Richdel valve leaks

[Joerg]

Hello Folks,

An old Richdel antisiphon valve leaks. Might be the diaphragm since it's more than 10 years old and our water out here is quite heavily chlorinated. Tried turning on/off, no help. Anyhow, I can't totally shut the water off to that valve since the turn-off is right at the meter and those old things never fully close. So I have to buy a new diaphragm before I take it apart because I am afraid it'll fall apart on me. Then it would be me frantically driving around and water constantly oozing.

Do the usual repair kits or replacement diaphragms from Ace or TrueValue generally fit into old Richdel valves? I heard that LawnGenie and Richdel are somewhat compatible.

Regards,

Joerg.

[divot]

Hello Joerg,

The Richdel/Lawn Genie are exactly the same valve other than the color.
The Richdel was sold to commercial distributors and they were are gray in color. The lawn Genie products were sold to hardware stores and were green in color. There is no diffrence between the valves at all.
So don't be afraid to pick up Lawn Genie parts to fix that richdel valve.
they will work just fine.
Hope this helps.

[jimbo]

I think it was also a case of companies being bought up. Toro owns Lawn Genie, and when you look at the Lawn Genie repair kits in the store, some of them will be marked "fits richdel".

[Joerg]

Yes, I realized this when I was at the stores. However, the model number says Richdel R706 and none of the diaphragm kits fits that. At least it wasn't under any of the lines after "also fits Richdel R..." Tried Ace, TrueValue, HD. Nada. That's really all the stores we've got close by.

So I bought a LawnGenie 54000, see if the guts of it fit. Else I have to replace it and this will not be easy at all because it's totally encapsulated in a bush that my wife would definitely not want to get hurt. Way down in there. The pros who installed all that did something really weird. They ran the water supply line all the way along the sprinkler track, then into the valve, and then a 2nd pipe goes back the whole way feeding sprinklers. You wouldn't believe it. 3/4" PVC pipe must have been free in those days. Arrgh.

Regards,

Joerg.

[Shar]

Hello Joerg,

The Richdel/Lawn Genie are exactly the same valve other than the color.
The Richdel was sold to commercial distributors and they were are gray in color. The lawn Genie products were sold to hardware stores and were green in color. There is no diffrence between the valves at all.
So don't be afraid to pick up Lawn Genie parts to fix that richdel valve.
they will work just fine.
Hope this helps.

Not quite true -- already was in a position of replacing the former (grey) with latter (green) -- The Lawn Genie riser/downcomer centers are 1/8" closer together, so I hope you have a lot of excess vertical pipe to be moveable -- also the mate will no longer be square because of the new angle generated.

[Wet_Boots]

Richdel R706 is a model number for a manual anti-syphon valve. It does not have a diaphragm or a solenoid.



If you buy an Irritrol 2706 valve, you should have all the replacement parts you need.

Now, if the R706 had been converted to automatic operation, then you would be looking for a replacement convertor assembly. That's a Lawn Genie L2034 ~ Trying to repair an old convertor is a hit-or-miss proposition.



Now, if the leak is just a matter of water flowing from under the vacuum-breaker cover when the zone is running, then the repair is a replacement of the poppet assembly. (bottom right item in the below photo)