# rainbird solenoid valves



## amacbabe (May 20, 2020)

I have a few questions- I have a rainbird sprinkler system and it was worked fine up until now. In the winter I blow out my own system to winterize. I think last year I did not tighten enough a few of the solenoid valves. I only know this as when I turned on the system, and had it in the off position some of the sprinkler heads had some water coming out of them. I am including a picture of the inground box, you can see the valves are hard to tighten because they are uptight to the box. So, is there a tool(wrench) out there other than vice grips to tighten these valves? Not sure if the valve just needs to be replaced. Should I dig around the in-ground box and buy a bigger box so I can have more room to service these valves? also, how can I tell what valve is currently slightly open, I know the zone but don't know what valve goes to what zone in the ground.I have two inground boxes, with 10 zones, I have 6 valves in one box and 4 in the other.Any help or guidance would greatly be appreciated


----------



## jht3 (Jul 27, 2018)

Are your wires color coded to what is at the controller? If not, you can use a multimeter to test continuity. Or activate the valve manually and see what comes turns on.

Can you dig out your box and move it over an inch or two?

When you winterize, why are you touching the solenoids? Shouldn't you just be able to run each zone from the controller as you blow it out?


----------

