Leaking Sprinklers Head

If your sprinkler heads are leaking water after the system has turned off or are on constantly two things may be happening.

The system may be draining water out of the lowest head(s). This leakage will last only a few minutes until the higher pipes in the system are empty of water. (Rain Bird offers the Seal-A-Matic (SAM) check valve to prevent puddling of water in lower heads if this is a real problem.)

The valves may have debris in them, which is not allowing the valve to shut down completely. When this happens, water bleeds past the valve. If this is the case, the valve must be flushed out and cleaned of any debris. This is achieved by manually opening the valve with the bleeder screw. Often this will flush any debris out of the valve. If your valve is not equipped with a bleeder screw then open the valve by turning the solenoid (the black device with two wires coming out of it) ¼ of a turn.

Flushing the valve a couple of times will often remove debris that can cause the valve to leak like this. Make sure your bleeder screw and solenoid are closed finger tight (closed clockwise). Also make sure your flow control is not open all of the way, which can cause a valve to stick on. If this does not fix the problem, it may be necessary to take apart the valve and do some repairs.

BE SURE TO TURN THE MAINLINE WATER LINE OFF BEFORE TAKING THE VALVES APART. If your valve has a diaphragm, like a DV, DVF, CP, CPF, DAS or other similar valves you can remove the six screws holding down the bonnet (top of valve body) and access the diaphragm. It is rubber and will be separating the two parts of the valve.

When you take the diaphragm off of the bonnet, be sure and note how it came off so when you put it back on you replace it the same way. Once the diaphragm is removed, visually inspect it for debris and cracks. If there are cracks or splits in it then it needs to be replaced. Next you need to put the diaphragm assembly back into the bonnet and reassemble the valve. Rainbird.com