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The city had to temporarily shut off the water to my mom's house.
I go back to her house to get her mail last Friday and there's a hang tag on the door telling us that the water is back on, but the valve to the house is shut off to prevent pressure spikes and potential flooding. Ok, cool. Or so I thought.
I swallow my fear of spiders and reach down ~12" into the box where the valve is (for some reason it's below grade level) and start cranking (why the heck would anyone install a 60-turn valve here is beyond me). In a few minutes the valve opens and I hear water gushing in...a LOT of water. And it doesn't stop.
???
I walk back to the front porch and there's a huge river of water running down the walk. It's coming from the sprinkler valve. It's 11PM and screw trying to fix it now. I reach back into the box and 60 turns later, I shut off the water and leave.
Fast forward to today. The water hydraulically dug a big hole next to the in/out pipes for the sprinkler valve. I lay down and take a close look.
No broken pipe. The valve just popped off. Why did the adapter separate from the pipe?
Lookie here:
The PVC shows no sign of "weld". Wait. The black stuff isn't mud. It's ABS adhesive. :damnmate:
IIRC, the valve is a new install that occurred sometime in the 1970's. How it held for that long and withstood several main valve shut offs since is a mystery. I want to blame my Dad for this, but he knows better.
I can see it now. So the city comes and turn the water back on and the yard/walk starts to flood. So they shut off the house valve and leave a note saying it's SOP to leave the house valve off to prevent flooding. Yeah, right. CYA in action by No. 350 who ever you are.
The good part is I only had to trowel away a bit more of that adobe (it can be like freaking concrete). The bad part is that PVC elbow. It's a Rain Bird proprietary piece and I spent two hours driving around looking for the rubber washer that fits on the end and inside the threaded nut. First, I had to find a DIY place that carries Rain Bird stuff. It's all "Orbit" brand - SOL. Heck, NO ONE even stocks a 1" manual sprinkler valve anymore. Other than gas, I spent 36-cents on a new adapter and $5 for Taco Bell.
I ended up re-installing the old washer. I think the back pressure here is minimal since the other end of that pipe is all sprinkler heads. NO leaks detected.
Hmmm...I'll have to check the Ace Hardware in my town for the washer next time I go. Yeah, I didn't re-bury the pipes yet.
Off topic...when I was inside Home Depot, Orchard Supply Hardware and Lowe's, I never heard any English being spoken by anyone shopping there. Not even Spanish for that matter. No problem with it. I just found it kind of strange. How the Bay Area has changed since I left.
Oh...and no one was really dressed like they were actually working on anything. :dontknow: My guess is they're window shopping and will be ordering from Amazon when they get home.
I go back to her house to get her mail last Friday and there's a hang tag on the door telling us that the water is back on, but the valve to the house is shut off to prevent pressure spikes and potential flooding. Ok, cool. Or so I thought.
I swallow my fear of spiders and reach down ~12" into the box where the valve is (for some reason it's below grade level) and start cranking (why the heck would anyone install a 60-turn valve here is beyond me). In a few minutes the valve opens and I hear water gushing in...a LOT of water. And it doesn't stop.
???
I walk back to the front porch and there's a huge river of water running down the walk. It's coming from the sprinkler valve. It's 11PM and screw trying to fix it now. I reach back into the box and 60 turns later, I shut off the water and leave.
Fast forward to today. The water hydraulically dug a big hole next to the in/out pipes for the sprinkler valve. I lay down and take a close look.
No broken pipe. The valve just popped off. Why did the adapter separate from the pipe?
Lookie here:
The PVC shows no sign of "weld". Wait. The black stuff isn't mud. It's ABS adhesive. :damnmate:
IIRC, the valve is a new install that occurred sometime in the 1970's. How it held for that long and withstood several main valve shut offs since is a mystery. I want to blame my Dad for this, but he knows better.
I can see it now. So the city comes and turn the water back on and the yard/walk starts to flood. So they shut off the house valve and leave a note saying it's SOP to leave the house valve off to prevent flooding. Yeah, right. CYA in action by No. 350 who ever you are.
The good part is I only had to trowel away a bit more of that adobe (it can be like freaking concrete). The bad part is that PVC elbow. It's a Rain Bird proprietary piece and I spent two hours driving around looking for the rubber washer that fits on the end and inside the threaded nut. First, I had to find a DIY place that carries Rain Bird stuff. It's all "Orbit" brand - SOL. Heck, NO ONE even stocks a 1" manual sprinkler valve anymore. Other than gas, I spent 36-cents on a new adapter and $5 for Taco Bell.
I ended up re-installing the old washer. I think the back pressure here is minimal since the other end of that pipe is all sprinkler heads. NO leaks detected.
Hmmm...I'll have to check the Ace Hardware in my town for the washer next time I go. Yeah, I didn't re-bury the pipes yet.
Off topic...when I was inside Home Depot, Orchard Supply Hardware and Lowe's, I never heard any English being spoken by anyone shopping there. Not even Spanish for that matter. No problem with it. I just found it kind of strange. How the Bay Area has changed since I left.
Oh...and no one was really dressed like they were actually working on anything. :dontknow: My guess is they're window shopping and will be ordering from Amazon when they get home.
