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Superior 950 brass valve troubleshooting

8K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  irrig8r 
#1 ·
I thought I knew my way around this valve....

It wasn't coming on, so my friend Paul (a gardener) replaced the solenoid.

Still didn't come on, although he and the homeowner measured 24 V where the wries meet the solenoid coil wires.

I double checked and measured 25.3 VAC with my True RMS voltmeter.

I replaced diaphragm, (slight checking and cracking) 'o' rings, fiber washers, and checked both solenoid ports... (clean)

Valve comes on, but not fully. Original solenoid spring and plunger seem fine.

My guess? Metering rod/pin or better yet, the brass diaphragm shaft that it sits in. I've experienced this over the years with the Hydro Rain/ Hardie/ Irritrol 100 series, which were used a lot around here in the 80s and 90s.

Can't remember experiencing it with brass valves, except maybe an old Griswold 2000... but I guess after 30 years in the ground it's possible, right?

Anyone else have a clue?
 
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#4 ·
I had a valve issue once I couldn't figure out. It wouldn't open all the way. I replaced the diafram, no luck. So thought maybe the solenoid had trash in the tube, nope. I replaced the bonnet thinking maybe the metering pin or the spring was jammed off center. I looked and looked at it thinking what am I missing. I was stumped.

There was trash in the exhaust channel. I could say it was really hot that day, but, that was just a total Duh moment. I got good laugh at myself.
 
#5 ·
Took apart a new 950 valve at my distributor today. New valve diaphragm shaft is different only in that it has an SS insert at the bottom of the shaft.

I think maybe they redesigned that piece to solve the problem I have, but I am going to call their tech support and find out. I hear that tech support is less than it used to be since they became a part of Storm, but we'll see.
 
#6 ·
The "solenoid slice" was a trick I discovered while working on the old Richdel valves, and I recently applied it to a Superior valve that failed to open fully. I wouldn't doubt that there could be wear on a metering pin. As much as I was happy to see the Richdel R204 flat diaphragm lose the plastic diaphragm nut in favor of a metal one, I wonder if they won't be getting some wearing away of nut or metering pin, down the line.
 
#7 ·
This might be a simple cure, and all you need is a very sharp knife. Remove the solenoid, and take the solenoid 'plunger' in hand, with the rubber end facing up, and draw the blade across the end of the plunger, and slice off any protruding rubber.
Don't want to dismiss the idea entirely, but the rubber looked intact.
 
#8 ·
gregg, what's the reading at the clock and how far is the wire run?

i think you should be reading somewhere around 28 vac for most solenoids.

your new TDR should give you a pretty accurate length of your wire.

boots is prolly right though:waving:
The wire run is only about 120 ft. There was enough juice to completely pull the solenoid plunger up into the post (dry).

One thing I did notice was that the gardener had eplaced the coil with a new Champion coil, not a Superior, but I've used those interchangeably before with no issues.
 
#9 ·
The rubber on these faulty solenoid plungers will look intact, but they will have a slight bulge that wasn't there when they were new, and the knife cut will bring them back to usefulness. It was a problem on some Richdel valves, to the point of their designing a different solenoid plunger to eliminate the problem. Using the bleed screw can help pinpoint the fault. Failed R204 valves wouldn't open with a bleed screw, but a R204 with only a solenoid issue would work just fine by way of the bleed screw.
 
#10 ·
As I recall, the bleed screw would open the Hardie/ Irritrol valves fully too when the metering pin wearing on the plastic shaft was the issue too.

On this valve the bleed screw opens it up more than the solenoid....

BUT... isn't that generally the case? A distributor once told me that the bleed screw would open Richdel valves up to 20% more than the solenoid would... and I have observed that in the field.
 
#13 ·
Gregg: So you don't have to someday admit what I did earlier, just run a small wire down through the exhaust port the next time you have it apart. :)
I will, except that water flowed though it and I blew it out (with my mouth and a straw from Jack In the Box)....

One problem I had in reassembling the doggone valve was water flowing back from the uphill heads and pipes causing the o-ring under the solenoid to want to float away.. could be that it didn't seat properly and is partially blocking the outlet port...
 
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