Question
I moved into a house with an existing drip mist system that works fine along with the sprinkler system. I do have two electric valves whose solenoid wires(Rainjet 811) have been chewed up by the previous residents dogs and need to be replaced.

First, is there a way I can open these two lines and use this system manually for now? Second, on a typical drip mist system, how far can one single drip line extend before a second line from another valve needs to be added?

Thank you for your help.

Answer
Hey Marc, I am not familiar with a Rainjet 811, so to turn them on manually, I do not know if they have a manual bleed screw, or switch, etc. You can get them to turn on, by unscrewing the solenoid. If you are going to use this approach, I would suggest turning off the water to the system, and then unscrewing the solenoid(make sure you don't lose the parts inside) and then turn the water back on. You should see a stream of water coming from the solenoid port, and the valve should turn on for you. As far as the distance for a drip system, there are quite a few factors. The size of the existing line, the size of the pressure regulator (if there is one installed), how many outlets are there on the system currently, etc. I can tell you this as a rule of thumb. Normally you have a 5/8" poly drip line coming off a valve with a 20 to 30 pound regulator. If you figure 5 gallons per minute, or 300 gallons per hour, you could put up to 300 emmiters if they are 1 gallon per hour or 150 emmiters if they are 2 gallon per hour. As far as the distance on the line goes, I would not exceed 250 feet. I hope this helps, good luck and have a great day.