Can You Dig It?
Posted by Retired Geezer on July 27, 2006
I wasn’t looking forward to digging a big hole to fix a broken main.
My friend (and Farrier), Robert, took pity on me and dug the hole.
We started digging before the sun came up.
It took about 4 hours total.
Click on His Link,. He’s an excellent Farrier and Digger.
Plus you can see my horses.
Sprinkler Doc 
Rivrdog said
I might have a Big Dig ahead of me, also. I have a large size Rainbird (the kind that pops up about 8-10″) in one corner of my front yard. It has retracted itself (the whole housing, supply pipe and all) into the ground so far the water jet just barely clears the ground now, and won’t soon. Problem is, it’s at the corner of a sidewalk and driveway apron, so can only dig it up from one quarter of a radius.
Since this is going to be such a bear, how do I reset the unit so it doesn’t do this again (I think that this is the second reset, the sprinkler guy did it a couple of years ago)?
I was thinking of putting some bricks or something under the pipe elbow, but is there a standard solution to this?
Can send pictures if you need them for a consult.
Retired Geezer said
Sounds like you have a Rainbird Maxi-Paw, the kind you typically see at golf courses.
I like seeing them at clients houses because they are pretty simple, easy and quick to adjust and hardly ever get clogged. The water opening is large enough to pass small rocks (which is why the farmers use them).
I would recommend putting them on a ‘Swing Pipe’ assembly, rather than mount them solidly. Sprinks that are mounted directly into PVC (they way everybody ‘used’ to do it), are really prone to getting snapped off. The swing arms are made out of poly and they allow it to flex.
People cut corners when they walk so it probably gets stepped on a lot. I would probably say to put a shovel full of gravel under and around it to help it resist the downward pressure… or a brick.
I’ll see if I can find a picture of a swing pipe.
Retired Geezer said
Here’s the swing pipe assembly