Sprinkler valves keep leaking...

[Mihlrad]

Ok well.. so far ive gone through 2 sprinkler valves im not sure if i should do a third or just get a ball valve... the cost is adding up on them so... What happened the first time is i tried to hand thread it...bad idea... second time for some reason the hose adapter i used to thread it with a drill... wasnt making threads it jus made a smooth hole about 1/3 of the way till i tried a different one which made a nice leak for the blowgun. Also on the second one, it randomly began to leak air out of the sides of the valve... like where the 2 pieces of it come together. Should i just try it once more or just use a ball valve?

[frogy]

It sounds like you have absolutely no idea how to tap a thread....

buy a thread tap and buy new top covers for your valves, they're not ruined... Use teflon tape around your fitting and make sure there's no PVC shavings inside of your valve because that causes it to leak...

[Mihlrad]

where can i buy new tops... havent seen those sold anywhere in my life...

[spudshot]

Just about any hardware store should have them. You need a 1/4" NPT tap and a 7/16" drill bit. it needs to say NPT, thats is national pipe thread, and its much different than NC or NF (national coarse or national fine)

[Mihlrad]

I used a 1/4 inch hose adapter like it says in the guide...

[spudshot]

yea, thats the cheap ass way of doing it, you need a tap and a 7/16" drill bit

[huse_spud]

it sounds like taps are pretty expensive, but idk.

maybe mihlrad spun the hose adapter too fast or had too big of a hole.

when you put the hose adapter in the drill, you just press down into the pre-drilled hole on the valve lid and slowly turn the drill chuck right?

and it sounds like doing it by hand creates leaks hmmm.

[spudshot]

taps those size are about 5 bucks, its the bigger sizes that really kill you.

[huse_spud]

$5 not bad, not bad at all thanks bud.

what size? 7/16 you said?

[frogy]

7/16 drill bit, and a 1/4 NPT tap (they're about 1/2" diameter)