Landscape Architect Articles

The Little Valves That Could01-01-05 | News

The Little Valves That Could

According to Valvette Systems Corp., LittleValves eliminate overspray, give precision placement of water, high uniformity and reduce misting with just 15’ nozzles. Pop-up risers stay up with the water running and with the nozzle removed. Nozzling up and maintenance is easy.

Forty-five years ago when Ted Sirkin started out in the landscaping and sprinkler business he worked with galvanized pipe and fittings. Plastic pipe was about two years away from becoming the standard. Sprinkler heads were brass or metal, and a pop-up lifted about two inches above the ground.

Sprinkler head technology has changed a lot, but nozzles still get clogged, necessitating trips back and forth to the controller or RCV to service dirty heads. Remote control helps, but solenoid valves are slow-acting so they waste water and time during flushing.

New installations are still done the old way too. Lots of water and time is wasted as the installer goes from head to head to flush out the lines, with water running out of the riser pipes until the last sprinkler head is in place and adjusted.

In 1999, Sirkin was exasperated when he found that a small obstruction prevented the smooth operation of a shopping center?EUR??,,????'???s sprinkler system. He knew he had gone through this scenario time and time again. When he got home, he told his wife he’d figure out a way to solve the problem.

The invention was simple but effective - shut-off valve placed on each and every sprinkler head, allowing workers to close malfunctioning heads while the rest of a system continues to run.

The Flushing Cross, fits most plastic pop-up heads and makes it easy to retrieve the pop-up riser stem. You can direct the water being flushed to keep it within the planter area, and it keeps dirty water from flowing back into the open pop-up riser.

In May of 2003, the U.S. Patent Office issued Sirkin a patent for a sprinkler head and sprinkler head assembly with a control valve located directly at the head or sprinkler head assembly. The products, named “LittleValves,” incorporate a simple set screw on the side of every product but below the nozzle and filter screen, allowing water shut off at the individual head.

From the outset, he thought a service person would still have to hold up the pop-up riser stem in some fashion. Not until the second round of prototypes was built did he realize that until the system is turned off, pop-up stems with LittleValves do not go down; they stay up on their own even during flushing. He also noticed that he does not get quite so wet when cleaning or changing out nozzles.

The inventor soon discovered that there were other advantages to the system - including significant water savings.

While demonstrating the products on a very windy day, Sirkin turned the radius on two heads equipped with LittleValves and 15-foot nozzles down to 10 feet The water coming out of the other standard 10-foot nozzles was buffeted, but the two LittleValve-adjusted 15-foot nozzles deposited their water exactly where it was supposed to.