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Yeah, yeah, yeah :-)
Just returned from first trip in Crawlspacia, bleeding a bit but valve is out. Now off to Home Depot for a new one. Considering the crawling required I'd rather take the 45min drive than repair attempts.
Observation: It's nice and cool down there!
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Yeah, this is a major problem. In the old days, the valves were metal and held together with screws, You could open them up and clean the innards, and often buy repair kits that had the diaphragm and a few O-rings or whatever for $5 and get another 25 years out of them. Now, they are made out of plastic and ultrasonically welded together so there is no way to repair them. And, the lifetime is just a few years.
Of course, you can probably buy Asco valves for $120 each and get repair kits if needed. These may not be so happy with a very moist environment, though.
Well, if you are going to need periodic access the them, there isn't much choice!
Jon
Plumbing doesn't use left-handed threads except for flamable gas, for joining pipes without rotating the parts a pipe union is used.
You could try fitting a hammer arrestor before the valve,
-- ?? 100% natural --- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to news@netfront.net
perhaps replace it with a length of pipe and relocate the valve to somewhere more accessible.
-- ?? 100% natural --- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to news@netfront.net
And I'll testify the redhead you were with, was very curvacious!
Mikek
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Got a Rainbird CP-100 which was the most expensive that ACE had, put it in, and the darn thing leaks all over the place. Compared to the 1970's valves in the other two spots this is utter junk :-(
What is the _best_ brand one can buy at a local store?
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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Are you going to install repair access union couplings this time?
?-)
I already did last time. They are just so dang hard to undo. But the new valve leaks :-(
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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Rainbird. :-(
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Yeah, a lot are not designed for mains pressure. Had the same (leaking) probs myself. Had to look around and make sure it is rated mains pressure. Also look to finding one with the most clamping screws holding it together. As you say stuff is not made for repair these days. Do the brass ones have a square diaphram about 2-3 " square ? I have successfully cut a new one for those and have not heard back from the owner for several years.
Cheers ...... Rheilly
Says 200psi on mine but that could be just marketing data.
Ok, if they'd at least make it so it lasts. I am willing to pay for that.
The 1970's brass valves we have contain a custom diaphragm but it has become unobtanium. They last a long time though, we still have two original ones.
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/
It only takes a small bit of debris or a little scratch in the rubber diaphragm to cause instability. When the diaphragm holds tightly to the pin that controls it, everything is good. When the pin becomes a loose fit, or if the slot in the pin becomes clogged, there is not enough hydraulic pressure to hold the valve hard open or hard closed. Then, the flowing water can start the diaphragm flapping.
So, it could be a little defect in the manufacture, or a little bit of dirt or wear that caused that one valve to fail. I've had to replace a bunch of toilet fill valves and washing machine valves over the years. The diaphragms can't last forever.
Jon
But here's the thing: In the old brass valves the diaphragms do last almost forever. They are now 42 years old.
Anyhow, I just installed the new valve. Had to use four wraps of Teflon tape to get it to not weep out of the threads. My wife turned it on (two-way radios are a great thing), whoooosh, water rushes. Upon turn-off there is a *KAINGGGG* sound and pipe vibration that the previous valve didn't do. So I wrapped some coax I found under the house around the discharge side pipes because they are laying loose on the dirt. Let's see what that does.
I wonder why they can't make those valves close more slowly.
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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r ,The contractor may have installed them there because it is a dry freeze-pro= of location? Do you have a utility closet with the hot water heater? Move a= ll your valves there with common shutoff and inline filter, adapt/drop 3/4"= PEX from each valve into the crawlspace, snake it where it needs to be and= compression connect into the existing irrigation outflow pipes. You'll nev= er have this problem again. Only drawback is you use a little more pipe, an= d you may have to reconfigure/abandon some of the wiring. HomeDepot carries= Hunter Industries valves
[...]
Well, I managed to do that on the outside. The whole south section of the house has no much crawl space valves, they are outside in a protected spot under cover, and it never freezes there.
The wiring would be a simple job but the plumbing would be a bear. This is a Frank Lloyd Wright style house, built for ease of living but not for ease in re-installing stuff. We've got 10 sprinkler zones ...
There is another downside which I found out when re-plumbing the south section. In order to feed the myriad pipes that stick out of the foundation around the house to water shrubs near the house you inevitably end up with more bends than before. That has caused some low pressure issues.
Thanks, that is good to know for next time. Now I have a new Rainbird valve in there and I am not going to crawl back unless there is a _very_ compelling reason :-)
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Maybe- but I thought you said only 4x valves are in the inaccessible spot..= .the only 'bear' is running the PEX from that location to the utility close= t or some other usable interior space. And who knows what a Wright style ho= use is, could be a lot things with his insanity about fitting into the terr= ain. Is it a pavillion style or what? The only pertinent answer involves co= ntinuity of the crawlspace and the location of the water entrance pipe(s).
Well that would have to be a lot of bends and a BIG flow rate because the m= odern drip emitters and misters maintain their rated delivery down to 5psi.= That is one of the big advantages of that technology, stays within 10% rat= ed delivery over 5-90 psi.
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It's not that easy. You'd also have to run it back to there because the pipes off of the valves go like spiders. That means a major run, times two, lots of pressure loss.
You just mentioned problem #2, no continuous crawlspace :-(
Only two large zones here are drippers. The rest is regular sprinklers and I am not going to make a mammoth project out of this and change all that out :-)
We already have lowish pressure on two of the affected zones because the landscaper who did this in 1970 must have been of the optimistic kind.
[...]-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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Good on the union couplings.
New valve leaks =3D noisy session in the store. Not acceptable.
?-/
That's why I mentioned hot water closet, that does run off the cold water feed does it not, and usually not far from where it enters the structure. What is the annual rainfall there and how come your landscaping requires so much water? Sounds unsustainable to me.
Fred, your post did not show up on the news server I am using but you had sent me a private CC.
Your wrote, quote "That's why I mentioned hot water closet, that does run off the cold water feed does it not, and usually not far from where it enters the structure. What is the annual rainfall there and how come your landscaping requires so much water? Sounds unsustainable to me."
Answer:
There are two such closets. One would be reachable from that location after a very long and contortuous pipe run. But, two things:
a. The closet's hot water heater is already hanging off of a lengthy tap-off from water main that runs through numerous 90-degree bends.
b. On top of those bends I'd have several more in the pipe to the location where the valves are now. It's just not that easy, otherwise I'd done it a long time ago like I did with the south part of the house. But even there I did lose an uncomfortable amount of pressure for the front shrubs.
As for unsustainable, no. We do not use a lot of water. Yes, it's a lot of plants and a large fully landscaped property because it was almost like that when we bought the house. But we have no lawns. Our water consumption is lower than neighbor homes which have smaller lots and no pool.
The watering times are quite short and usually every other day. We do need the water to get everywhere in due time though. Due time is only possible if there's enough flow. Else we'd be overwatering the stuff closer to the valves and starving other areas.
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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