# Finding valves



## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

I inherited an irrigation system that is pretty well designed. Rainbird controller, Rainbird valves, Rainbird 5200 rotors. A few smaller pop ups that are RB 1800s I believe in certain areas. Head to head coverage,

However, it has 7 zones. The valves are not placed together or in any sort of central location. They are just randomly placed here and there and everywhere, apparently. I've only found one.

It's been installed over 30 years, and the fella who put it in just can't quite remember where they are (my grandfather in law). Thankfully everything still works, but I know that won't last forever. I need to find my other 6 valves.

The only valve I can find is for the drip line and spray heads for the shrubs around our pool. We don't even run that. What I need to find us the valve for the sprinklers on my lawn that I DO use.

I know that I need to begin looking near the head that pops up first, and I know that as a last resort I can dig holes every few feet starting from that head until I find the valve.

I'm really hoping to find it without doing that, though.

I know of the "chat-r-box" that makes a valve flutter so you can listen to it, and I know of wire tracers that you can use to follow the wires from the controller to the valve.

What do you guys recommend? I see some wire tracers that are attractively priced on Amazon, but sometimes you get what you pay for. Sometimes, though, you find a good deal on something that works.

Many of the reviews for the Chat-R-Box suggest that, while it works, it's so quiet it doesn't help much. I find this believable, because the one valve I CAN find I hardly hear turn on and off when I activate it manually. It IS close to the controller.

I want to map out all 7 valves and draw a diagram to put them on, and mark them with stobs/orange tape.


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## BadDogPSD (Jul 9, 2020)

I wonder if a metal detector would work?


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## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

Perhaps, but I don't think there's much metal in a valve.

I also tried to use a metal detector to find the pins for my property lines, and it was almost useless because it was just going off over all sorts of things in the soil.


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## ILoveGrits (Sep 22, 2019)

Rental places should carry a commercial grade version for fairly cheap:


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## Gilley11 (Nov 3, 2019)

It may not be much more expensive to pay an an irrigation guy to locate your valves then it would be to rent that equipment. It's definitely worth calling around.


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## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

That rental unit would be head and shoulders above cheaper options I see on Amazon and whatnot I'm assuming?


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## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

Well I found another one 🙄. I hope they aren't all like this! Now I'm scared to go poking around with a probe. I guess if I damage a valve, though, it's an easy fix. I found this one by luck. I'm digging a water line to tie water at our pool house and this irrigation system to my water meter, and happened to run across a pipe and wires that crossed my path, and looked to be heading straight toward a sprinkler head that was nearby. I poked around near it and found this one.

I'm a little bummed out because the two zones that I really need running off MY water source aren't fed by the pipes I'm working on tapping into right now. They are fed from the meter that's not mine some other way. I thought they were all fed from the same main line.

So, now I HAVE to find the valves for those two zones so I can determine where I need to trench to to run the pipes to tie that into my water source. Fun stuff!


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## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

Thanks to this guy from Harbor Freight ($20 with coupon)



I have found most of my valves. I haven't found them all, but only because I stopped after I found the two most Important ones, the ones I'm using to irrigate part of my yard.









The HF cable tracker was actually awesome.


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## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

And after a little time this morning, now I have them all!


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## Lust4Lawn (Aug 4, 2020)

mwemaxxowner said:


> And after a little time this morning, now I have them all!


Using which method?


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## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

The wire tracer from Harbor Freight. It was/is fantastic.


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

I was going to suggest the HF Wire Tracer as well.

We bought a 1.6 acre property in December 2019. It has irrigation to the property and there were 2 sprinklers rising up out of the ground when we moved in.

All valves were manual.
Our method was wait for irrigation season.
Turn on water.
Look for wet spot.
Turn off water.
Dig & repair.
Repeat.

It took 5 (five) months to get the system functional in the 1 acre pasture.
The .6ac yard... we didn't have the time or energy to do the wet dig method. I bought new pipe and sprinklers and it's only surface run right now.

We'll put it in the ground after irrigation season is over.


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## mwemaxxowner (May 30, 2020)

I knew where all my heads were, and they were functional. I could run everything from the controller, I just had no idea where the valves were. They were nowhere near the controller, or each other.


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## dj80d (Nov 15, 2020)

mwemaxxowner said:


> The wire tracer from Harbor Freight. It was/is fantastic.


this is actually what we call a wire toner. a wire tracer is more like a long rod that has head phones to hear a tone when you on the wire and off it.. but these to work to find them. good job


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## Oyster Shark (Aug 24, 2020)

I rented a wire tracer from an irrigation joint for $35 bucks. I found ten solenoid valves in a little over an hour.

A metal detector is a waste of time.
A toner will work if the valves are really shallow or if there is damage to the line as it must ground.

TLDR; rent an irrigation wire tracer.


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