I first went to home depot, however much to my surprise they didn’t have rainbird valves or anything rainbird for the matter. Rather they had A self of the standard oscillating sprinklers. I asked the guy if they had any somewhere else put he replied with an empty look of confusion. So I decided to grab some PVC pipe and fittings while I was there. However fate had different plans, I approached their plumbing isle and saw a pathetic wall of PVC. They had almost nothing there, the little they had was Very overpriced. Who’s going to pay 1.75 for a 1/2" T?!
However As I was leaving I checked the PVC pipe in the next isle and found 10' of 1/2" for $.75, a nice deal.
I decided to next head over to Sears, hoping they might have a sprinkler valve but there selection of sprinklers was nonexistent (well, there were two crappy oscillating ones if they count). I did get a handful of self seating stem valves for free though
. Unfortunately it’s a PITA to drill the 9/32" hole they need; I only have machining bits in that size.I decided to go to Lowes next, when I got there I found their PVC section. They had a slightly larger selection but most of it was 2” or 6" so it wasn’t very useful to me. Still I grabbed some T's and Right Angles for like $.20 ea. and a cheapy ball valve. They didn’t have the sprinkler valve either; the closest they had was a motorized ball valve for $85.00 . I grabbed some T's and caps though to make little marshmallow blowguns for the kiddies that come camping with us
I next decided to go to a gardening store, they hadn't even heard of a brand called rainbird, they also said that all sprinkler systems were contracted out so no one in the area will have the valve I'm looking for
I guess sprinklers aren’t as popular here on the east coast
on a side note: I had to drill a 9/32's hole for the stem valve but I modified one of my machining bits to do so. when I changed the cutting angle I think I made it a tad too aggressive and it made for a nasty hole in the 1.25" plug (which I had already glued in). I filed it down and put it in with silicon caulk but the silicon seal gave way when i hit 60 PSI and now my chamber doesn't hold any pressure. Any idea's for getting it to work again? I cant go out and buy new parts because I'm leaving tommarrow morning but I'd liek to have this thing for camping
