Question
I've read the forum, and can't find something that fits my problem specifically.  I have a 1.5 hp pump... it does a great job pumping water out of the lake and onto my lawn of 6 sprinklers.  The problem... the second you turn it off, and try to turn it back on, the prime is gone.  So, I installed a handle valve (ballcock?) coming out of the pump before it branches off to the sprinkler manifold.  IF I turn it off before turning off the electricity, the prime stays.  Then I have to make sure to turn on the power to the pump first, then wait a few seconds and open the valve.  Works every time, but I want to install a timer, and that's impossible if I have to worry about going down to the lake and manually opening a valve.  Why should I have to do this to make the thing work?  I've installed a foot check valve where water is sucked up at the end of the PVC in the lake.  I even tried putting a check valve on the out side of the pump in case water is bleeding off, and causin a pressure loss... no luck.  THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS, is closing system, powering it up, then openin the system.  What can I do?

Thanks,

Scott

Answer
There must be air leaking into the system somewhere.  Start by checking all of the pipe connections, even redoing them with a good quality teflon tape on the threads.  Make sure all the nuts and bolts are tight on the pump and any other devices associated with the system.