Orbit 57034 3/4" Brass Automatic Converter Sprinkler Valve with Flow Control

In my yard watering system I have nine brass Champion 3/4" sprinkler valves; the earliest date from the 1960s when the house was new. When I converted to automatic sprinklers in 1970, it was done by adding these brass sprinkler adapters to the existing Champion manual valves and adding new brass Champion valves that also used these adapters. Over the 50 years since the first installation I've accumulated a lifetime of experience of various sprinkler-valve failure modes and how to fix them. The key thing I've learned is to have a quick sure way to get a failed valve up and running so that you can save the plants and lawns while you implement or purchase a longer-term solution. The super nice thing about these adapters is that you can just unscrew a failed unit and pop in an available replacement unit and be up and running in minutes....no pipe disassembly required, etc. So what I do is always have a lease one spare adapter on the shelf for a quick replacement. With my collection of 9 valves, which date back over 50 years, I get a failure every year or two when they get older...and having a quick replacement to pop in is a life saver. In general these valves are very reliable, but after 10-20 years things start to happen. When I was younger I used to try and repair the adapters. That never really worked very well, so now I just replace the adapters. As a contrast, on our ranch, we have plastic valves that are directly bonded into the PVC piping system...when one goes out, one has to tear the whole piping system apart to repair the issue...a big problem. As a note to folks with some old Champion valves, like some of mine, the sprinkler folks, like Champion Superior and Orbit, all make essentially these same adapters, but they all changed there "standard" mounting thread size a bit in the 2010 timeframe. They are still 1.25"dia by 16 tpi, but the newer ones are 0.020" larger in diameter and won't fit properly in the old valve bodies. I have a metal lathe and machining capability, so I just re-machine the thread on these newer units down to a 1.223" dia....then they fit all my valve bodies, both new and old. They work perfect in the older valves once the thread is fixed. I'm not sure when exactly they changed the thread size, but I started machining them down in 2010 on some Superior adapters I bought back then. Same fix is required to make these new Orbit units on Amazon fit the real old valve bodies. I just machined two of them and they're working perfectly. Highly recommended!

I had some old Superior valves where the diaphragms finally wore out. The rebuild kits for the those are expensive online, so this was not much more for a brand new unit. It was easy to take the old one out and screw this one in. Then the wires were the same so I just connected those to the timer's wiring harness. It has been flawless for over a year now. Had to replace another just recently and put one of these in there as well. The other good thing about these is the rebuild kits are inexpensive and available at both the local big box. So if this one goes out, it will be inexpensive to rebuild.

this is the 4th valve i purchased. all 4 working great, i do recommend orbit brand . well packaged a bit delayed on shipping.

Did the job for a decent price...

No problems.. Did the job.

I am not happy with this valve. Have problems with three. First was bad machining. Threads did not match so could not mount on valve body. Last two work for a while then leak causing dripping along sprinkler line. I was willing to pay more for brass unit instead of plastic for longer life but it is a waste of money.

Product is well made and was easy to install. Good value

Having had a plastic valve actuator fail (massive leak) many years ago, I've been using brass valves and actuators for over 40 years. While they sometime fail to actuate after many years of use, I find them far superior to the plastic valves and actuators. I've never had any luck rebuilding the actuators, so I simply replace them and they're good for years. I've been using them long enough to still have some made by Champion. I don't know the back story, but they're now made by Orbitz and are compatible with the old Champion valves. I highly recommend them. They are pricey, but you get what you pay for.