipal markets.

The pump class was good. To be honest I only don’t see to many pump applications, we may service less then 20 pump systems and may install 1-2 a year. I learned more about the internal workings and how to replace the seals and bearings. We also thoroughly discussed the volutes and most importantly the impellers.