My lawn irrigation system is extremely noisy. Is is about to blow a gasket or something?

Question

I have six stations with an average of nine heads per station. Its an automated system with a timer. When it goes from Station 2 to Station 3, the transition occurs with a tremendous "thunk" that is loud enough to wake sleeping children, send neighborhood dogs into a barking tirade, and generally make me a scourge in the sight of my immediate neighbors. What can I do to alleviate this problem?

I think the pipes are going to rupture if this keeps up.

Answer 1

It's water-hammer as the valve shuts at full flow.

A plumber will be able to lessen it. You may have too much pressure to the system, and it just needs a reducing valve added.

Or (It'll be kind of expensive) but you could try changing to different (better quality) irrigation valves.  I changed all the valves in our system to Hunter, and haven't had any problems in ten years. (17 valves)   The previous ones were Toro brand, and I had alot of trouble with them.