Plumbing

Ugh! Am I glad that's finished! Thanks Mike for all the coaching over the phone! I must have spent 20 hours, maybe more, fixing the sprinkler system. It all started when a pipe appeared busted in the front yard after Rex pulled up some dead bush and it's roots next to the house.

After I fixed that, there appeared a hole in the ground next to a pop-up head in the backyard from a leak at its base. It turned out the thread on the pipe was somewhat stripped so I cut it off and put a new one on.

After that, I decided to move on to replacing/fixing the nozzles and/or heads (pop-ups=short range stationary; rotors=long range rotating) in the backyard that were damaged or misaligned (spraying into the fence rather than the yard). A lot of the nozzles were designed to spray away from the now-non-existing pool and deck so a large part of the yard wasn't being watered, so I fixed that. There had been plenty of heads buried several inches below ground that we discovered when digging up the cement for the deck posts or making holes for posts around the sandbox. I had to dig up quite a few of the visible heads, and, in doing so, I broke a few pipes, creating more work for myself.

Then there was the problem of the pop-up and the rotor positioned behind the sandbox. I didn't want to water the sandbox, but the rotor watered an area beyond it too, so I dug them up and capped them. Then after some brainstorming with Rex, I dug a 6 inch deep, 6-foot long trench and laid a pipe to extend the rotor out past the sandbox so that it would still be able to water the rest of the lawn (which is non-existent at present).

Lastly, there was one head that continued to leak 3 gallons of water after that zone was run. From my research, I figured it was because it was the lowest one in the zone, but even raising the pipe didn't work and I couldn't reasonably raise it and then level the ground because of the need for drainage in the yard. Raising the pipe didn't work anyway; I tried it. I did lots of research online (our library is worthless, even Barnes and Noble didn't have any useful books, and sprinkler repairmen don't want to give away their secrets).

The next possible cause was a leaky valve. The problem was that it was buried and could be anywhere in the yard. After finding that a chatterbox might help me locate the solenoid (part of the valve), I called and found an irrigation supply place that sold it for $65. But even if I got it, it didn't guarantee I'd be able to find it, being inexperienced with the tool and all. So I poked and prodded the yard for probably 4 hours total. I'd all but given up when, while digging up some pipes connected to another pipe I must have somehow busted when digging around it (although I didn't dig that deep so I don't know how I hit it), I figured that, being the first head activated in that zone when turned on, it must be near it's valve and the pipe I was surprised to see it attached to led to...a valve! More surprising than that, however, was that it wasn't actually attached to the head that led me to it, but to the valve for the zone I really needed to work on. I was so excited!

I found that a wire to the solenoid had broken off (or maybe it broke when I turned it). After much research on the internet, I found instructions to release the wires from it and stick the remaining wire back in (a little like changing a light switch or electrical outlet.) There was no way I'd have figured that out on my own! (I also found that my model had bad reviews and many problems and had been discontinued.) So I fixed the solenoid but the head still leaked.

So maybe the solenoid was bad. The next problem was that my sprinkler system model was obsolete, so finding a replacement solenoid was difficult. I discovered that Lowes and Home Depot do not have an adequate supply for plumbing needs. When one didn't have a pipe piece, I'd go to the other, or vice versa, and unlike other city layouts, these competitor stores were not close to each other. Ace Hardware was even less stocked and it looks like they are going out of business anyway. But the irrigation supply store I found that had the chatterbox also had the replacement parts for my out-of-date valve. The solenoid cost a lot more than the ones at Home Depot and I thought maybe I should just get a whole new valve. But I didn't want to dig the thing up and cut up the pipes. So I went home and replaced the solenoid. At first, I thought it was fixed, but then I realized it had just slowed it. It still drained 3 gallons, but now instead of taking 2 minutes, it took 20.

So maybe there was dirt in the valve. I flushed it and made sure it was clean. Made no difference. So maybe the diaphragm was worn out. So I went back to the irrigation supply place and got a new diaphram. At this point, I'd spent more on the solenoid and diaphram than it would have cost for a new valve entirely, and I couldn't return the parts. I went home and replace the diaphram. It made no difference.

The only other alternative now was to dig up the valve and replace it. Upon digging it up, I busted another pipe because it was only 2 inches below the ground. Not only that, but it looked like it had been doctored up before. Now I'd have to dig a bigger hole and fix more pipes than I'd planned. But wait! There's another buried valve 3 inches away from the first one! And more pipes intertwined with each other and with roots and all these have been doctored too! That means I have to dig up even more and replace more pipes because there isn't enough room for the couplers! And there are also 3 sizes of pipes to work with.

I planned my pipe configuration and headed to Home Depot only to find that they only carried the threaded-connecting valves, not the slip kind (which you glue/cement like you do when connecting pipes). So I had to get a couple threaded couplers which made my piping even more intricate and tight. After I pieced together the puzzled, it leaked in 3 spots. So I had to cut it all out and do the entire configuration over again. That time, the pipes didn't leak but one of the threaded connections did -- apparently, I'd put the Teflon tape on the wrong direction. Worse than that, the leaky head was still leaking 3 gallons of water! So I shouldn't have messed with the valve at all! Now I had to cut out the new valve which hadn't even needed to be fixed in the first place and and do it all over again, only now I had even less room because I had cut off more and more pipe and needed yet another coupler. This left me with no other alternative but to get a slip valve like I'd originally wanted, and the only place I could find it was at that irrigation supply store.

While getting my new valve, I explained my dilemma to the man at the counter and he told me he was sure it wasn't the valve that was causing the leak but the sprinkler head being so much lower than the others. He sold me a rotor that has a cap or button on the bottom so that when the head went back down, it was sealed and wouldn't leak. It cost twice as much as a rotor at Home Depot, but I was desperate. I doubted it would work, but I didn't have any other options.

Thankfully, this time, I didn't have to replace all the pipes, just the one the valve was connected to. But I was a nervous wreck and my hands were shaking because I didn't have any flexibility with these pipes nor any more room for error. And the cement glues so fast, you only have about 30 seconds before it sets and I had to glue three points at the same time and move it in and out like parallel parking to get it to fit before it set, so the pipes might not be long enough to prevent leakage.

Third time's a charm! It did not leak. But when I turned on the water manually at the solenoid, the pipes would shake and the solenoid would leak. This had not happened before so it scared me. Apparently, there was a lot of excess air and it took quite a while before the pipes calmed down. Still it leaked at the solenoid. But this was a different kind of valve with a flow control knob. So I turned it way down and adjusted the flow and then had Rex turn it on at the control box and viola -- no leaking.

And the leaky rotor was fixed! The new head worked! After turning off the zone, that head spit some water out and then stopped. No leaking. I hate that I spent so much time fixing the valve that apparently didn't need to be fixed. All I had to do was get that special head. But after all that work, I learned a lot about sprinklers. If something else goes wrong with it, I should know how to fix it. And I have a spare solenoid and diaphram if any of the other valves should go awry.