Hardpipe? You probably can get all the parts you need at lowes or home depot.

Thank you! Will try a flexible pipe repair, hopefully they have shorter versions. I saw online that some people use 'blue glue' which sets within 5 minutes. What have you used?

Any of the standard PVC glues will work fine. All of them actually set up very quickly. Standard clear PVC would probably be best for you since I'm guessing you don't have a lot of experience working with PVC pipe. With any of these glues you typically have only a few seconds to get the fittings put together before it becomes impossible to move them, so, if you use the flexible pipe, do one end first, give it a minute, and then do the other end. Make sure you have a couple of inches of space under the stubs that is clear of dirt so you don't get dirt on the glue brush. Put glue all the way around on both the stub and the fitting and then push them together. You should have glue squeeze-out, which you can wipe off easily with a paper towel. However, give it an hour or two to cure before turning the water on.

If shorter repair couplings are available, like the ones I showed you, they would be much more difficult to work with as they would be much less flexible: remember that the total length of the repair coupling will be longer than the break because the end fittings need to slide on to the stubs. So you're probably looking at having a space between stubs that is at least 1-1/2" less than the length of the new piece (you'll have to measure how deep the fittings on each end are to determine the exact spacing to make when create the stubs). That is why you can't simply glue in a new, straight section of rigid pipe. If it were me fixing your break, I'd simply excavate enough dirt so I had room to use the length of coupling I showed you. Lastly, recognize that the two ends of the pipe that you have broken may have hairline cracks, so take enough off of each of them so that you are sure you have gotten rid of any such cracks as they could allow leaking or further fracture.

And one other thing: after you have the the broken pipe stubs properly cut off, if you can still see dirt inside the pipe, try to swab it out with a moist paper towel. Otherwise, the dirt could clog up any drippers or spray heads that are downstream.

The glue takes only a few seconds to set. And you need to hold the ends together since they will try to come apart. Some apply a twist when bringing together.

This is related to the topic, but not directly helpful. I had a PVC line break on my main line. All I knew was 'wet yard.' The handyman I hired to fix it simply bypassed the problem area. He did not have time to find the exact location of the leak, so he trenched 10 feet on either side of the wet spot and went in beside the old pipe with a 20-ft piece of PVC. For him digging a 20-ft trench was faster than going slow turning the water on and off to find the leak. He did not even have time to refill the trench, so I did that and saved me another hour of his time.

If I have a break like this I want to trench along the line starting at the likeliest spot in order to minimze how much I have to tear up my yard. In addition, if you bypass a long section of line, there might be a tee for a branch line that you unknowingly decommission and it permanently disables part of your sprinkler system.

In addition, I want to know they cause of an unexplained failure. I once had a major underground break, and when I dug down in the middle of the soggy part of the yard I found that I had a joint come apart because of what looked like bad glue. I was suspicious, so I dug holes 20 feet on either side of that break and found one more suspect joint. The installer was probably using the bottom dregs from a can of old glue. He saved a few cents, and I had a water bill that ended up costing me $600 extra that month. But, because I investigated the problem I didn't have another surprise break.

PVC joints require both primer and glue, and primer/glue is sold in two-packs at the store. If you buy one small two pack you will have enough primer and glue for many joints.

You can use Sharkbite fittings or flexible PVC repair couplings and they are readily available. However, you can also do it with a couple of $.39 fittings like this 3/4" coupling https://www.homedepot.com/p/DURA-3-4-in-Schedule-40-PVC-Coupling-C429-007/100342644 and a short section of PVC pipe.

If you get two PVC repair sleeves they will be just large enough to fit around the pipe, and they will not have a ridge or stop in the middle. They will slip evenly over a new piece of repair pipe you buy from HD or other store. I think that 24" is the minimum length of pipe you can purchase.
- Just cut a section of pipe out of the middle where its broken (i.e., 6 inches) and then cut a similar length new pipe for the repair. Use a pipe cutter, hack saw, or a reciprocating saw and get it as square as possible. Use a little sandpaper to clean off each cut and make it smooth.
- Slip the repair sleeves over the new pipe and drop it into the cut out area to make sure it fits right. Then slip each sleeve outward so they connect the two pipes. This is your trial fit.
- Slip the repair sleeves off, and apply primer to all pipes where the sleeve will end up and to the inside of each sleeve. Let it dry about 5 minutes.
- Now apply glue to the pipe and sleeve on one side where it was primed, and slip the repair sleeve back into place, twisting it about a half turn as you move it, so it distributes the glue. It should be centered on the new joint. Let it dry for a couple of minutes so that it is stable.
- Lift up the remaining ends of the pipes, slip on the repair sleeve, and apply glue to both sides. Then slip the repair sleeve back in place, with a twist. Let it all dry for about an hour before turning the water back on.

The repair sleeve will be movable for about 30 seconds after you slip it over an area where you applied glue, so you have some time to make minor adjustments and get it all aligned, but you don't have a lot of time. It works best if you dig out around the old pipe so that you have about 5"-6" of working space to apply primer and glue.

Bruce