Looking for a sprinkler guy in Monmouth Cty

[jrfly3006 42]

Looks like my 9 zone manifold has a couple of bad valves and may need replacing..not in my wheelhouse of skills so looking for someone to do the work. The company I usually use threw out an extravagant number so preferably looking for someone who does side work and not a company. Any help is appreciated. Thanks all!

[Kevin125 4,772]

Its not difficult to recondition valves.  I just had one that wouldn’t shut off. Cleaning the diaphragm and removing any debris in the valve body is usually all thats needed.  Sometimes you may have a damaged diaphragm that needs replacing.  There are several You Tube videos on this for Rain Bird, Hunter and Toro Jar Top valves that cover it pretty well.  Mine were the Toro brand and easy to spin off and clean up.  Hence.. Jar Top....  

One video was more of an irrigation valve 101 class.  The guy is really into this stuff.

You can even buy a new valve and just swap out the internal components.  Valves are $10 to $15 each. Diaphragms are about $5 each on Amazon.

The only tool you will likely need for the Rainbirds or Hunter valves is a philips head screw driver.  The Rainbirds have a small O ring inside that you want to not lose. 

But before you pay an irrigation company $200 for an hour of work, you should consider trying to fix at least one valve yourself.  It really isn’t hard.

What is your system doing? Or not doing?

[jrfly3006 42]

Thx for the detailed  reply Kev...so 2 valves  are leaking from the sides where the top meets the bottom.they leak all the time the main water is on and cause the manifold pit to flood...tried tightening to no avail. I may give repairing them a shot...on the 3rd valve the solenoid snapped off completely and is unrepairable..

[Kevin125 4,772]

14 hours ago, jrfly3006 said:

Thx for the detailed  reply Kev...so 2 valves  are leaking from the sides where the top meets the bottom.they leak all the time the main water is on and cause the manifold pit to flood...tried tightening to no avail. I may give repairing them a shot...on the 3rd valve the solenoid snapped off completely and is unrepairable..

You may be able to just purchase 3 valves and replace the parts that aren’t attached to the pvc irrigation pipe.  The broken solenoid is the easiest fix. Find the wire nuts and remove the top. Replace it with a new top (and diaphragm since you opened it up) and reconnect the wire nuts.  

 

On the leaky valves, some models have a small, 1/8” O-ring that I mentioned. If that failed with age, it could be the cause of the leak.  I believe some or maybe all models have a large O-ring inside the top. Of course if that cracked or dried out, it is likely the cause of the leak.  If the valve housing cracked, maybe from too much water remaining in the valve, you may just have to swap the valves.  Thats probably the more time consuming fix since it will involve removing to old valve.  Some are threaded on the irrigation pipe with fittings. I believe some may be glued in place.  Which means some pipe cutting and replacing.

Even with that extra work, if you change change a car tire, you can do this.  I’ll find that valve 101 video I mentioned.  It might help you decide where to start...

And I don’t do this for a living...  there just isn’t that much to it.  

 

Ok... here’s that video of the guy who’s really into valves....

might help clarify whats going on with your leak.

 

But go to YouTube and search for “repair sprinkler valves” and there will be at least a few that show the valves you actually have.  If you know the brand you have, add it to the search. If you don’t know the brand, watch a few videos.  You’ll see yours at some point. That’s how I figured out what I had.  No brand name on mine that I could see.

So if tightening them down didn’t help, it may be just a bad O-ring. But do clean the thing out as best you can if you open it up.

I know for some valves, you can buy just a solenoid.  But the valves are so cheap I’d just buy the whole thing in case there are other issues.