Shopping around - prices on-line

[LCHIEN]

My sprinkler system had a problem. there was a really wet spot on the lawn around a sprinkler hear location long after the sprinkler was done.
MY neighbor told me to start digging and fix the broken pipe but it didn't make sense. there should be no pressure in the line with the heads when its off. But if the valve was open then all the sprinklers on that valve would be shooting water.
So I figure its the valve leaking a small amount - I cut off the entire water supply and it stopped so I'm right.

OK so I look up parts... on Amazon, Lowes, HD
One stupid thing is that the parts are all the same for the valve in 3/4 or 1" pipe fitting size.
THe diaphragm kit is $8 to 28 The vacuum breaker cap and seal is at lowest $9
A whole valve with diaphragm, solenoid and breaker cap runs $30 for the 3/4" and $29 for the 1" at amazon, $26 at HD, and $17 (3/4") and $23 (1") at Lowes.

So I ordered 2 complete 3/4" valves from Lowes for $34 which have solenoids, diaphragm and breaker seals. Cause I have several of these and they are all approaching 30 years old and may need the solenoid. Mine are the 1" but its cheaper to buy the 3/4" and use the parts from it as one you tube video suggested.

Anyway its funny how the prices differ by almost 2:1 and how complete assemblies cost as much as a few of the replacement parts that you are likely to need. So it pays to shop around and be flexible and a bit creative.

[Carlos]

I needed some basic Redwood lumber for a garden project. Lowe's was $9 a stick, HD was $3. The Lowe's stuff was your average low quality lumber, and HD was extreme, basically unusable total crap quality. On another project, I needed some water heater connection hoses, and the variation in availability of kits versus parts between HD and Lowe's was super weird. I can't recall the details, but one had a kit for a high price, the other could provide just the individual parts for half that.