Sprinkler Repair

[Tom Bender]

We have ordinary residential lawn sprinklers. Typically I have to dig up a few each year for various reasons. I struggle to push the 1" fittings together in the hole. I usually hold one end and whack the other end with the side of a hatchet. Not much room to swing unless I want to dig a BIG hole. It works but any suggestions would be appreciated.

These are just pushed together with no clamps. works fine but I would not want to court trouble by using lubricant.

[Lee Schierer]

You can heat the tubing and it pushes on much easier and is still very difficult to remove.

[Adam Herman]

I use a heat gun. does not take much to make it easy to slide them off and on.

i have had terrible luck with the "screw on" blue fittings. spiral leakage path.

the ones with the sort of compression collar also work well.

[Tom Bender]

Heat! yeah that makes sense. I'll try that next time.

[Jerome Stanek]

A little dish soap helps also

[Roger Feeley]

These are in-ground sprinklers, right. I had a system at my old house and the only time I had to dig a hole was when I pushe a tree root feeder through the vinyl pipe (what are the chances of that?). If I had to replace a head, I just unscrewed it from the body and reused the old body. If the body had to come out, there’s a tool a lot like a hand reamer that can unscrew the body from the tee fitting. Screw in the new (similar) body and it’s done.

I thought I had a pretty slick system. I had a 6 zone controller with a remote that made checking the emitters a snap. Also, if I ever would have needed a service to do something, I could have left the remote for them. For some reason, the valve manifold was next to the house and the supply came from inside. It was a bit weird but it allowed me to easily connect my big (25 gal) air compressor in the basement to do the fall flush. Between the basement air connection and the remote, I could blow the whole thing out in less than a half hour.

[Tom M King]

The tool is called a Nipple Extractor: https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-2-in-and-3-4-in-Plastic-Nipple-Extractor-26076/100203404

Commercial sprinkler heads are easy to swap, and work on. Typically move a lot more water though.

[Bill Dufour]

When I had to install a fernco on a sewerline down 3' I had a hard time getting it to slide onto the cast iron pipe so... I took it out and put an inflatable cherene plug in the problem end and inflated it. I let it sit for 30 minutes or so then quickly deflated it and slipped it on easy peasy before it remembered and shrunk back down to size
Bill D.

[Bill Dufour]

I wonder if those pex expansion tools would work if you did not get it too big. I have used battery terminal plier tools to expand smaller hoses to get them onto hose barbs.
Bill D

[Doug Dawson]

I wonder if those pex expansion tools would work if you did not get it too big. I have used battery terminal plier tools to expand smaller hoses to get them onto hose barbs.
Bill D
heat up sprinkler hoses (“funny pipe”) with a torch or a good heat gun, and they slide right on. No clamps required.

[Lee DeRaud]

Yard Maintenance Rule #1: Always dig any hole twice as big as you think it needs to be, you'll save time in the long run.

[Doug Dawson]

Yard Maintenance Rule #1: Always dig any hole twice as big as you think it needs to be, you'll save time in the long run.
Unless it’s for a fence post, because doing so could vault you into an existential crisis when it comes time to replace it. ;^)

Just dealt with this today…

[Steve Fish]

We did quite a bit of sprinkler work at my cousin’s nursery. Constantly moving and reconfiguring lines, heads, and soakers. A quick blast with a plumbing torch was the way to go. We also used the stainless crimps on all connections.