High pressure sprinkler valve

My gardener didn't tell me for a decade, but I found out that I have two lines directly connected to the main valve. One goes into the house, and branched to the lawn irrigation system right outside the house. The other line has an outlet at the bottom of a slope.

When I first arrived, the 2nd line has a manual shut-off valve, which goes directly to the sprinklers at the top and bottom of the slope. I asked my gardener to change it to an automatic electronic valve as the rest of the zones. There are six in total.

With difficulty he did it. Now I understand why. After about a decade, the valve failed. I replaced it with another 1" sprinkler valve but it cannot operate. I was surprised that it goes directly to the main line. Therefore the pressure is at over 100 psi. There is a pressure regulator at the other line. Since I thought that we only have one line, all the pressure would have been regulated.

I replaced it because I couldn't find parts - the diaphragm - for it. Also I cannot shut off water to the house for long. Replace it with a new one doesn't cost too much extra. But I was wrong. That valve was special, works even at high pressure. The ordinary ones only works up to 70 or 80 psi, but will not break up to 125 psi.

So my choice will be to add a pressure regulator at about $70 (it was $50 many years ago). The minimum I have to add a shut-off valve. A tap will be excellent as I can still have water next to the house even if the water into the house is cut off. A hose connection at that point will be perfect, saving the trouble to run 100 ft hose to reach there. Also unions or the like so I will never have to cut short the plastic pipe from the ground again if I need to reinstall or replace something.

The other option is to find a high pressure valve. And it won't be expensive. With high pressure, your sprinkler heads will have trouble all the time, which I experienced when the other regulator failed.

I went for the regulator, which saves money long term, the proper thing to do, and make me fill nice, although I'm pretty broke. The regulator itself have a union, so I just need another one. It turns out that a huge compression joint is a union and a joint so I went for it. I paid a few more dollars for a valve tap, which will not need to replace seals/gaskets, and the kids can operate it.

It ended up quite tall. There are only brass regulators and taps. I reviewed the screw joints of mixed materials in the other line. It was good after many years. So I have complete confidence. All the parts stay dry without any leaks. The compression joint did failed once. I didn't know why and it wasn't because of not enough torque. I just do it again and it worked perfectly. After all, the outlet is outside of the house. I can only lose water.