OMG Thank you for posting this tutorial. I viewed several Rainbird videos, which gave me some ideas but left out all of the fine details that you covered. After 6 years working, my lawn sprinklers were just dribbling. I thought I'd have to dig them up. But after viewing your video twice, I cleaned the tiny holes and while the lids were off turned the water on to blast out any possible debris. Voila! And I learned something that will probably come in handy for the 15 other stations! Thanks again!
You know the season has changed to spring time in the north, when these older videos come to life as people find them again. Thanks for your kind feedback, I'm glad it helped.
Will preface this with, This is far and beyond the most detailed and accurate tutorial (of any subject) I have ever come upon. And I love it. It felt like Med school. Was taking notes. I am now confident and ready to prefom open lawn surgery this weekend.
Wow! Excellent video ! I'm an engineer type, but never have fully understood the workings of a sp valve. You are a good teacher. Please share more of your experience with fix-it / DIY stuff !
Wow! Thank you so much for this! My dad passed away about three years ago. I find there are many different ways I miss him and yes he knew so much about everything. I know I was fortunate but it’s tough when they leave. Thank you for sharing this information. It’s so thorough & detailed, yes just like my dad. You’re awesome & I appreciate that!
Thanks for the video, had 2 night with sprinklers running all night. Someone quoted me $80 to fixed, thanks to your video I saved the $80 and found out that I needed a $7 dollar solenoid valve. Thank you!
Love this explanation. I've designed, installed and serviced irrigation systems for 18 years. Not sure how I rabbit-holed to this video, but I figured I'd watch it to see how wrong or poorly explained it was. I've never explained how a valve works so well to an employee or client. Very nice job! I will adjust my method.
Woke up this morning...zone 4 was on...and I could not turn it off. Had to turn off the water at the back-flow. Took apart the valve...cleaned it. VOILA!!!!! Good as new. Saved me a bunch of money and headache waiting around for the sprinkler company. Thank you.
The way you explained everything, reminded me so much of my beloved dad!! I got sidetracked with my emotions for a bit but this was really helpful for a woman in her 50s..Truly appreciated! Canadians are the best!!
I've been working on sprinklers for 20 years, and was thinking about putting together a video. However, there is no way I could top this. Well diagrammed and explained. Well done!
Top notch discussion of control valves. 20+ year landscaper here. Working on a valve that will not activate electronically but does open manually. Electric and timer checked out. Could be blocked pathway to solenoid. POC tied to 1/2" Pex tubing, though, after valve was on 3/4" PVC. Loss of pressure and flow may have dropped so much, valve can't open via solenoid. Just manual bleed. Always something new!
Thanks! I hope i don't need to do this, but even though i am a total neophyte, watching just to learn something about the control valves, i think i could do it with your great, easily understood and pleasant humbly-mannered instruction.
My sprinkler repair guy mentioned crack and aids when I asked some brief questions. His bizarre reply to the longevity of the problem was also intriguing well apparently hes 53 or 57 years old.. I hope his day is great today God Bless you sprinkler repair guy 💜💜💌📩🎎🪄🪄🪄🎉🧸🛀🚰💰💵💵💵💡🛸🛸
A very well produced DIY video! I cannot believe there is finally a valve repair video with excellent production values. Hands and tools never get in the way of the camera! There are fantastic cut-aways with closeups of what is difficult to otherwise see. And of course the hand-drawn diagram of the inside of a valve is very well done. Audio levels are excellent. This is NOT another talking head with the camera lingering forever on the person speaking. Instead quickly in then out again. Finally, the information about valves both in general and specifics is accurate without too much jargon. One of the best DIY videos I've ever seen and I hope more to come. I'm subscribing now.
Thank you ! Thank you ! Thank you ! This video was so helpful for a job that needed to get done, and $500 was going to challenge my bank account right now YES $500 was what a local company was trying to charge me 😬 but to put it in a nutshell i followed your well given instructions and in 15min i got the job done for $20 YOU ARE A HERO ! Thank you a ton ! 👍👍👍👍
Great video, informative and explained each step perfectly. The first time I attempted to fix my system, I did not clean the siphon valve. The electrical was fine but sprinklers barely popped up. After having no luck ,I went back and reviewed the video a second time and did exactly what you stated and presto it worked. I’m a 60-year-old female and I’m very excited to save some money by not paying someone else to fix it.
Just turned the mains water on and all the zones came on and will not shut down, had to turn off the main water to shut the system down. I’m gonna follow your tip and hopefully the system works as it should. Thank you much
Thank you Sir. I watched many other videos to find the answer to solve my leaking valve. Your video was the best. Clear, concise, great explanation and easy to understand. Even when you lost the o-ring, that helped me to keep in mind not to lose mine. I was successful in fixing my valve. Thank you very much👍
I had a slow leak and thought I'd have to replace the diaphragm. A took it apart, cleaned it and flushed as your video guided and everything appears to be working fine now. Thanks! P.S. Your theory and pictures were excellent.
I was clued in that you were in the medical field when you used the term "presents" when describing the symptom of the problem - usually used in medical contexts. Fantastic video, I enjoy doing these side projects as mental exercise and honing my troubleshooting skills! My solenoids are new, but still will only work when unscrewing the valve. I'll need to open the valve and see where that takes me, hopefully not losing any O-rings in the process!
My career in diagnostic medicine is now over, but the fundamentals overlap with troubleshooting auto repair, too. Interestingly in medicine the history is often the best clue, but in auto repair the tech rarely speaks with the customer directly. Thanks for stopping by!
Great video you saved me the cost and labor of installing a new valve. I have irritrol valves from the 90s. All the gaskets look good. They are just dirty, but have no damage and are still pliable. I cleaned them up and voila my leak has stopped.
Really appreciate the video . Stupid solenoids are always dying and leaking . I’ve got a big collection of them. Many brands and all leaking after a while . The small manual control knobs leak and some have no way of disassembling… back to the shop again for another .
great tutorial on this system. Unfortunately, when the builder did the irrigation system. All of these valves were burried! Giant pain in the backside to service these things. Once I dig them up. I just replace them. But, now, I know much more how they work. Great video!
Have a problem with a zone not shutting down. Your explanation of the workings has helped me understand what is going on and how to fix it. Many thanks ( from Australia)
That was a good explanation, and I like the fact You show the posible fixing, and or mistakes people with no expirience can have by doing this. I now have an idea how to fix a leaking sprinkler valve. I'm trying this first, if that doesn't work replace the top half of the valve is the 2nd option. Thank You sr.
Very helpful! My sprinkler was stuck on and from this video I found rocks and some broken pipe below the diaphragm im my sprinkler box. Thanks a bunch!
Gave me the information I needed to diagnosis my valve box vibration. I disassembled the valve head, cleaned the membrane and seals, back in business! Thank you! Probably saved me $200 of a house call from an Irrigation Company.
Thank you! Woke up to a sprinkler zone that had been running all night. After lots of head scratching and random attempts at fixing nothing, I watched your video and took apart the valve and cleaned and that fixed it. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
Thanks, I'm glad it helped. Most of the professionals around here are so busy they are pushing business away, and rotary valves seem to easily walk out of alignment by themselves. I've never seen an output valve move by itself, though.
Great teaching vid!!! My valve wouldn’t turn on - when all the other valve zones did, this one was dry-- so this vid gave me the process to fix!! You da man!
Thank you so much for the tutorial in the beginning of your video. I had a leaky sprinkler and almost started digging it up. But no! I replaced the valve diaphragm instead. Voila!!
Thanks for the tutorial. Mine doesn’t seem to open wide enough to release the water. I’m going to try to open up the valve to see what’s going on. Thanks again
Great video and clear instructions. I followed all the steps and fixed two valves that were leaking. Thank you for doing this, I'm sure you have helped many others with it. Cheers,
Finally, an excellent explanation of how these work. Thanks! Very well done! Also, thanks for leaving in the goof. The illustrations are also top notch. Bravo!
you just saved this retired person a $125 'service call' just to clean the debris out of one diaphragm at a cost to me of 1 cent's worth of of dish soap and water. many thanks !!
Thanks! I have been opening and closing my irrigation system for 11 years now and opening up this year my zone 1 wasn't turning on. It turns out someone had closed its flow valve in the valve box and knocked one of the rotary heads out of alignment. You saved me a call to the irrigation company. Saboteurs? (a tactic used to drum up more business?)
I echo the previous compliments. Your video and explanation are the best! Thank you very much! I've always had a problem with one of my valves. It does not turn on using the controller so I've had to turn the Manual Bleed Screw to turn on the sprinkler. I've tried troubleshooting it but can't seem to fix the problem. I've changed out the Solenoid, cleaned the different orifices but no luck. My current problem just started when my controller went bad. No power. So I've been turning on all the sprinklers manually till I get a new controller. Weirdly, that one valve I've had the problem with previously, now does not turn on even by turning the Manual Bleed Screw. Like it used to previously. Which doesn't seem possible since that's a fail safe and should definitely create flow of water to the sprinkler heads. I'm about to take everything apart and clean everything again. And if that fails, replace the whole valve. But I wanted to ask you first if I'm missing something. Please advise.
You can replace just the diaphragm, or you can replace the whole valve. I'd probably start with the diaphragm first, if only because it's pretty easy and it's kinda nice to have one on hand anyway if you need to replace the whole valve later.
Very Informative Video. I learned alot! Need more videos like this style on RU-vid. I only wish I came across this video prior to replacing all my valves. But I know now how to troubleshoot the valves for next time!
Great Video, detailed. I have a weeping valve, I did replace both the diaphragm and the anti-siphon side just to avoid cleaning the system, the valves are 16+ year old so I felt I would fix the problem by just replacing the two pieces and I still have water coming out of the irrigation drip even if the valve is hut, what could be the problem? I think I did not flush the system when I opened the valve, will try that next.
Details. This was so detailed, a monkey could follow it. So yes, I totally understood everything and now it's time for me to fix my solenoid that has a constant tiny leak. Thank you for posting.
Terrific. Excellent information and presentation. My problem is a little different but with the basics presented here I am fairly confident I can run it down. Thank you so much.
Hi there, I don’t have a sprinkler system, however, I enjoyed the diagram and theory behind he operation and troubleshooting process Thank you for a great detailed and pithyvideo
Well my repair went perfectly! Not only did I disassemble and clean the valve that wasn't working but I also performed the cleaning on another valve that I noticed had a pinhole leak where the valve halves come together. Now both are working and not leaking. Thanks again.
