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Sprinkler Valve Brands

Help Needed

Unregistered

1

Monday, March 22nd 2010, 7:37pm

Sprinkler Valve Brands

Do all Sprinkler valves need to be of same brand in a system? I have a system with 5 inline valves four of which are of the same brand and one which is an Orbit. The Orbit valve which is the newer of the 5 has been the trouble maker even after I replaced it with a new diaphram and solenoid. Even after replacing it still does not function correctly. It starts up for a few seconds then stops watering. I have checked the voltage coming from the panel and that is not the problem. Is there any suggestions what might be causing this. The valve was replaced at one point by somelse, but the inlet and outlet are both 1" piping could this be a problem? I noticed on the other valves which are spread across lawn have 1" inlet piping and then 3/4" out piping could this be the problem of the Orbit valve? Need help if anyone has the answer.



Out of ideas

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,510

Location: USA

2

Tuesday, March 23rd 2010, 1:30am

The piping's not the problem.
Having different valves probably isn't a problem.
I have a couple questions.
Did the valve ever work? If not maybe it was installed backwards.
You mentioned the other 4 valves are for the lawn.
I was wondering if this valve is connected to a dripline?
Have you tried connecting a different hot wire?
Could be something's clogging a port. Possibly the new diaphragm or debris.

Are you sure there's not a broken pipe or riser?

This reminds me of a valve I had to repair last year. The home owner told me the valve would shut off after 5 minutes even though there's still time on the clock. So I go over there, run the controller and the valve shut off after exactly 5 minutes but the controller was still functioning. I was scratching my head. I changed the entire post, plunger and solenoid. It seemed to be working just fine. The guy called back a month later and the valve was shutting off after 5 minutes once again. I've been around a long time and I've never seen anything like this. The guy insisted I replace the controller. It was old and I didn't mind making a sale. So I did. Everything seemed to be working fine. Sure enough I had to go back. The valve was shutting off after 5 minutes. I thought I was on candid camera. This time I changed the entire valve adapter. That cured the problem. Something must have been clogging the port. Why it happened at 5 minutes I'll never know. The moral to the story. You might want to change that valve.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

3

Tuesday, March 23rd 2010, 7:33am

If the other four valves are a make and model you can still obtain, you might want to replace the Orbit valve with one like the others, and simplify future maintenance.

Helpneeded

Unregistered

4

Tuesday, March 23rd 2010, 5:26pm

RE: Sprinkler Valve Brands

Quoted from "Help Needed"


Do all Sprinkler valves need to be of same brand in a system? I have a system with 5 inline valves four of which are of the same brand and one which is an Orbit. The Orbit valve which is the newer of the 5 has been the trouble maker even after I replaced it with a new diaphram and solenoid. Even after replacing it still does not function correctly. It starts up for a few seconds then stops watering. I have checked the voltage coming from the panel and that is not the problem. Is there any suggestions what might be causing this. The valve was replaced at one point by somelse, but the inlet and outlet are both 1" piping could this be a problem? I noticed on the other valves which are spread across lawn have 1" inlet piping and then 3/4" out piping could this be the problem of the Orbit valve? Need help if anyone has the answer.


Today 23 Mar 2010--I tried to fix the Valve today and I was going to just replace it with another valve that is not an Orbit brand but i did notice something. All the other valves in the system are smaller valves with a 1" inlet reduced down to a 3/4" and the outlet of the valves are 3/4", basically the valves are 3/4" inlet and outlets and are smaller than the valve 3. The valve which is on zone 3 was replaced with a valve that is 1" inlet and 1" outlet. Question would this be a problem with water pressure as to why the valve is not working. Sometimes the valve comes on real quick then just turns off. Like it lost pressure but I have checked the valve and wiring and made sure it had the proper voltage from Panel and all other zones work fine except this one (zone 3)

Would the bigger valve ( 1" ) inlet / outlet cause problems


Out of ideas

ldcxyz

Senior Member

Posts: 15

Location: Montana

5

Saturday, April 3rd 2010, 6:40pm

the difference in size will not effect the working of the valve. I would suggest the Rain Bird DV series valve (the most trouble free valve we have installed in the last 18 years).

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