gonadman

I moved into a new house in Jan 2000. It had a sprinkler system. After about 6 months, one of the heads started leaking. The contractor replaced it but it started leaking again about a week later They came out and replaced it again.

It started leaking agaain last March. The contractor could not be reached because- surprise- he is in bankruptcy court. We started calling around and had a really tough time finding someone to fix it. One guy came out and drained the system into a garbage can and said he needed to replace all the heads for ~$5000. When I asked him to just replace the one head, he said he needed to get a tool and never came back. Many others never returned my call or said they would come but never showed up. Finally, last week, someone said they would replace the head for ~$300, but would need to cut out a piece of my ceiling and I'd have to get a drywall person to repair it.

Am I being ripped off? I would try to replace it myself but I don't know how to pressurize the system. Someone told me no one wants to do it because they don't want to accept the liability of someone else's poor construction. Is that true? Also someone in the business suggested that some workers might overpressurize the system to cause more leaks and make more money. Have you ever seen this?

Hope you can answer some of these questios. I'm just so frustrated at this ongoing problem with no solution in sight and no one in the industry seems interested in doing the repair work. Meanwhile I'm stuck with a leaky system and a trashcan full of slimy water!

Thanks

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For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel, looking, looking, ...breathlessly.
-Carlos Castaneda