April 3, 2012

Replacing a Broken Sprinkler Head

Replacing a broken sprinkler head is pretty straight forward, unless you happened to brake the riser at the PVC pipe, leaving the black threaded area inside the neck of the PVC. In the video below, I demonstrate how easy it is to remove a broken sprinkler riser from PVC with the right tools and then how to install a new sprinkler head.



Video Transcription

Alright howdy everybody, we're gonna pull out a Sprinkler Riser. Sometimes you will break off a sprinkler head and it will leave the black threads in there. It's a real pain in the butt. But if you have this handy tool you can jam it in there and it twists right out.

This one was actually pretty hard; I sat here for a while giving it a few good twists. It took me a little bit but I finally got it. I don't want to mislead you because it was a lot harder than it looks. But if you give it a few good twists, it will come right out.

The tool is called a Sprinkler Nipple Extractor. They've got little nipples on the end that you shove right into the threads. They can turn a headache into not-so-much of a headache. They come with two sizes that work with both bigger and smaller PVC pipe. So get yourself a Nipple Extractor and you'll get those broken risers right out.


So now that we've got the broken riser out with our Nipple Extractor we're gonna put on the sprinkler head and replace it. What I did was took another sprinkler riser and cut it down. Normally they're about six inches. You just cut them down with a PVC pipe cutter or anything that will do the job. It doesn't have to be too pretty. Just cut along the threads. Just make sure you cut on the long side of the straight edges.

Put it in the PVC and give it a few good turns. Nothing too serious. Then the sprinkler head goes on the riser. You can see where the water is going to spray so you want to make sure it's facing the right direction.

And that is how you replace a broken sprinkler riser and replace it with a new sprinkler head.

And you're good to go!!


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Phil Goold is a retired landscaper of 30 years. He loves being outside more than anything else, except maybe pie. He enjoys connecting with other landscapers and gardeners because everyone brings something new and fun to the table. Connect with Phil on Twitter and Google+.

1 comment:

  1. Great tip, here's another: Install a Sprinkler Buddy to help avoid having to do this again so soon. http://www.sprinklerbuddy.com

    ReplyDelete