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

Hi.

I'm putting in a 7 zone system for my house. All drip, no overhead sprinklers at all. I am replacing a tired and poorly designed 5-zone so I have 5 Irritrol valves (I don't recall the product number but you can bet they were the cheapest available in 2005). I'm sure it would be economical to re-use what I have... but part of me really wants all new parts. One of the 5 leaks anyway.

I've been reading product literature all day but I'm no closer to deciding on a valve or valves. And that's the first question... should I find a single valve that's suitable for all zones (for simplicity sake, re: maintenance, parts, etc) or should I pick a valve best suited to each zone? Does it really matter?

Since they are all drip, my issue really is finding ones that go LOW enough for the flow. My largest zone will be running about 7 GPM and the smallest (planters) could be as low as 1 GPH (alhtough, realistically, I can manipulate the zone to raise that if necessary).

I thought I had a winner when I read about Irritrol's 700B 3/4" which looked perfect until I read irrigationtutorial dot com's warning that the 3/4" doesn't come with flow control!! Sprinklerwarehouse says "no flow control" but other retailers say "with flow control". Irritrol's own literature is mixed... in one area it says "with flow control" (even for the 3/4 model) but when describing the feature it says "not available in the 3/4" model". Huh?

Anyway, what valve(s) would you go with? I'd rather keep the cost down sub-$30 but that's not a hard limit. If there's a compelling reason to pay more, I would.