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Looks like it's new valve time with no other choice. This morning I removed the bonnet of the Richdel R204 to flush it out and examine the diaphragm. When the bonnet was off I noticed that there was a crack at one of the screw holes on the body next to the inlet side of the valve. Not sure...

I think the general consensus would be that any sudden jolts or pressure changes are not good for plumbing. How "not good" that is depends on if your plumbing is threaded galvanized, sweated copper, PEX or PVC. Whenever I have to cut off my water to do something I always open one outside...

Well, the numbers for that are 15 GPM, which works out to 7.5 gallons in 30 seconds, 3.75 gallons in 15 seconds and 1.875 gallons in 7.5 seconds. After 7 seconds that leaves .125 gallons in the tank, plus what the pump can offset. But there is another factor to consider in the irrigation...

Something seems strange about a 2 gallon tank being the recommended size for the application you described. You have three serious variables in play here: Household water supply, irrigation water supply and water pressure. I'm not an irrigation expert by any measure, but I think an average...

I used a meter at the controller, and the voltage was right on target (24v). Haven't checked it at the valve, but am not too keen on cutting the wires if I don't have to. It really seems like something mechanical, based on what is going on. I think the next step is going to have to be...

If it were me I would set the timer for the irrigation system to cycle late at night when everyone is sleeping, and finish before the first person wakes up and is likely to use water. But that said, a 2 gallon pressure tanks seems pretty small for what you describe. How big was the larger...

Thanks. I loosened the solenoid until the sprinklers activated. They popped all the way up like they should. So both the manual valve knob and the solenoid will get the heads to pop all the way up. I also loosened the solenoid a second time, after I manually set that zone to run for 5...

I've got one zone that frequently doesn't pop the sprinkler heads up all the way. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't I recently fixed a small leak on the threaded connection to the valve on the charged side (it's not the problem) and decided to test the manual control. I opened the...

First thing I would check is continuity on the hot wire between that zone and the control box. If you have continuity on the hot wire, check it on the ground wire. If the valve is working manually, but not via the controller it's an electrical problem. If you have continuity for both wires...

When you say "sleeve", are you saying that the wires are run through electrical conduit, and not just buried in the ground? If so, even if it is a wire problem it might not be such a nightmare. If it comes to it, you might be able to connect new wire to the old and pull it through to the low...

I'd say you have it narrowed down to one of two problems, one being an easy fix and one being a potential nightmare: Solenoid or a break/leak in the wire. Hope it's not the latter. From what I read, even with the Greenlee or other tone generator there seems to be a learning curve and a lot of...

If it's the solenoid you should be able to manually turn on the valve. If all valves pretty much operate the same, look for a small bleeder valve on the top of the valve and open it about 1/4 turn. That should turn on the sprinklers in the zone by bypassing the solenoid. That didn't work for...

If the entire top of the valve is new and the solenoid is humming I'd suspect that it wasn't put together correctly. You might try turning off the water to the system and taking the top off the valve to see if everything is positioned correctly. I replaced a diaphragm on a valve and was told...

I had a similar problem with a zone that wasn't working, and I had no idea where any of the valve boxes were located. I rented a Greenlee valve locator and it was money well spent. I was able to locate the bad valve and had it dug up and fully exposed in an hour. It was evening, and since it...

Based on my experiment it seems like it is both waterproof, and long lasting. The PVC cement was still flexible after several days, and appeared to blend in very well with the insulation on the wire. The electrical tape + additional coats of PVC cement on top of it resolved any lingering...

I like what I've seen from the Hunter MP series. The last time I was at the irrigation supply joint I picked up a Rainbird catalog, but for some reason they didn't have any multi-stream nozzles listed. But in the last few days I did discover a critical component I am missing: A tool for...

I'm going to take your advice and start planning on upgrading to the multi-stream nozzles. It will probably be later this summer because I will need to plan out which nozzles to use to give me the same overlapping and total coverage I have now. Over the last week I went around and cleared the...

Thanks! That's some good information. I'd be interested in trying something like that. I did a quick search for "multiple stream rotors" but what I saw were nozzles that replaced the standard spray nozzles, and seemed to stick up above ground level. That would be lawnmower blade territory...

Success in spades. I got up before the heat set in today and was able to find the other 5 valves in less than 1 hour. This Greenlee valve locator was exactly what I needed. Turns out the valves on the other 5 zones are of a different type, as they had a flow control knob on top. When I...

I was able to rent the Greenlee valve locator today (Monday). It was already rented out in the morning when I called, but that turned out to be a fortunate turn of events for me. I checked late in the afternoon and it had just been returned. I got it home, hooked it up and started searching...