# Rainbird Cracked DV Valves



## grant321 (Mar 22, 2021)

I had three rainbird dv valves crack on me. one a month earlier and two at the same time. They all cracked in the same place in front of the flow arrow on the bottom housing unit. A professional irrigation company installed them. My units are about 4 years old so Rain Bird told me to go pound sand. I have no idea why they would crack like that. Perhaps the solenoid closing force was too powerful? I am on city water and live in Florida. I went on vacation for a week to come back to a really high water bill. I thought rain birds were pretty reliable. Anyone have this happen?


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## Tincup86 (Mar 24, 2021)

I use this valve exclusively and have never seen that happen. Possibly water hammer could be the culprit.


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## Colinwjholding (Apr 6, 2020)

grant321 said:


> I had three rainbird dv valves crack on me. one a month earlier and two at the same time. They all cracked in the same place in front of the flow arrow on the bottom housing unit. A professional irrigation company installed them. My units are about 4 years old so Rain Bird told me to go pound sand. I have no idea why they would crack like that. Perhaps the solenoid closing force was too powerful? I am on city water and live in Florida. I went on vacation for a week to come back to a really high water bill. I thought rain birds were pretty reliable. Anyone have this happen?


What type of adapters did they use in the valves?

Also in 5 years of irrigation only had that happen once when it hit -10 and they never blew the system out


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## grant321 (Mar 22, 2021)

24 volts A6 50/60 HZ. I dont think it was water hammer since I didnt turn off the system the first cracked valve. I just think they were a bad set of valves. I researched it and found some people who had the same issue. These DV valves are from 2016. 06AP166.


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## jaketuckey (9 mo ago)

I just had mine replaced today. I had my valve manifold rebuild 4 months ago here in SW Florida. The installer did a awesome job, supported everything from under the valves with paver blocks to support my box so it could be run over with a dump truck and not damage it. Two of my DV valves cracked on the housing right in line with the flow arrow and were spraying a tiny stream out. 2 of 5 of my new valves went bad at same time. Installer said they are manufacturing defect and returning them to supply house for warranty. Same exact case as original post here. They must have bad ones out there.


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## jaketuckey (9 mo ago)

I had my irrigation guy come out and he rebuilt the manifold with new valves. All three had molding flaws and were leaking from a crack in the mold line in the body of the valve. He said he would turn it in under warranty. Now a few months later I have another one doing the same thing. They tried to blame it on my water pressure. So they sent out a well company that charged me for installing a new pressure switch, bladder tank and a couple other small parts...all the old ones were less than 2 years old. Now with the new system parts im maxing at 60 psi instead of 70 psi. But the leaks on the irrigation valves are all in the exact same spot on a mold line.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Most valves are rated for +100PSI. That's likely a cold joint in the mold flow. I would replace with a different brand.


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