Colorado B.S. Thread

One is for up and down recovery, the other is side to side recovery. You should have both.

 

any sprinkler experts around here? or have a recommended sprinkler expert in the littleton area?

went to turn the system on today and notice this nice little crack....at my outside valve...

turned the water on from inside and went out to turn the water on to the system and water gushing out of the crack...no bueno

going right to left, you have handle, big circle, little circle, letters, CRACK, letters....

 

That's a ball valve. You (or someone) closed it when the water was on and never opened it. The water in the ball froze and split the brass. Might be able to replace it. Take a pic from a little further away

 

my first time winterizing a sprinkler system, so doesn't surprise me that something went wrong....thought i followed gramps' advise proper, but i guess not...

 

Yep. Walked into that one

 

That is one old back flow preventor. There is a union on there between your split ball valve and where the pipe enters the house, you can loosen that union and take it apart to spin that ball valve off. Then you can spin a new one on. If you can find a ball valve the same length it should go back together without have to solder anything.

 

Gramps is old and feeble minded.
Good news is you have a union.
Closest to the house. Unscrew that (channel locks and/or large crescent are your tools for the job)
Then unscrew the valve and take it to home Depot.
Try to find one the same length to make your life easier.
Assemble in reverse order with some Teflon tape. (Nothing on the union)

OR pay me one billion dollars to venture down into the concrete jungle.

You got this, you've done way harder stuff.

 

...and I take too long to type on my phone

 

I'll do it for half a billion.

 

settle for a 6 pack?

so what it sounds like, is i have a chance to be able to get away with a fairly cheap fix...

 

if i can find a compatible part for the system

 

$10 for a ball valve maybe?
Yeah, no biggie assuming bf is still good.
Might be $75 for a new bf if it's bad (nothing to do with the split) and at that point you'd probably need to pay a torch weilder.

 

Going through the truck trying to get it a little more organized.

I think i could leave right now for Alaska and only need to stop for gas and maybe a tube of toothpaste.

7 pairs of gloves may be one too many.

 

Hey fucker we followed procedure in blowing that out this past fall so I was not the feeble one. Water somehow got trapped in there what should we have done differently?

 

Just open that valve when you're drained

 

Yeah that was what I told Bobo to do. Pretty sure he followed through.

 

Here's a half opened ball valve.

Stainless ball rotates in a Teflon socket.
There's a hole through the middle for water to pass through when it's open. If you shut the valve when the line is live you trap water in that hole. After you drain the line, you need to open the valve again to let that trapped water out so it doesn't freeze and split the brass valve body.

Edit: some poorly designed valves can also trap water outside the ball between the ball and the Teflon when opened so I guess the absolute safest would be to leave the valve halfway like in my picture.

 

Hey @NYCO
Now that I look at your pictures on the computer I see you have an air fitting on the test port of your backflow preventer. Lots of people do this, but it's a good way to ruin your backflow preventer.
I also see that you have another union on the downstream side of your bf. Next year, just undo both unions and take the whole damn thing off and put it in the house
Tape the pipes so nothing gets in them.

 

That's a solid idea. I wonder if the former owner was doing that maybe.