I spent about 8 hours on this job first rebuilding and then replacing. Thanks for the tip using the adjustable slip fix. You are right about having to dig back to bow. I didn't once and the pipe snapped about 10 feet back and then I really had to dig. Thanks for the video.
This was the best explanation I have seen yet. You covered all the issues I am dealing with. I did find a large piece of broken sprinkler pipe wedged in my valve. I removed it and replaced everything but the problem still exists. Maybe more debris. I'll follow your approach and hopefully solve this tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to make this video.
Thanks for the video. You nailed it for me with your story starting at 12:35. I had one out of six zones stuck open. Other zone valves were slowly leaking due to reduced pressure (as described by @gorken74 in another comment) causing vibrating/chattering noises as you described in your story. In my case though, when the controller was turned off, the stuck valve would close completely. The valve would stick open only when the system was turned on for sprinkling. On the valve that was stuck open, I turned the solenoid on and off several times as you demonstrated and that fixed the problem. I was so relieved to not have to clean all the mud from around the valve and then flush and replace the top and rewire. I'll repeat this trick if needed until it gets too annoying.
Hello TG! Excellent video👍👍👍 I see you have responded to questions in the past few weeks so I have a head scratcher for you. Last week, my wife and I were getting ready to leave on a weekend getaway when she happened to look out the window and saw a flood running along the side of our property. It was about 8am and the system was between the first and second of three cycles, so all zones should have been off. I went out to investigate and found the main control box full of water and massively overflowing. The main water control valve access tube was also full and I was unable to find the shutoff with the end of my T rod. Then I remembered the shutoff near the backflow (duh) and closed that valve, shutting off the water. We needed to leave on our trip, so I just left the shutoff valve closed, figuring I would deal with the situation later. When we returned, all the water had drained down and I turned on the water, thinking if the leak was before the 3 zone valves, I’d once again have a flood. Nada 🤔. OK, gotta be a leak on the other side of one of the zone valves. I turned on each zone, one at a time, observed each zone functioning and still no leaks (!?!?). WTF? The water is on now and all seems well but I just don’t trust the system. BTW, there is also a spigot drain in the control box and it is firmly off. I thought of shaking the pipes, but the leak was so massive I surely would have seen something. What am I missing? Help!
It could have been a fluke thing. I understand you not wanting to trust the system. We commonly experience this after main line breaks and repairs where debris enter the line. If there are debris in the line usually the prevent themselves quickly causing valves to stick on. Occasionally if you turn off the main valve like you did those debris will fall back out of the valve causing it to operate correctly the next time you run the system. It may have flushed itself out or you might. Have a future issue. I would keep an eye on it until you build up trustworthiness again. Also lots of variables in your question as I don’t know the age of your system or valves. Sometimes due to old age systems will struggle. If problems continue you may want to consider replacing all of your valves. If you believe the water is not coming from a stick valve but a different leak I would turn on each zone for longer than usual and check the box to see if it fills up with water.
Great video. Thanks. Just curious can you cut the pipe on one side and then unscrew the other side? Once one end is free you can twist the valve off. Sometimes the inlet side doesn’t have enough pipe to splice splice onto again. Any reason we can’t unscrew and then re-use that threaded pipe for the inlet side
It’s always a puzzle. Every repair is different. As long as you understand the basics of how the pipe holds water and doesn’t leak you should be able to make the repair however best suits your situation.
I have hunter ICV valves and I have a condition where one of the control valves closes so fast it creates a hammer and forces the valve to open again and stays open and wouldnt shut. I opened it up and inspect, clean and found to be in good order. Other valves dont do this. What could cause this? Thanks.
I was just considering replacing one or both of my solenoids today in hopes to have my front zones 1 and 2 heads pop-up with more success, but in the process of turning one solenoid earlier it caused a rear zone to start as I clearly did not disable power or turn off the correct water pipe, so I quickly tightened it back, but the zone stays up and spraying. How do I turn off the zone? The controller is set to OFF and I'm forced to turn off the water until I figure it out or pay to have a sprinkler service come tomorrow. 😢 The solenoid is complete tight, so idk why it keeps thinking it is manually turned on to run.
If you remove the solenoid while the water is on and try to screw it back on while the water is still on you will be fighting the water pressure and can greatly increase your chances of cross threading the plastic threads. I would recommend ensuring the water is off and removing the solenoids again and reinstalling them ensuring they are not cross threaded. If the threads are damaged you may need to replace the entire upper assembly. If cross threaded the solenoid may feel fully tightened but may not be. Even if the controller is off, if the water is physically unrestricted the zone will run. The controller only turns on the solenoid. It is an electronic switch or relay for a mechanical physical on/off valve.
@@ThriftyGarage I'm going to go back out this time and take off the diaphragm with the solenoid, see if it is dirty and clean it, but also try to loosen and tighten the solenoid again. I hope I did not damage the solenoid threading, but I for sure have cross threaded, because it slowly leaks water while running, which it never did before. So, if I have it threaded properly and tighten it the zone should go down? Or do I have to turn the controller on and off? (I think I tried the latter and the zone stayed running, so the latter seems to no not be an option.)
I love the explanation but I don’t think this is my problem, so I bought a new screw on Hunter PGP irrigation head and I put it on ran my irrigation system but the head won’t pop up to its Full potential so I’m confused on what to do to get pressure back to this one head.
I bet you have a rock in your lateral line. Remove the head. Usually there is a flex pipe connecting the head to the pvc or poly pipe. Follow the line back to the lateral line and remove all fittings. I’d guess there to be a rock stuck in the tee where the flex pipe connects. I hope you are handy with a shovel because you will need it.
I turned on just the water to my system and one of the valves wouldn't close, ie. water is running out to the heads in that zone only. This happens even with the electrical Rainbird main control box turned off?. Looking in the box, it appears that a mouse may have cut a wire to a valve head. Could that be the problem?
Usually a stuck on valve is due to debris in the valve body. Sometimes you can unstick it by turning on and off the water supply. If not you will need to remove the top and clean the diaphragm and valve body.
I have 2 above ground new rainbird valves that won't shut off 1/2 the time. Tried different timers, valves will continue even wires disconnected. Tried replacing valves a few times and air bled. Could it be that the flow rate is too slow and need to adjust for more water spray?
@@ThriftyGarage Yes, no leak. I've replaced the valves a few times thinking it was a bad batch from the manufacture. Next time while it's happening, I will take one of the sprinkler heads off to allow full flow and see if it will shut off.
@@gozillatrade5178 A leak in the main line will cause a pressure issue that will cause a perfectly good valve to leak because of the pressure loss. In fact, all the valves will leak slowly when this happens.
1. Check if the solenoid valve is tightened manually. It could be in open position. Some valves use the solenoid as the manual valve or check if there is a provision for a manual shut off valve on the solenoid. 2. Also if the delivery pipe is on a higher position than your valves consider a check valve 3. Also check your diaphragm of course
@@gorken74 Thanks for confirming my suspicion. That is exactly what I experienced. Only one valve was stuck full open and it caused other valves in the system to leak slowly. I was hoping the slow leaks would stop after the bad valve was fixed, and they did stop leaking.
I spent about 8 hours on this job first rebuilding and then replacing. Thanks for the tip using the adjustable slip fix. You are right about having to dig back to bow. I didn't once and the pipe snapped about 10 feet back and then I really had to dig. Thanks for the video.
This was the best explanation I have seen yet. You covered all the issues I am dealing with. I did find a large piece of broken sprinkler pipe wedged in my valve. I removed it and replaced everything but the problem still exists. Maybe more debris. I'll follow your approach and hopefully solve this tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to make this video.
Glad it helped! Hopefully you are able to resolve your issue.
Thanks for the video. You nailed it for me with your story starting at 12:35. I had one out of six zones stuck open. Other zone valves were slowly leaking due to reduced pressure (as described by @gorken74 in another comment) causing vibrating/chattering noises as you described in your story. In my case though, when the controller was turned off, the stuck valve would close completely. The valve would stick open only when the system was turned on for sprinkling. On the valve that was stuck open, I turned the solenoid on and off several times as you demonstrated and that fixed the problem. I was so relieved to not have to clean all the mud from around the valve and then flush and replace the top and rewire. I'll repeat this trick if needed until it gets too annoying.
I learned allot. Hope your Dad can repair his system. Best of luck to him.
Hello TG! Excellent video👍👍👍
I see you have responded to questions in the past few weeks so I have a head scratcher for you. Last week, my wife and I were getting ready to leave on a weekend getaway when she happened to look out the window and saw a flood running along the side of our property. It was about 8am and the system was between the first and second of three cycles, so all zones should have been off. I went out to investigate and found the main control box full of water and massively overflowing. The main water control valve access tube was also full and I was unable to find the shutoff with the end of my T rod. Then I remembered the shutoff near the backflow (duh) and closed that valve, shutting off the water. We needed to leave on our trip, so I just left the shutoff valve closed, figuring I would deal with the situation later.
When we returned, all the water had drained down and I turned on the water, thinking if the leak was before the 3 zone valves, I’d once again have a flood. Nada 🤔. OK, gotta be a leak on the other side of one of the zone valves. I turned on each zone, one at a time, observed each zone functioning and still no leaks (!?!?). WTF?
The water is on now and all seems well but I just don’t trust the system. BTW, there is also a spigot drain in the control box and it is firmly off. I thought of shaking the pipes, but the leak was so massive I surely would have seen something. What am I missing?
Help!
It could have been a fluke thing. I understand you not wanting to trust the system. We commonly experience this after main line breaks and repairs where debris enter the line. If there are debris in the line usually the prevent themselves quickly causing valves to stick on. Occasionally if you turn off the main valve like you did those debris will fall back out of the valve causing it to operate correctly the next time you run the system. It may have flushed itself out or you might. Have a future issue. I would keep an eye on it until you build up trustworthiness again. Also lots of variables in your question as I don’t know the age of your system or valves. Sometimes due to old age systems will struggle. If problems continue you may want to consider replacing all of your valves. If you believe the water is not coming from a stick valve but a different leak I would turn on each zone for longer than usual and check the box to see if it fills up with water.
Thanks for your advice TG 👍👍👍. I’ll follow your advice and keep an eye on the situation.
Thanks for the video! I did the first step to clean the valve of one zone that wouldn’t shut off and it did the job. It works great now. Thanks!
Glad to be of assistance!
Great job thank you. I was confused with my setup because it was a three wire type. The new solenoid had 2 wires.
So, how did you deal with the 3rd wire? What colors are your wires? I've got the same situation, but haven't started the repair yet.
Great tip!!! Time to check my selonoids.
You just saved me a 2 hour drive to town for new solanoid your a ledend
Awesome!
Well done. Taught me a good deal.
wow bro. Great video. Thank you for taking the time and explaining all this stuff.
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it.
This is very informative. You helped me out so I can do my own DIY. THANKS
Glad to hear! Thanks for leaving the positive feedback.
Great video. Thanks for taking the time to make it. Very helpful.
Excellent job on the video! Thank you
I’m glad it was helpful.
Thank you for the detailed explanation.
Your welcome!
Excellent tutorial.
Slip fixes are ok for lateral side (after valve ) not before on 24/7 pressure , it will fail eventually
Great video. Thanks. Just curious can you cut the pipe on one side and then unscrew the other side? Once one end is free you can twist the valve off. Sometimes the inlet side doesn’t have enough pipe to splice splice onto again. Any reason we can’t unscrew and then re-use that threaded pipe for the inlet side
It’s always a puzzle. Every repair is different. As long as you understand the basics of how the pipe holds water and doesn’t leak you should be able to make the repair however best suits your situation.
@@ThriftyGarage thanks for taking time to respond. Super helpful - it’s much appreciated!
Yeah, as long as u dig out enough dirt from underneath the valve to spin it I don't see why that wouldn't work 🤔
you could have cut out only one side of the pipe and unthreaded the valve and replaced the pvc fittings on one side of the valve.
You are right, every repair is different. Depends on soil conditions and other obstacles near the repair.
So I did this with a shop vac and kept everything dry. No sweat.
Thank you Sir!
You bet!
Very good. Thanks.
You’re Welcome!
Why don’t you show how to wire it because I installed one, but I don’t know how to do the wiring on Rainbird
I have hunter ICV valves and I have a condition where one of the control valves closes so fast it creates a hammer and forces the valve to open again and stays open and wouldnt shut. I opened it up and inspect, clean and found to be in good order. Other valves dont do this. What could cause this? Thanks.
Thank you Great info
Why don’t you show how to wire it because I installed one, but I don’t know how to do the wiring
I would first unscrew the top of valve, flush out then place new top with new seal and see if that works before I start cutting
I agree!
I was just considering replacing one or both of my solenoids today in hopes to have my front zones 1 and 2 heads pop-up with more success, but in the process of turning one solenoid earlier it caused a rear zone to start as I clearly did not disable power or turn off the correct water pipe, so I quickly tightened it back, but the zone stays up and spraying.
How do I turn off the zone? The controller is set to OFF and I'm forced to turn off the water until I figure it out or pay to have a sprinkler service come tomorrow. 😢 The solenoid is complete tight, so idk why it keeps thinking it is manually turned on to run.
If you remove the solenoid while the water is on and try to screw it back on while the water is still on you will be fighting the water pressure and can greatly increase your chances of cross threading the plastic threads. I would recommend ensuring the water is off and removing the solenoids again and reinstalling them ensuring they are not cross threaded. If the threads are damaged you may need to replace the entire upper assembly. If cross threaded the solenoid may feel fully tightened but may not be. Even if the controller is off, if the water is physically unrestricted the zone will run. The controller only turns on the solenoid. It is an electronic switch or relay for a mechanical physical on/off valve.
@@ThriftyGarage I'm going to go back out this time and take off the diaphragm with the solenoid, see if it is dirty and clean it, but also try to loosen and tighten the solenoid again.
I hope I did not damage the solenoid threading, but I for sure have cross threaded, because it slowly leaks water while running, which it never did before.
So, if I have it threaded properly and tighten it the zone should go down? Or do I have to turn the controller on and off? (I think I tried the latter and the zone stayed running, so the latter seems to no not be an option.)
I love the explanation but I don’t think this is my problem, so I bought a new screw on Hunter PGP irrigation head and I put it on ran my irrigation system but the head won’t pop up to its Full potential so I’m confused on what to do to get pressure back to this one head.
I bet you have a rock in your lateral line. Remove the head. Usually there is a flex pipe connecting the head to the pvc or poly pipe. Follow the line back to the lateral line and remove all fittings. I’d guess there to be a rock stuck in the tee where the flex pipe connects. I hope you are handy with a shovel because you will need it.
I turned on just the water to my system and one of the valves wouldn't close, ie. water is running out to the heads in that zone only. This happens even with the electrical Rainbird main control box turned off?. Looking in the box, it appears that a mouse may have cut a wire to a valve head. Could that be the problem?
Usually a stuck on valve is due to debris in the valve body. Sometimes you can unstick it by turning on and off the water supply. If not you will need to remove the top and clean the diaphragm and valve body.
I have 2 above ground new rainbird valves that won't shut off 1/2 the time. Tried different timers, valves will continue even wires disconnected. Tried replacing valves a few times and air bled. Could it be that the flow rate is too slow and need to adjust for more water spray?
Are the bleed screws and solenoids fully tightened?
@@ThriftyGarage Yes, no leak. I've replaced the valves a few times thinking it was a bad batch from the manufacture. Next time while it's happening, I will take one of the sprinkler heads off to allow full flow and see if it will shut off.
@@gozillatrade5178 A leak in the main line will cause a pressure issue that will cause a perfectly good valve to leak because of the pressure loss. In fact, all the valves will leak slowly when this happens.
1. Check if the solenoid valve is tightened manually. It could be in open position.
Some valves use the solenoid as the manual valve or check if there is a provision for a manual shut off valve on the solenoid.
2. Also if the delivery pipe is on a higher position than your valves consider a check valve
3. Also check your diaphragm of course
@@gorken74 Thanks for confirming my suspicion. That is exactly what I experienced. Only one valve was stuck full open and it caused other valves in the system to leak slowly. I was hoping the slow leaks would stop after the bad valve was fixed, and they did stop leaking.
Thank you for explaining it so well, gives me a path to take.
Great video thank you
You’re welcome!