I thought it would be helpful to see a drawing of a typical stop & waste valve installation. In the area in which I live, the Intermountain West, the drawing you see is typical of how sprinkler systems are installed. There is usually a tee installed into the water line running to the house, and a stop & waste valve is installed to turn on and off the sprinkler system. This valve serves two purposes. In the spring the valve is turned on to activate the sprinkler system, and in the fall the valve is turned off to shut down the sprinkler system. In the fall when shut off, the stop & waste valve also drains the water out of the piping from the sprinklers valves. The stop & waste valve has a drain port in the side of the valve so that when the valve is shut off it drains the water out of the supply sprinkler lines to this port. This keeps sprinkler lines from freezing. Usually the valve is buried 3′ – 5′ deep depending on the depth of the water line running to the house. There is also a stand pipe placed over the valve running to the surface so that it can be turned on and off with a meter key. This pipe is usually 2″ – 4″ in diameter.
The second useful purpose of the valve allows the sprinkler system to be shut down for repairs and maintenance without affecting the water supply to the house. So remember, be sure and shut down your sprinkler system in the fall to prevent freezing to your sprinkler system.
My stop and waste valve is leaking only when the sprinkler system runs? Does not leak other wise. Any suggestions on what’s wrong with it. It’s only three years old.
If a stop & waste valve or the supply line piping is leaking they usually will continue to leak all the time. Since you said the leak only occurs when the sprinkler system is running, my guess is you have a sprinkler head or zone pipe near the stop & waste that is leaking instead.
I have been on the internet for two days looking for a cutaway or diagram showing the inside of a irrigation stop and waste valve with the drain port. I think it has a ball valve but I’m only guessing. If you could lead me to a website that would show me the inside of the valve I would really appreciate it…Hope you can help
Try these keywords in your web search: watts cutaway diagram stop & waste valve
STOP AND WASTE VAULE ON SPRINKLER I have A split in my sprinkler pipe I turned on the water to see if that is the only leak noticed it was coming out of the relief hole is that because there is A hole in my pipe and it don’t builed up enough prusher to shut the relief hole. If I fix the split in the pipe the relief hole should close.
If you have a stop & waste valve there is a drain port on the right side of the valve. The valve must be completely on or completely off or the valve will leak water out of this port. A quarter turn counter clockwise turns the valve on and a quarter turn clockwise shuts the valve off.
See my YouTube video on How to Replace a Stop & Waste Valve for more information.
Thank you I did not no it had to be all the way on I will try that tomorrow.