Question
I just bought a home that has an irrigation system that runs on a pump.  The pump is located in the garage.  It works fine while running but after the cycle is finished the pump will come on for a split second every minute or so.  I don't think this is normal.  What could be causing the pump to keep cycling on and off every minute or so for a second while the system is not running?

Answer
Hey Gary I hope this helps. We don't deal with pumps much, but I have a suggestion. Normally on your sprinkler controller, there will be either a pump start terminal or master valve terminal. This wire normally runs to a relay on the pump. When a particular valve is told to open, it also sends power to the relay to tell it to turn on, and the pump to run. The first thing I would check, is to see if there is a valve not being used on the controller, but the valve is programmed to come on. For instance, Lets say you have a 12 station controller, but have only 8 valves hooked up. If station #9 through # 12 have time scheduled in, then the controller is still going to try to turn them on, and also the pump relay, even if a valve is not hooked up to it. If this is the case, turn those station time to off. The other thing could be the controller failing, and sending out a signal when it's not supposed to. Good luck and let me know if I can be of anymore assistance. Thanks and have a great day.