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One of my sprinkler valves had been leaking for quite some time. water was slowly, but constantly coming from the valve. Eventually, moss started growing on the valve and I knew that I couldn’t put off fixing it any longer.
Moss covered leaking sprinkler valve
Taking a quick look at the valve, it wasn’t very clear what type of connectors and couplings were used to connect the valve to the original pvc pipe. Also, things were already jammed together so I couldn’t even see any pvc pipe to work with. It didn’t look like I could make a clean cut anywhere to add another connector.
No room on pipe to patch in another connector
I sat down on my computer and started my research on how to replace the valve. One of the Youtube videos caught my attention. It was possible to just replace the rubber diaphragm inside the valve and to leave the rest of the valve intact. Another video made even more sense. Just replace the entire “guts” of the valve with your new one, and keep the plastic housing attached as is. I liked this idea a lot, especially since I didn’t want to deal with cutting pipes and patching in connectors to the pvc.
So, the idea was simple. Just remove the screws on top of the valve, pull out the old parts of the valve, and pop in the new one. In fact, we could also easily replace the top of the valve with the new one. Only the bottom part of the valve was glued to the system, so that would stay, but basically it was just an empty housing so in reality, we were swapping out the valve for a new one. Basically, we would be keeping the frame of the car, but swapping out the engine. Not the best analogy, but it sort of works.
Looking at my valve, I saw that it was a Richdel brand. I had never heard of that so I thought that I’d have a tough time finding a replacement. Luckily, apparently Richdel and Irritrol were all from the same company, so the Irritrol footprint would fit my Richdel valve body. I called Irritrol just to make sure that they would be compatible and I was assured that if the top had 8 screws and the solenoid was on the side, then it was the same valve. Great. I ordered a replacement valve on Amazon. The last time I looked, Home Depot did not carry the Irritrol valve so I went with Amazon for my purchase.
Even if you have a different brand of valve, the basic idea should be the same for fixing it. One of the videos that I have below describes the fix for several different valves. When I last checked, Amazon carries several different brands of valves
New Irritrol Valve
As with all plumbing projects, step one is to shut off the water to your house. In my case, the shut off valve was next to the sprinkler valve that I wanted to work on. Once the water is turned off, then go ahead and detach the wiring from the old solenoid. Keep track of where the wire from your old sprinkler is attached to.
Once the wires are detached, then you can remove the top off of the valve by removing the screws that connect the top from the body. My irritrol valve had 8 screws at the top that needed to be removed. The screws on my valve were so badly corroded that I couldn’t even fit a screwdriver into the notch. Luckily, the screws had a hex top so I could use a socket to remove the screw. Nice feature by the manufacturer that saved my project.
After the screws are out, simply pull off the top of the valve. You’ll see a spring and a black gasket. Remove the spring and set it aside. Gently pry the gasket from the bottom of the valve housing.
Remove screws and pull off top of valve
The gasket from this valve was pretty dirty and corroded. It’s possible that cleaning it would have fixed the valve, but I had already bought the new valve with a brand new gasket so that’s the way I decided to proceed.
Corroded gasket inside of valve
Now put the new gasket in place to replace the old one. Note that on the irritrol, the orientation of the gasket did not matter since it was totally symmetric. On some valves, you need to make sure that the gasket is oriented correctly.
Pop the new gasket into lower section of the valve.
When the gasket is properly in place, put the spring and the new top onto the valve bottom, and screw it back into place with the new screws. Don’t screw the cover on by fully tightening the screws sequentially. Put the screws in on opposite sides in a star pattern, and then fully tighten them. This should make sure that the lid is properly seated.
Place the new top part of valve in place
Secure the top portion of the valve using the 8 screws
Note, that there is one thing to watch for in this process that will cause a problem with the valve when everything is assembled. I ran into this problem and had to take the valve apart again. Fortunately, I quickly found the problem since I remembered this warning in one of the videos.
Do NOT lose this tiny washer
There is a small washer, marked on the image above. It’s easy during the repair process for this washer to become dislodged. Mine was completely missing, and I had to put in the one from my new valve. After putting this washer back and reassembling the valve, it worked perfectly. I was really happy that I took this route to fix my leaking sprinkler valve.
Video References
Here are some references that you might find useful when fixing your valve
Video on repairing a Rainbird valve. Very similar to what I did with my Irritrol valve
Tips to fix a number of different sprinkler valves
