Any Sprinkler System Experts Out There?

[Bruise Lee]

I'm hoping there are some home owners or gardeners out there that can help me with my sprinkler problem.

I have medium size yards that are automatically watered - they are split up into six different zones. My problem is all the 3/4" automatic valve actuators I have bought over the last 11 years just don't last. They always leak after a year or two.

I've used mainly the bronze (brass? copper?) Champion units. I've bought the rebuild kits for them, but its a pain in the ass to keep rebuilding them, and they just start leaking again in a year or two.

To save money, I tried the black plastic Champion automatic valve actuators. I rate them about equal to the more expensive metal Champions. I tried some other green plastic brand - maybe it was RainBird - about the same luck again.

I'm sick of replacing these all the time. Does anyone know of any better brand and where to buy them from?

I have very hard water where I live. Is that possibly what is causing the short service life of these valve actuators?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[yablanowitz]

I worked for a landscaping company that installed sprinkler systems for several years, and I have done a lot of repairs. We always used 1" minimum pipe, valves, etc., so I have little experience with the 3/4" valves. We used Rainbird valves on all our installations unless the customer got out a REALLY big stick and beat the boss until he used something else . The last few years I was there it was the DV-100-S model we were using. Reliability was very good, the first problem/failure I saw with one came after 5 years in the field, and that was a bad solenoid.
Incidentally, we also have very hard water here, but most of our valve failures were caused by the chlorine added to the city water attacking the rubber diaphragms. The valves on systems on unchlorinated well water seem to last forever (20+ years without a problem)
I would need a lot more information about your installation to tell you much more. There are a LOT of things that can be done wrong when a system is installed.

 

[SIFU1A]

my system is a rainbird and in 11 yrs i have had one head break and imho the lawn man ran over it with a mower so i would say they have lasted pretty well.

as far as maintanence i pull the grass around the heads once/twice a yr, and thats it.