AC Solenoid Valves

An AC solenoid valve is the part of an irrigation zone that answers the controller: 24 volts arrive on the wire, the valve opens, and the zone runs until the signal drops. That much is the same across every line on this page. What separates them is how little flow the valve can hold before it chatters, what the body is made of, whether it tolerates pond or recycled water, and how it behaves when a diaphragm finally tears. Those four questions sort the range faster than brand loyalty does.

ML Irrigation supplies these valves wholesale from Fountain Inn, South Carolina, to nurseries, greenhouses and horticulture programs in all 50 states.

Which solenoid valve suits the zone you are building?

Start with the lowest flow the zone will ever draw, not the highest. A propagation mist zone, a hydroponic bench or a handful of spray stakes may pull a fraction of a gallon a minute, and a conventional diaphragm valve needs a certain flow through it to seat. Below that it chatters or hangs open. For those zones look at the Superior SPVLF, which has no minimum flow requirement and works down to 0.01 gph, the Irritrol 700 UltraFlow with a genuine 0.1 gpm minimum, the Netafim Series 80 whose 3/4" opens at 0.01 gpm, or the Superior 450 at 0.075 gpm. Dramm's SVB solenoids are built for misting, where a slow-closing valve puts down an extra second or two of water every cycle.

Standard container blocks, field drip and overhead sprinklers on 1" to 2" laterals are where most of the page sits: Rivulis V1000, Toro 250, Irritrol 200B, Superior SPV, Hunter PGV and the Bermad IR-210 and IR-21T. Any of them will do the job; the differences are body material, bleed options and whether you want a throttling knob.

Mainlines and pump sheds call for the larger bodies: Bermad's IR-110 and cast-iron IR-410, the Rivulis V3000 in metal to 16", Netafim's Series 90 PVC slip valve, the Irritrol 100 Century PLUS and Superior's red brass 950. If the system needs a master valve to shut the mainline between cycles, Superior builds them normally closed (3200) and normally open (3300).

What do the water, pressure and wiring need to be?

Water quality decides more valve failures than anything else. Suspended solids from a pond, canal or recycled supply pack the diaphragm chamber and leave a valve weeping or stuck open. Filtration upstream is the first defense, and several lines build for dirty water: Superior's 950DW and VBDW, Irritrol's 102 anti-contamination versions of the Century PLUS, the Toro 220G brass with a 120-mesh screen that flushes as water passes, and the Toro P-220 with an upstream screen on its 2" and 3".

Check the minimum operating pressure as carefully as the maximum. Bermad's 100 Series opens from 7 psi and the 200 Series from 10, the Netafim Series 90 from 4, but most of the Superior range wants 20 psi at the valve; the LCV takes 15 and the VBDW 10. On a gravity or low-head supply that number decides whether the zone runs. At the top, Bermad and Rivulis plastic bodies are rated 150 or 145 psi, Superior brass to 200 psi, and Hunter's ICV and Toro's P-220 to 220 psi.

24 VAC is the standard coil on nearly every valve here. Irritrol's 700, 200B and DZVK draw 0.4 A inrush and 0.2 A holding, the Netafim PBI only 29 mA, and Netafim credits the Series 80's low current with the longest run from valve to controller. Match wire gauge to run length, and if the controller is battery powered or a 2-wire decoder type, say so when you ask; a battery controller changes the solenoid, not the body.

What goes wrong on real nurseries, and how do the lines differ?

The mistake we see most is a standard valve on a zone below its minimum flow. The symptom is a valve that chatters or never quite closes; the fix is a low-flow body. Second is a zone head with no filter or regulator, because they were separate line items and got dropped. The Irritrol DZVK and Hunter's Drip Control Zone Kits put valve, 150-mesh filter and regulator in one assembly, and Toro's P-220 switches and regulates across 5 to 100 psi in one body. Third is a weeping valve wetting benches between cycles; Bermad's IR-11T and IR-21T are built around a 2-way control loop for drip-tight closure. Fourth is no master valve, so a split line or a failed zone valve drains the supply overnight.

The lines approach the same job differently. Bermad and Rivulis are control-valve makers first, so the electric valve is one option on a body that also comes manual, hydraulic, pressure reducing or pressure sustaining, and a Bermad body takes an AC or DC latching solenoid. Netafim's Series 80 and Superior's SPVLF are the low-flow specialists. Hunter and Irritrol, both controller makers, add tool-free service on the PGV Jar-Top and a modular OmniReg regulator on the Century PLUS. Superior is the brass house: reverse-flow VB valves that fail closed if the diaphragm tears, dirty-water versions and the master valves. Dramm's SVB is the fast-closing misting valve. Ask us which body fits the zone.