leaky pvc sprinkler pipe

[fred]

I recently saw water gushing out of a hole in the lawn. I cut out a small section of grass for about 4 inches deep and noticed the sprinkler pvc is cracked. I saw your response to a similar posting by a viewer. The response was short and informative about using a coupler but I am not sure how you would get a coupler in line with the pvc tubing when pvc tubing itself is stiff and does not bend. I may have to cut out 6 inches of the cracked pvc.

I appreciate your full advice. Thanks.

Fred

[e-plumber]

You can cut a section of the piping out, (may need to go more than 6 inches).
Install two slip couplings, they will slide over the replacement piece then onto the existing buried piping. Make sure to inspect the rest of the exposed piping closely and look for any hair line splits or rocks in the ground that could have caused the damage.

[Gary Swart]

There is a repair coupler that is made to fix a break like you have. They are available at most any irrigation supply house, but probably not a plumbing supply since this is irrigation stuff. This fitting has pipe ends coming from a center piece. One of the pipes slides into the center a couple of inches or so. You install a coupler on each end of pipe where you cut the break from, install the fixed end into one coupler then slide the other end out and into the other coupler and you're done. In olden times, I patched broken pipes with a U made of 3 short pipes and 4 elbows. The pipe had to be cut quite accurately so all of the pieces would slip together. A real Rube Goldberg looking mess for sure, but it did work. With this new fitting, you just have to get close to the right space. This make is quite easy to repair or tie into an existing line.

[jimbo]

I prefer a "slide-fix" coupling to a repair slip, because the slip couplings do not have an interference fit and I don't like the glue-up performance.

Slide-fix or similar brand available at box stores and landscape supplies.

Also, if line is not pressurized main, the so-called Dresser, or rubber compression, couplings work well.