Irrigation valves reefsafe?

[niloc16]

thanks for the research though chin

[soriano]

I was thinking about buying a couple of valves and a controller, so i went to Rona to check them out. I took 1 appart and found that there are only 2 metal parts. There is a metal rod that guides the diaphram, and the second metal part is the spring that is on top of the diaphram.

from what I could determine, only the metal rod comes into contact with water. the spring is on top of the diaphram, so i can't see it coming in contact.

HAving said that, if we could find a plastic replacement for the metal guide, then the valves would be useable...

hmmm... i wonder if it's worth the try...

[StirCrazy]

yup, its been done befor. either plastic or stainless (good quality)

Steve

[smellsfishy]

i've used my design for about 10-12 months now with no problems, basically 3 valves and a wavemaker powerbar, other than a clean out every 4 months or so and usually it only takes about 5 min per or just a clearing of the hole that plugs and releases the blatter inside. The 1" valve seliniods (shaft and spring) i have are stainless steel so rust is not an issue. The only unique thing i did was to put in a 1/2" (valved half open) bypass on the center of 3 valve just in that off chance all the power is lost to the valves and the pump remains running, as the valves are "normally off" the mod prevents a pump damage possability. Also i cut of the pad on the flow adjustment to allow max flow through as i have the 3 valves (2 working at any time, mostly) on a sequence hammerhead (6000gph or so). note the model valve i have come with 24volt or 120 volt A/C seliniods, i use the 24 volt with a 24volt step down transformer i picked up 3 from value village the seliniods are about $20 each to replace if they ever wear out, but mine have been switching on/off every 20seconds for 10-12 months 24/7. only drawback is the click niose they make but mine are in the fish room/basement so no worries for me.

[mark]

Wish Rain-birds reply was a little more descriptive than just clog up the system.

Are they thinking salt creep into the solenoid mechanism, calcium build up within the valve, what?

[smellsfishy]

there are likely just covering there but, I doubt they even know what salt creep is.
The way they (the ones i have at least) work is a small hole in the water stream allows water into a blater which fillsup, preasurizing it, which then closes the opening that allows the main water stream through. This is where the preasure comes in, if there is not enough preasure to fill the blater then it will not stop the water. they are originally designed for use on your house water supply wich is always preasurized.
When you want the water to flow the seliniod (power on engages seliniod shaft up against the spring preasure) releases the spring engaged shaft/stopper which is plugging the hole on the other end of the blatter thus allowing water to flow out of the blater which then allows the main water flow to push the blatter out of the way and flow through freely. It takes about 2 seconds to drain the blatter and 2 more to fill. In the valves i use the "in" hole of the blatter is smaller than the out/release hole so it hardly ever gets plugged.
Note if the "in" hole gets plugged which is probably what rain bird is worried about, the valve will just stay open because the blatter will never fill. If it did this on your watering system the water would never shut of obviously bad for an irrigation system.
I actually believe that these valves are better designed for our application than irrigation, then again i'm biased.