pasadena_commut
Well-Known Member
I would like to reuse some brass sprinkler heads (Champion and Orbit) which have accumulated from sprinkler repairs over the years. The problem is these all have some or all of a riser attached, and that needs to come off. These fall into two categories:
1. Entire galvanized riser attached, very rusty
2. Black nylon(?) riser, snapped off flush with the bottom of the head
(These are respectively, from the gardener's lawnmower hitting the head and breaking the tee on the original 1960's era irrigation, or breaking the riser on the 20xx era replacements. Most nylon risers break at the bottom where it enters the tee - those are easy to get out of the head and there is a tool to unscrew that stub out of the tee. )
For the first type I tried putting a really big pipe wrench on the riser and one of these wrenches:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CH...-LOS-ANGELES-CALIFORNIA-USA-VGC-/264910443178
on the head, then tapping the head wrench with a hammer. But the pipe wrench kept slipping on the riser, I think maybe because the rust was crumbling. I have not yet tried penetrating oil but assume that will also be needed to get the threads moving. What is the trick to get a pipe wrench to bite all the way through the rust to the metal below?
For the second type all that is visible is the threaded top part of the riser, end on. There is nothing to grab, and because of the brass pop up shaft the only access is through a fairly narrow slot. Is there some clever trick for unwinding a threaded piece of nylon? I thought about putting a heat gun on it and melting it but would need some way to protect the rubber "stop" on the bottom of the pop up at the same time.
This project is just to see if it can be done. Economically it does not make much sense since buying that number of new heads would probably come to all of $20.
Thanks.
1. Entire galvanized riser attached, very rusty
2. Black nylon(?) riser, snapped off flush with the bottom of the head
(These are respectively, from the gardener's lawnmower hitting the head and breaking the tee on the original 1960's era irrigation, or breaking the riser on the 20xx era replacements. Most nylon risers break at the bottom where it enters the tee - those are easy to get out of the head and there is a tool to unscrew that stub out of the tee. )
For the first type I tried putting a really big pipe wrench on the riser and one of these wrenches:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CH...-LOS-ANGELES-CALIFORNIA-USA-VGC-/264910443178
on the head, then tapping the head wrench with a hammer. But the pipe wrench kept slipping on the riser, I think maybe because the rust was crumbling. I have not yet tried penetrating oil but assume that will also be needed to get the threads moving. What is the trick to get a pipe wrench to bite all the way through the rust to the metal below?
For the second type all that is visible is the threaded top part of the riser, end on. There is nothing to grab, and because of the brass pop up shaft the only access is through a fairly narrow slot. Is there some clever trick for unwinding a threaded piece of nylon? I thought about putting a heat gun on it and melting it but would need some way to protect the rubber "stop" on the bottom of the pop up at the same time.
This project is just to see if it can be done. Economically it does not make much sense since buying that number of new heads would probably come to all of $20.
Thanks.