Question
I've had a small amount of water seeping from one of my sprinkler heads.  I bought a new solenoid, but the problem remained.  What was weird is that when I switched both the old and new solenoid to a different valve, that valve then seeped!  So the problem is with that particular wire or solenoid.  I just bought a new timer.  Could the problem be the sprinkler wire?

Answer
Hey Jane, normally if a head is seeping water, it means that the valve is not shuuting off all the way. Usually one of 3 things. The first thing would be if there is debris (sand, dirt ,etc) in the solenoid port, and the plunger in the solenoid is not seating properly on the hole in the port, if this is the case, un-screw the solenoid and make sure the port is clean. Second thing would be if the diaphram in the valve is going bad and it deteriorating, to correct this problem you would need to replace the diaphram. Third thing would be if the body of the valve has debris in it and is not allowing the diaphram to seat properly, or the body of the valve is cracked and is not allowing the diaphram to seat properly. If there is debris in the body you can just clean it out, but if there is a crack in the body, then you would need to replace the whole valve. A good web site is www.irrigationtutorials.com, this site shows you how to replace a solenoid, diaphram, or replace a valve. More than likely the problem is not the controller or the wire,but is in the valve itself. Good luck and have a great day.