Help with sprinkler system components

[MattMika]

I turned the water on to my sprinkler system last night. First problem was that I forgot to shut the drain valve. I was wondering why I wasnt getting any heads to spray when I went to the valve to find a small growing pond. Closed the valve, problem solved.

Next I noticed a small leak in one of the fittings on the water supply line. Can anyone tell me what these fittings are? Freeze protection?

The two things on top of either upward pipe are what I'm talking about. If you look closely you can see a bit a spray coming from the one on the right. They have an opening about 120deg I assume is to spray water away from the house when they break.

The entire assembly is soldered together. What kind of torch will I need to break this loose? I assume a typical propane torch will not get hot enough fast enough, but I'm not sure as I've done no soldering of copper pipe before.

Both of these fittings also have a hex cap on top(see photo), which is also soldered. Is it possible to fix the fitting by removing this cap or is the whole unit junk?

TIA Matt

[Rich256]

The device in the middle is an anti-siphon valves and the two little ones are vacuum breakers and should not be spraying at all. Their purpose is if case of loss of water pressure they should prevent ground water from siphoning back into your water supply. The one you have is an older design.

The hex cap should not be soldered. There should only be a gasket to prevent it from leaking. You can try taking the top off to see if there is something that is preventing the valve from seating.

They should be available at any outlet such as Home Depot or Lowes.

Are the vacuum breakers soldered to the manifold? They should be just screwed in.

You should be able to take it all apart with an ordinary propane torch. Of course you turn off the water and drain as much as possible.

I would first try heating the hex caps on the breakers and try to get them off with a wrench or take off the whole piece and buy a new one.

[MattMika]

Thanks for the reply. I'll see if I can get the cap off but it really looked like it was soldered. Why it would be soldered I wouldnt know, but I've found several things in this house since I bought it in '03 that made me scratch my head.

I'm thinking the easiest thing to do will be to take the vacuum breaker and the coupler its screwed into off and put a new set on. We'll see how it goes tonight after work.

Thanks again,

Matt