SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

You can rent your own locator. Easy to use.
Valve location can be anywhere.
Near house running to zone far away. (house==valve =====head====head====head)
On one end or other of zone. (house ========head====head====head====valve===head)
Or in middle of zone.
head====head====head
II
valve
II
head====head===head

I tried emailing the company that installed the sprinkler system but they do not have a diagram of the layout. To find valves they use the electronic valve locator and charge $60/hr plus materials. Ugh, not sure I'm ready to give up the search yet at that price.

Could it be logical to locate the valve by turning on the zone and trying to spot which sprinkler head pops up first and starts spitting air/water? That should tell me where the line is coming in from and would give me a reasonable area to start probing the lawn.

Valve locator might be your best answer.
Not as much exercise.

think of the aerating you're giving the lawn

Thanks. I went probing around today but came up empty. I did find the water valve for the line in from the street that had been covered over.

Here's a photo of the house from the street. The pipe comes out from the side of the house and then at some point goes under the driveway to the front yard. There's a telecom line that runs along near the sidewalk and that's making finding things a little more challenging.

I found the receipt from when the previous homeowner had the sprinkler system installed. It was 05/11/01. I emailed the installer asking if by chance they might have a diagram in their records that I could get a copy of. I use them when I winterize my system so maybe I'll get lucky. We'll see. But this blind poking in the ground isn't getting me anywhere.

You're looking for another valve box. It's unlikely that they would've only installed one valve box and buried the others. It is extremely common for those small boxes to become buried over the years.
When we install zones that MUST have a line under a driveway, we do whatever we can to avoid running the mainline under the drive. What I am trying to say is that the valve may be on the opposite side of the driveway from where the sprinklers are.
If they, in fact, had to run a line under the drive, then look along the edges of the drive for areas that are sunk or low from the installers digging trenches in order to install the line under the drive. This would at least give some reference for the direction the line runs.
I would search the left side of the drive judging by the lay out of the houses/drives in the houses across the street. I would not run mainline under that driveway.

Here are some pics which will hope explain where I'm at. The first pic is a photo of my front yard. It's a slight slope which goes downward toward the road. The yellow arrows are about where the sprinkler heads popup. The pink arrow in the middle is the sprinkler head that's leaking. It's the lowest one in the zone and is right at the curb in the middle. I Assume the pipe runs parallel to the driveways since the heads are right next to them. I wonder how the line is run to the middle head that's leaking though. Also, the piping that goes into the ground comes from the side of the house and must go under the driveway on the left to get to the area of the grass in the photo.


Next photo is the cover of the can that has a valve and piping and wiring in it. This is the only one I know about. It's pretty close to the house and inbetween where the electric and water come out of the house.


Here it is with the lid removed


And here is a photo of the side of my house. The yellow arrow on the left is where the electric from the rainbird brain comes out of the garage and into the ground. The yellow arrow on the right is where the water piping comes out the house and into the ground. (FYI, I had to replace the faulty pressure vacuum breaker a month ago). And the pink arrow in the middle is the can with the valve and electric that I referenced above.


So, now that you can see what I'm working with should I start blindly just sticking the screwdriver in the ground in that patch of grass in the front yard with the leaky head. Should I be looking for a similar can as above with the green top or could the valve be buried by itself without any protection elsewhere in the yard?

"south Jersey" doesn't quite pin it down (I was hoping for Texas) ~ the small round lid might be for your master valve, which won't inform as to the rest of the layout

You got it figured out! GENERALLY,the valves are positioned in a certral position to the zone they feed. Big generalization on my part, but this is how we install our valves. Usually you can luck out by walking and stabbing the ground with a screwdriver, paying close attention to areas that feel like divots, or low spots. If all else fails, a wire locator will better help narrow your search.
FYI...a "weeping valve" is a term given to a sprinkler valve that doesn't completely close.

South Jersey. (I have my sprinkler system blown out before every winter).