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Help with sprinkler main shut-off valve?

8 years ago

I need to shut off the water to my sprinkler system in order to fix a leaking valve in the backyard. I opened the box by my front curb (it's a few feet away from the main water city box on my curb) and this is what I see (see attached).

Notice there are two valves (little green handles with the centers rusted - I already turned the one on the top to the "closed" position). Any idea why there are two valves here? Did I turn the right one off?

Thanks for any help!

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Comments (8)

dchall_san_antonio
8 years ago
Have you posted this on the sprinkler system forum?
P S
Original Author
8 years ago
Is that the same as the "Irrigation" forum? If so, yes, I tried there too but put it here also because it looks like the "Irrigation" forum is posted to pretty infrequently. Sorry for the double post if that's a problem.
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Thank you for the idea. That sounds cute! If I remember the picture I saw on this site, someone had made a 3 sided box that fit in the space between the counter and the upper cabinet and matched her cabinetry. I also considered finding something like a tin canister cutting the bottom out of it and painting it. Thought I could pair it up with a couple other decorative items and make it look like a little accent area on the counter. Any other ideas?
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newtolawncare Scranton 6a
8 years ago
Well, can you try to turn your sprinkler on? If nothing comes out, I guess it would be shut off.
botanical_bill
8 years ago
The only reason is why there are two valves is to ensure that water does not get into the irrigation lines if your working on the valves in the winter. This way you wont have to worry about the lines freezing when you do a repair.
P S
Original Author
8 years ago
But couldn't this be accomplished with just the one valve at the top of the picture? (The water flows from the top to the bottom in the pipe in this picture.)
P S
Original Author
8 years ago
And to respond to an earlier comment - yes, the valve that's turned horizontally in the picture (the top one) did shut off the water to the sprinkler system. I'm just wondering now why there are two valves there so that I'm sure I understand how my system works.

Thanks for the help.
botanical_bill
8 years ago
I just became confused on this too. You should have a line in and then at each sprinkler valve a line that goes to that zone. Where does the line on the out valve lead to? Do you have another set of valves somewhere? Could that be used to siphon out the lines? (being in florida Im not familiar with set-ups to drain the lines)
dchall_san_antonio
8 years ago
I'm still trying to figure out what the three fittings are between the valves.

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