Superior 800 works in old (very) Champion body?

[pasadena_commut]

One of the old Champion brass actuators in the backyard has started to "drip" into its outlet pipe, so there is a slow flow of water through that zone.

Previously in another thread:

https://www.plumbingforums.com/threads/replacement-valve-for-champion-brass-body.21689/
The Superior #800 was suggested as an actuator replacement. So I went into an irrigation store today to get one ($105 with taxes, ouch!), and pulled out one of the old Champion actuators to be sure to get the right size. It screwed into a 1" brass body (verifying that it is actually a 1" actuator). However, they looked at that old actuator like a mechanic might had a Model A come in for service. The people in attendance (a mix of counter guys and irrigation workers) seemed convinced that the Superior would not work with the old (like 60 years old) Champion brass body, that the valve would not open properly. Something about the spacing of the plunger. (Most of this was in Spanish using sprinkler slang I was not at all familiar with.) One of them thought the one I had brought in was a Champion 350 actuator.

They suggested replacing the valve body with the 1" test valve body, which was still on the counter. That looked very hard to do. In this thread:

https://www.plumbingforums.com/threads/leaking-irrigation-valve.12706/
there is a picture of the bottom of one of these Champion valve bodies at my house. It looks a lot like this Champion CL466-100-C

https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/champion-brass-anti-siphon-with-union-valve-1-in-fpt-cl466-100-c
One side is screwed directly onto galvanized pipe. The other attaches through some sort of adapter to the PVC. There is a nut which is part of that adapter that screws onto threads on the outside of the Champion body, on the backflow valve side. I may have the direction of that nut backwards. In any case, the mating surface on the outlet side of the body is flat to flat with that adapter, with a thin rubber washer on the body side. The adapter on the counter just had threads inside on both sides. Just to make matters more interesting, the valve body is very close to the wall of the house. I'm not sure there is space to spin off the Champion valve, and I'm not touching the old galvanized in the ground to try to spin that out of whatever rusty fitting is down there.

So I guess that leaves the poorly rated Orbit 57030P

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Orbit-1-in-Automatic-Converter-Valve-57030P/100139952
assuming it works as well as the 57030 (one of which blew up, and various leaks at the mating surfaces on others, but otherwise functions OK in terms of turning on and off and not leaking into the pipe). Orbit in theory makes (or made) a 1" brass version

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Orbit-1-in-Brass-Auto-Converter-Valve-57035/100342562
but HD doesn't actually have any, and Orbit's site doesn't list it, suggesting it is discontinued:

https://www.orbitonline.com/products/automatic-converter-valve?variant=43157344878760
Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[breplum]

We are not sprinkler pros, so, struggling with mis-matches can sometimes work and sometimes like this be too much trouble.
We insist customers delete galv piping, an we use unions on inlet and outlet of valves.

 

[pasadena_commut]

"Use unions" means you put on some threaded adapter so that the valves can be removed without cutting pipe and using glue? In this instance the valve body has a type of union on one side but the other is screwed straight onto the galvanized threads. I can definitely see the advantage of having unions on both sides.

 

[havasu]

My sprinkler valves need to be replaced every few years, and since they are "glue in", they are a pain in the arse to replace. This Spring, I will be adding threaded unions to all my valves, so when they need future replacement, it will be a 5 minute job.

 

[pasadena_commut]

I have come to the realization that having a shutoff valve specific to the sprinklers would be the single greatest improvement at our house, with regards to sprinkler maintenance. Given enough time I have been able to solve the various valve problems over the years. Unfortunately I have to turn off water to the entire house to work on the outside water systems. That adds an unnecessary time constraint to the repairs. There is a shutoff valve that turns off all the water inside the house, a wonderful side effect of the extra pipes added by a previous owner to plumb in a soft water system.

 

[pasadena_commut]

The dripping sprinkler went completely bonkers and wouldn't shut off, or at least not off for long. It would go down to a trickle, then when the next zone started the problem one would start up too. Tried turning the adjusting screw all the way in to shut it off, but that would only rotate 360 degrees in either direction before sticking and giving hints that it really wanted to snap off with more torque. Beat on it a bit while it was running, and when it was off, to see if that would shake something loose. It did - the amount of water coming out went way up. Unfortunately at that point it wouldn't shut off at all.

This forced my hand, the water was turned off at the curb (it was too late in the day to start work), and the next day that actuator was swapped with the only replacement on hand, a Superior #800, which has been purchased "just in case". When I get a chance a picture of the bizarre tool which was used to remove the actuator will be posted (in another thread). In any case, relevant to this thread, the Superior #800 worked just fine, at least it did when it was cycled on/off from the controller 3 times over half an hour or so. It won't be any problem removing this actuator later, because now there is enough clearance to screw off the backflow lid, and then the stalk below the saucer is accessible from the front.

Rebuilt the backflow valve while I was at it. A Champion backflow valve rebuild kit was left over from when 2 in the front were done (couldn't do the 3rd, it still had the original Champion actuator, so the backflow lid would not come off.) Interestingly, while the plastic part and its rubber washer were just right, the gasket for the lid was too large. It might have been scavenged for when of the earlier 2 valves if the one in that kit was damaged. Rummaged around and found a different "brass valve rebuild kit", I think from Orbit, and it had a gasket the right size inside.

Looking into the pipe when the actuator was out there was about 1/8 to 1/4 inch of rust around the inside of the galvanized riser. It had an interesting "pillow" look, like a sofa seat viewed edge on. Rebuilding this manifold will be a pain once it is unavoidable. Among other things, there is a plant with a 6" thick trunk in the way, and its roots are probably all around the pipes in the manifold.