lost my sprinkler valve tree!

[saskie99]

Sorry guys this is a stupid problem but I took out my sprinkler valve tree in the fall to repair a few broken seals.........well i seem to have lost it. Where can I buy a replacement or better yet can I make one? what is the thread size for the sprinkler valves??

jeremy

[moombadaze]

might as well make your own-nothing but pvc fittings.

[newty]

Home depot has them in the irrigation area. They're green.

[you da man]

Sprinkler warehouse will have them cheap and they ship fast

[jmvotto]

I may have a three port avaialbale after my upgrade is finished. which should be this week.


Home depot, spinkler warehouse or amazon has them as well.

[saskie99]

thanks guys I will check it out, we dont have a home depot so I will have to try and piece together pvc to make it work, if that wont do it then I guess I will order one.
Cheers!
jeremy

[brain_rinse]

Perfect time to upgrade!

[kaneboats]

PM me your address and I'll send you one if I can find it. I'll post a pic in a couple hours here so you can make sure it's right.

But I'll also tell you that I replaced mine with one I made myself out of PVC. It cost about $12 in parts and is 1" instead of 3/4" and has two water inlets. I added a T fitting on the intake and a second pump to fill my surf bag faster. I can send you a pic of that instead if you are thinking about upgrading.

[kaneboats]

I just sent a PM saying that I looked in the garage and it's not there. It is in a box in my storage unit about a half hour away. I don't plan on going there till around June 8 or so. I checked and it's around $30 to ship it to Canada. It would be a complete waste of time and energy when it's so easy to make one. if I can make one of these anyone can.

Here's some pix of mine and from someone else (Newty or Jesse maybe?) I copied when I made mine. The parts are very standard and it's low pressure so easy to just use a hacksaw and some PVC glue-- plus you can go to 1/2" pipe and add a second inlet (even if you just plug it for now) so you are ready to upgrade when the time inevitably comes. I found all this in one visit to Lowes and made it in about 30 min.

Please ask any questions and I'll try to respond right away.

[saskie99]

I am gonna take these pictures over to the hardware store and make one tonight, thanks for looking into your old one for me! I will post and let everybody know how it goes.

Do you still have a strainer on or just run it straight through?

jeremy

[kaneboats]

Sounds like a very sensible plan. I run in very clear water so I just deleted the strainer. I ran all last year that way and never had a problem. There's a mini-grate over the intake so nothing big can really get through so I wasn't too worried.

[skylar18]

Kane,

Where did you put your second pump and what kind did you use? Did it make that big of difference?

I am one of the few who doesn't seem to mind the stock G3 ballast system that was on the 2007 boats but it would be nice to make it fill a little faster.

Thanks

[saskie99]

When you put in another pump did you have to put another thru the hull fitting or did you tee off of the one that was exisiting? I am kinda thinking about teeing off of my engine thru the hull for the extra pump, i dont fill when driving and the boat is not running while we are filling so it shouldnt be a problem.

[kaneboats]

That would work. Be sure and get an extra shut off valve for emergency leaks though.

I just added a "T" above the inlet in place of the elbow (all credit to Newty for this). I'll post my pic and his of this. Works great and cut the time to fill the 750 surf bag by at least a third (I should mention that I added an Irritrol 700 series valve for the line that goes to the surf bag though).

Here are my pic and Newty's pic- we each added a second Rule 2000 (1200 GPH pump) but you could use any pump:

[kaneboats]

Anticipating your next question: both of us just spliced the power and ground wires for the second pump into the one for the existing pump and have had no issues with switch, fuse, power, etc.

[saskie99]

hahahahaha that was going to be be my very next question!!

[skylar18]

That was my next question as well but I was hoping someone else would ask it!

Thanks Guys

[kaneboats]

Most welcome, fellas. I've posted (and others) all this stuff before. If you search on the words "sprinkler" or "valves" or "ballast mods", etc. you'll find every kind of modification you can do. I got the idea above from Newty and it is one of the simplest, easiest ways to modify the older version of the GIII. If you add a surf bag I do recommend the $25 Irritrol 700 series valve at least on the line that goes to that bag.

[dusty2221]

Also, not sure if Longhorn Sprinkler supply is only a Texas company, but I called them up as there is one local and they sold the Irritrol 700s for $18 and change each, I had no shipping cost and had em the same day. Might do a quick google search to see if there is one local to you.

[moombadaze]

For Gen 1 Gravity III systems Kaneboats and Newtys mod are the best bang for the buck and simple upgrade that can be done.

[skylar18]

Thanks guys! I already have the 750 pound bags in the boat and I really didn't want to do the Tsumami pump upgrade as my plumbing skills are next to nothing!

Like I said before, my stock GIII bags works pretty well, so this simple upgrade should make my wakeboarding (Daughter) and surfing (Wife and son)complainers a bit happier!

[newty]

Sorry guys this is a stupid problem but I took out my sprinkler valve tree in the fall to repair a few broken seals.........well i seem to have lost it. Where can I buy a replacement or better yet can I make one? what is the thread size for the sprinkler valves??

jeremy

Doode I just realized I have my old one you can have. It'll cost you a 12 pack, kidding. You pick up shipping its yours. It needs a couple o-rings, but thats easy.

Check my mod pics in my profile for install pics of the manifold and sprinkler valve assembly and pump install. In this case you'll need 5 port manifold rather than a 4.

[saskie99]

I will check your mod pics out and let you know! Thanks for all the input today!!

Jeremy

[JesseC]

Here is a thread where I built a new one that was the size I wanted it to be. You can follow the basics from this thread and use the sizes that are best for you.

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?t=10193


.

[kaneboats]

I thought that was your manifold idea I robbed. Thanks again cuz I love it and it works great. I'm thinking about going to the larger intake now though. I'll have to go back and look to see if you mentioned where you got the stuff for the new intake.

[jmvotto]

saskie99,
you can have mine as well for shipping. just the manifold, i reused the valves.(thanks Dan Brain rinse, it was his)

https://forum.moomba.com/picture.php?albumid=17&pictureid=2253

I guess i joined the two rule pump club last night

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh254/jmvotto/IMAG0161.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh254/jmvotto/IMAG0171.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh254/jmvotto/IMAG0174.jpg

[kaneboats]

Good for you, Joe. That looks real good. Next you will want to grab at least one of the Irritrol valves for your surf side bag to increase the flow and cut down the fill times. I didn't bother on my other two because: 1. We never use the port side bag. 2. The center fills in about 3 min anyway so why bother?

[newty]

Sweet! That ended up being a great little inexpensive mod! I keep threatening to switch everthing over to the 6 pump system but I wonder if its worth the time difference, mine works pretty durned well.:p

[saskie99]

How did you guys get the elbow on the thru hull fitting, I took the pump off yesterday and could not get the elbow to budge! I did not want to mess anything thing up so I stopped there.

[kaneboats]

Do you mean get the elbow "off" the thru hull intake fitting?

If so, I don't remember any big problem. I put a vise grip or something on it and loosened it right up. Don't worry about loosening the thru-hull itself as they are a beeeeeesssshhhhhh to get out and won't come loose just from wrenching the elbow.

[brain_rinse]

If I remember right I stuck a pipe in the end of the elbow and used that for leverage.

[saskie99]

I did mean to say off the thru the hull fitting. I was just worried I might break it off I will try with a pair of vise grips tonight.

[jmvotto]

i used a medium size pipe wrench and had to torque on it pretty good, remember "righty tighty, lefty loosey"

[saskie99]

Well I was trying to repack my stuffing nut last night on the drive shaft. What a pain in the butt. I will have to get smaller channel locks and pipe wrench. All the tools that i bought for my direct drive will not fit in that small space.
Does anybody have any suggestions? I took the ski pole out to get a bit more room.

[saskie99]

I have checked all the posts on this subject but holy cow it is such a pain in the butt!

[cab13367]

I use one of these, got it at home depot.

http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/product/198010_front200.jpg

[saskie99]

I may have to see if I can find one of those. That looks like the perfect tool!

[saskie99]

Got the shaft packing done, it was not that bad to to do, a few bleeding knuckles and empty beers and the project was done. Also I got the elbow off of the ballast intake and now have both pumps on it. I havent had it in the water yet to test it out but it has to be faster than before.

[jmvotto]

congrats pics pics we like pics...

[kaneboats]

Got the shaft packing done, it was not that bad to to do, a few bleeding knuckles and empty beers and the project was done. Also I got the elbow off of the ballast intake and now have both pumps on it. I havent had it in the water yet to test it out but it has to be faster than before.

Did you build a new manifold with two inlets? Let's see some pics or it didn't happen. :)

[saskie99]

I did not build a new manifold, I ended up finding my old one. I made a few modifications and added another inlet on the end. I will try and take some pics this weekend( if it works) if not you will never here about it again! hahahahaha

[kaneboats]

Good for you! Love to see it though.

[saskie99]

It worked but...........I did not notice a whole bunch on improvement in my fill times. My 750s were not fast enough not even close to what I would like. I am gonna have to build a manifold with the 1 inch fittings and high flow manifolds and switch it all out to 1 inch line.

[JesseC]

I used 1 1/4" pipe when I built my manifold. The internal diameter after you get all of your fittings end up being 1". All you have to do is get the correct inserts for the valves and hose connections. 1 1/2" was just too big for my clearances and 1" will actually be closer to 3/4".

[saskie99]

I just ordered the new 700 valves and am gonna walk down to the hardware store to pick up the correct pipe and fittings. What is the size of the T fittings and what size of thread did you use?

[JesseC]

I just ordered the new 700 valves and am gonna walk down to the hardware store to pick up the correct pipe and fittings. What is the size of the T fittings and what size of thread did you use?

That depends, what size is your inlet hose going to the tree and what size 700 valves did you order?

[saskie99]

I ordered the 1 inch valves inlet hose is 1 1/4.

[JesseC]

Everything I use was 1 1/4" fittings. I would have gone enev larger, but with the space restrictions in my 2002 I did not have much of a choice. going with all 1 1/2" would have made the tree too wide and I would have run out of room.


Sprinkler Tree Build
https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?t=10193

Ballast Upgrade with new tree
https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?t=10483



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