Recommend me a good plumber (or whoever works on yard sprinklers) (house, landscaping)

[pr0zac]

I have a leak coming from the electronic valve that controls when my yard sprinklers turn on/off. Can someone recommend me a guy who can fix this sort of thing? Thanks in advance.

[ji603]

they are pretty simple to work on ... no need to pay someone. If you can put an hour into it, plus a trip to a home improvement/landscape irrigation store, you can fix it.

Which type of valve do you have, and it is leaking from around the valve gasket, or a PVC joint on the valve manifold??

[pr0zac]

I'm not sure what brand, but it looks something like this:



I think it's leaking internally. That is, when it's supposed to be shut off, the valve still lets water past and it's coming out of one of my sprinkler heads. I wouldn't have a problem working on it myself except that this thing is upstream of my main on/off switch. So I wouldn't know how to kill water pressure to it.

[observer53]

You say "switch" but do you mean a valve? I would think that shutting off the main valve that puts the water in the system would take care of the water pressure issue, so you could fix it. Maybe I'm assuming too much in thinking all systems are basically plumbed the same.

[ji603]

Too easy. That's an irritrol valve. Usually when water leaks out with just enough pressure to dribble out of your sprinkler, it's because the valve gasket isn't sealing properly.

I just replaced the exact kind two weeks ago. First thing you need to do is find your shut off. Usually there is one where your irrigation pipe connects to the main house feed. If not, you can always turn the house main supply off while you work on it.

You'll need to buy a new valve. It ran about 24 bucks at an irrigation store here in the e valley called ewings.

The job is easy because you arent replacing the whole valve, just swapping the guts from the new one into the bottom half of your old one. Unscrew the black solenoid (black plastic thing with two wires). A bit of water will dribble out- it's ok. Unscrew the 8 or so phillips head screws, and pull up. The valve will come apart in half. Inside is a spring and a rubber gasket. There may be a piece of dirt or a tear in the rubber which is stopping your old one from sealing... Swap in the new rubber gasket, spring, then put your new half of the valve on the top... Tighten the 8 screws, put the solenoid back, and turn on the water... Easy

[Captain Bill]

What city are you located in. A gardener can take care of this for you much cheaper than a plumber.

[Nanny Goat]

Or a handyman.

[momtogrif]

I have a landscaping company who does all my irrigation and drip line repairs. Let me know via PM if you are interested in their number.

[azriverfan.]

There are specialists that only do irrigation/sprinkler/drip systems in the Valley. Most plumbers and gardeners lack the experience in this area. You might get lucky and find a gardener who also works for these irrigation companies on the side but for the most part, it's a completely different skill set.

The problem is these specialists are in short supply and many tend to be rip off artists and/or provide bad service because they are in high demand. I would call several and only use ones that provide a free estimate and a guarantee on their work in writing up to a year's time.

Exterior Elements was a good company. We hired them. The guys who ran the company were clueless but they had employees who were skilled. But relative to the other sprinkler repair companies we called for estimates and tried to use, they had good customer service. They showed up on time. Their prices were reasonable. Most importantly, they offered a free estimate.

[musicforme]

I've had Arizona Sprinklers out to my house twice in the past 18 months.

Who ever installed my sprinkler system before I bought my house did a really poor job of it (had two valves fail which flooded my backyard). The repairs weren't cheap, but they properly diagnosed the problem and haven't had a problem since. I would use them again.