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Sprinkler heads


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On the question of what is a legal placement, any other objects which protrude from the ground, but are in place because they "look like" the real object in every visible way?

 

I've seen fake sprinkler heads for sale.... and taken 4 or 5 apart which were actual heads before I ran across my first fake one. Three of those real ones, the cache hint did mention water....

 

How are sprinkler heads legal at all? Around here, sprinkler heads are buried flush to their tops. To make an effective fake, one would have to bury the cache up to its top.

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I agree, ive accidentally unscrewed a few real ones looking for the fake ones, and gotten pretty wet in the process.

 

one of the few i found had been pulled u and left to look like it was broken, im pretty sure the co didnt do this, but made it pretty easy to spot.

 

on the same topic, ive got in trouble looking in and around power boxes, (because the description told me to do so) how is hiding your cache in or on a real breaker box legal? this only encourages people to open and mess with real breaker boxes, something the buisness owners DO NOT like.

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There is that pesky no bury rule again... ;-)

actually I read this as more of an issue on accidentally destroying fixtures to find a cache.

 

I wont break anything in a cache hunt. If the cache I'm seeking seems like I might have to, I email the CO for clairification.

 

edit.. op, the sprinkler heads are for hiding spare keys in someones garden. us geocachers have to remember that not every great looking hidey thing was invented with geocaching in mind. (lol, what are bison tubes for again?)

Edited by dorqie
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The only real effective sprinkler head placement I've seen was in someone's yard where there were no other sprinkler heads around. The non-geocacher would probably be oblivious to it, but to the geocacher, it's a nice easy find.

 

Otherwise, I advise against sprinkler head hides. Too much damage could be done to real sprinklers in the area, which doesn't look good for geocaching, and yes, if they have to be buried up to their heads then they break the no bury rule, or at least push the envelope too far.

 

However, if you do happen upon one; I would say use this rule of thumb, based on my experience. A geocache sprinkler head should come up really easily, an actual sprinklerhead will take some tugging. If you feel resistance, just don't try it; even if the resistant sprinkler in question turns out to be the cache. I would just move on... better to be safe than sorry.

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There is that pesky no bury rule again... ;-)

actually I read this as more of an issue on accidentally destroying fixtures to find a cache.

 

nah.... the sprinkler heads that i know of are all meant to be unscrewed at several spots. they sell them at home depot... and even sell the components. the only reason i know (or am confident enough) to unscrew the head is that i've had to replace my own from time to time. there is enough above ground to grip and twist. the interior is a spring and the retractable head.

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Irrigation head caches should ONLY be used if there are no real ones anywhere in the area.

Bike trails and the like are interesting placed to put them, at first they don't stick out as not belonging, but one you think about the cache....

 

I work for a company that installs and repairs irrigation systems and one head being messed with often requires it to be reset which will cost the property owner.

 

On the subject of property damage. We maintain the green areas around a food store. A cache was placed in a low shrub. Not under, but right in the middle, dropped down from the top. If it had just been a bison tube size it wouldn't have caused much damage except by over zealous cachers. But this one was a flimsy glad storage container and has done damage from being pushed down many times. I'm sure the CO did not get permission because the property owners are not overly cooperative.

 

It was brought into the office once when pruning was being done (they asked if it might belong to the strange hobby I have) I contacted the CO and suggested they put a small replacement container there instead - not sure what they did.

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There is that pesky no bury rule again... ;-)

All of the sprinkler head caches I have found, six or so, were pushed into the ground, no sharp pointy objects or digging required to place or retrieve it. The no-burying rule does not apply.

 

When you touch and wiggle them slightly the whole cache tube and sprinkler head come out of the ground, no disassembly required to retrieve it from the ground. If a cacher grabs it, it does not lift easily, and the cacher starts tugging harder to yank it out of the ground or starts to take it apart then the cacher is going beyond common sense. There is no cure for stupid.

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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here we go again... :huh:

i browsed the first page... and thought.... hmmm what isn't being covered... or talked about? what can i rehash....

 

is there a "new" topic out there? start it please, it'll help people like yourself who have seen it all and read it all and still hang out here.

 

479.png

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here we go again... :huh:

i browsed the first page... and thought.... hmmm what isn't being covered... or talked about? what can i rehash....

 

is there a "new" topic out there? start it please, it'll help people like yourself who have seen it all and read it all and still hang out here.

 

479.png

 

That was my initial reaction. Please note that it doesn't bother me enough to go out and search for the last 50 discussions about this topic like other people do. Thanks for your tenured advice though.

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Sprinkler heads should really really really be placed with permission of the property/business owner because of the risk of damage to real sprinklers.

 

A local cacher has at least 4 hides that are fake sprinklers. All of them use the same brand of sprinkler, which is a different brand (brand name is written on the top of the sprinkler) and style of sprinkler head than the other sprinklers in the area so they are clearly different from the real ones.

 

If you do suspect a sprinkler cache, start to unscrew the cap VERY slowly. The moment any water starts to come out immediatelly screw it back in. I've suspected sprinklers 2-3 times that I was incorrect but by going very slowly I was able to not get soaked and not break anything.

Edited by joshism
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Sprinkler-head caches are a pet peeve of mine because people end up fiddling with real sprinklers regardless of whether the cache is them or not. Sometimes real sprinkler heads get left in pieces by careless searchers but even if they are put back together properly, disassembling and reassembling a sprinkler head will almost always leave the sprinkler mis-aligned, spraying water in the wrong direction. (Since most sprinkler heads tend to be spraying 180 degrees rather than 360 degrees). This can result in damaged landscaping when plants dont get watered.

 

Unfortunately this is a case of the genie already being out of the bottle. Even if nobody ever placed another sprinklerhead cache, geocachers are still going to fiddle with real sprinkler heads after exhausting other options.

 

The recommendation to people to gently pull on a sprinkler head to see if it's connected to anything is probably the best method of controlling the damage. Disassembling sprinkler heads should be discouraged.

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The recommendation to people to gently pull on a sprinkler head to see if it's connected to anything is probably the best method of controlling the damage. Disassembling sprinkler heads should be discouraged.

A wiggle or slight tug will tell the difference between an attached functional sprinkler head and a fake sprinkler head geocache.

 

I suspect that most folks who object to them have never actually found one.

 

sprinkler-combo.jpg

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Sprinkler heads should really really really be placed with permission of the property/business owner because of the risk of damage to real sprinklers.

 

A local cacher has at least 4 hides that are fake sprinklers. All of them use the same brand of sprinkler, which is a different brand (brand name is written on the top of the sprinkler) and style of sprinkler head than the other sprinklers in the area so they are clearly different from the real ones.

 

If you do suspect a sprinkler cache, start to unscrew the cap VERY slowly. The moment any water starts to come out immediatelly screw it back in. I've suspected sprinklers 2-3 times that I was incorrect but by going very slowly I was able to not get soaked and not break anything.

 

Yeah, if they aren't sprinkler heads, don't worry about permission.

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We have found several sprinkler head cache containers. Every one of them looked as though it had been buried. To be honest though, I am not at all certain that I'd know whether or not a sprinkler head container was buried or pushed into the ground.

 

I do remember one exception, there was a fake sprinkler head inside a piece of half-buried PVC pipe.

 

We don't encounter these much any more because they are often listed a a micro which we filter out and since they often induce cache hunters to enter flower beds and other such planting areas we just simply think that they are significantly inappropriate.

 

How or why such hides get approved and remain active is a mystery.

 

Must be that out this way, hiders and seekers of sprinkler head containers don't worry about the no bury guideline.

Edited by Team Cotati
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One of my DNFs involved an intensive search of GZ, with previous logs prasing the "great camo" and "clever hide." Of course when I saw a sprinkler head I tugged it--and when it immediately shot out of the ground, I called out "Found it!" But it was a real sprinkler head, sitting loosely in the ground, probably dislodged by a previous searcher. My husband managed to affix it back onto its underground pipe.

 

Back at home, looking back at all the logs for this cache, I saw many references to searchers tugging at the sprinkler heads. That can't be good.

 

I imagine it's a fine type of hide for certain areas, but not for areas that will encourage people to mess with the real thing. Or...perhaps hides that are near areas where there are sprinklers should mention that the cache is NOT a sprinkler head? At least that might keep the people who read the page from messing with them.

 

--Q

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Sprinkler heads are not a big thing where I live. Very few people and business use them. So one here probably would stick out like a sore thumb. Now the bigger problem here would be those that put their caches in those lawn lights. Haven't seen one in a light yet (the solar powered ones) but have seen at one cache I went to where some have been moved and dismantled only to be put back together poorly.

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on the same topic, ive got in trouble looking in and around power boxes, (because the description told me to do so) how is hiding your cache in or on a real breaker box legal? this only encourages people to open and mess with real breaker boxes, something the buisness owners DO NOT like.

 

and can GET YOU INJURED or KILLED!

 

As a sparky,

Just sayin'!

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Sprinkler heads are not a big thing where I live. Very few people and business use them. So one here probably would stick out like a sore thumb. Now the bigger problem here would be those that put their caches in those lawn lights. Haven't seen one in a light yet (the solar powered ones) but have seen at one cache I went to where some have been moved and dismantled only to be put back together poorly.

 

Yeah, you do tend to see that in the colder climates. Not too many in New Hampshire or Vermont either, trust me. :huh:

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I just picked up a sprinkler head and I'm still not sure if it was the cache. There were no other sprinkler heads anywhere around but it was twice the size of the typical "fake" one pictured above, which I've found about a dozen times. I think it may have been a real sprinkler head with the spring for it to pop up and everything but somehow modified into a cache. There were too many muggles around and it was too soaked and muddy for me to really examine it. It's close to my house so I'll swing by again.

 

Has anyone ever seen a cache made by out of a real (but not attached to a water line) sprinkler head?

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Has anyone ever seen a cache made by out of a real (but not attached to a water line) sprinkler head?

Far too many. Please exercise all due caution when examining any sprinkler head that might be a geocache.

Email the owner to be sure. And, if the cache is seeming to cause damage to surrounding areas, including other sprinkler heads, or/and including the one you found (that may or may not be the cache?), don't be afraid to post a note about the damage. Guidelines exist that state

"I.1.4: Geocache placements do not damage, deface or destroy public or private property.

 

Caches are placed so that the surrounding environment, whether natural or human-made, is safe from intentional or unintentional harm. Property must not be damaged or altered to provide a hiding place, clue, or means of logging a find."

 

If there is damage going on, this is an example of where a NA log is warranted.

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I just picked up a sprinkler head and I'm still not sure if it was the cache. There were no other sprinkler heads anywhere around but it was twice the size of the typical "fake" one pictured above, which I've found about a dozen times. I think it may have been a real sprinkler head with the spring for it to pop up and everything but somehow modified into a cache. There were too many muggles around and it was too soaked and muddy for me to really examine it. It's close to my house so I'll swing by again.

 

Has anyone ever seen a cache made by out of a real (but not attached to a water line) sprinkler head?

 

Believe it or not, in 9+ years of Geocaching and 2,500 finds, I have never seen a mythical sprinkler head cache of any kind, period. But I live in a cold climate that gets plenty of annual rainfall, and real ones are very rare, let alone phony ones for caches. Yes, I do travel, but still haven't stumbled on one. I'd imagine people have modified real ones, as opposed to paying for store bought phony ones. Which aren't just for Geocaching, by the way, I would think people use them to stash keys in, not unlike the real use of a magnetic keyholder. :P

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I have found 1 (ONE) good sprinkler head hide with my player account. It was in a paved parking lot under a lamp post skirt.

Early in my career, I bought a sprinkler head before I decided it was a dubious hide. Fortunately, procrastination paid off again, and I never got around to hiding it. Now I keep thinking I should hang it in a bush and give the hint "sprinkler head".

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I have found 1 (ONE) good sprinkler head hide with my player account. It was in a paved parking lot under a lamp post skirt.

Early in my career, I bought a sprinkler head before I decided it was a dubious hide. Fortunately, procrastination paid off again, and I never got around to hiding it. Now I keep thinking I should hang it in a bush and give the hint "sprinkler head".

Make sure theres no real sprinkler heads nearby. :laughing:

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I have found 1 (ONE) good sprinkler head hide with my player account. It was in a paved parking lot under a lamp post skirt.

Early in my career, I bought a sprinkler head before I decided it was a dubious hide. Fortunately, procrastination paid off again, and I never got around to hiding it. Now I keep thinking I should hang it in a bush and give the hint "sprinkler head".

 

Except that will have people ignoring the bush and ransacking every sprinkler head they can find in the area.

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I've found MANY sprinkler head caches over the past 8 years. 1 was a fake one that was supposed to be a hide-a-key. The rest were all gutted real ones. I bought a hide-a-key version but, happily, saw the light on these hides and instead used it just as a micro in the hollow of a tree where there is no sprinkler head within 15-20 miles. And yes, there is a film can in it that holds the log. :anibad:

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I've found many sprinkler head caches. One in particular had a hint that said something like "one of these is a fake", which IMO only encouraged people to start messing with all the sprinklerheads in the area until they got the right one. I've also found one that was in a cachers front yard. I remember thinking that the dude would be mad if I screwed up his sprinkler system so I went up to the front door. The guy was home and then told me which sprinklerhead it was.

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Thanks for all the replies. Now I'm pretty sure it was the cache because the spot didn't really make sense for a sprinkler and I didn't see any others.

 

Next time I'll go by when there are fewer muggles, make absolutely sure there are no real sprinklers in the area and see if I can figure out what they did. I think the cache might even be in the plastic tube below the head, but the tube was full of rainwater and snow melt. I'm in the northeast, so the water is off for the winter if by some chance it is actually a real sprinkler.

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I have found 1 (ONE) good sprinkler head hide with my player account. It was in a paved parking lot under a lamp post skirt.

 

I live in MN and have found sprinkler head caches several times.

 

edit--oops, replied to wrong post. Should have been replied to the cold climate post.

Edited by bflentje
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I have found 1 (ONE) good sprinkler head hide with my player account. It was in a paved parking lot under a lamp post skirt.

 

I live in MN and have found sprinkler head caches several times.

 

edit--oops, replied to wrong post. Should have been replied to the cold climate post.

 

That's weird. I've made that statement a few times over the years. The only place you see sprinkler heads in Western NY is on golf courses (Greens only, never fairways), and in some upscale industrial parks. Sometimes Mall or big box store landscaping. And some generally upscale homes, not that you have to have an upscale home to install a sprinkler system.

 

But parks? Baseball diamonds? We just don't have sprinklers. And of course the sprinkler head cache would be pretty obvious then, eh? :P

 

EDIT: I might add, I ignore all parking lot caches. It's possible people have fake sprinkler heads in Wal-Mart's landscaping around here, but it doesn't exist in my caching world. :anicute:

Edited by Mr.Yuck
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I found one a few weeks back. There was a concrete block sitting on top of it (took me some time to figure that out), so I figured it couldn't be a real one. When I pulled up, the whole thing came out of the ground easily. There should be no twisting or resistance of any sort to pull one out. That being said, I think this one is in a gray area of the "no burying" rule. It's not technically "burying" it, it isn't covered up...but it does impact the ground and, in the case of the one I found, the sod that had been installed. In the grand scheme of things it isn't damage of any significance, but I think it violates the spirit of that rule. It DOES sure beat the lame light pole skirt caches, though!

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That being said, I think this one is in a gray area of the "no burying" rule. It's not technically "burying" it, it isn't covered up...but it does impact the ground and, in the case of the one I found, the sod that had been installed. In the grand scheme of things it isn't damage of any significance, but I think it violates the spirit of that rule. It DOES sure beat the lame light pole skirt caches, though!

It doesn't matter that the cache isn't covered up. The Groundspeak guidelines forbid caches that are partially buried as well:

 

3. Geocaches are never buried, neither partially nor completely.

 

If one has to dig or create a hole in the ground when placing or finding a geocache, it is not allowed.

Sprinkler head caches violate both the spirit and the letter of that guideline.

 

While there's only a bit of damage to the ground, sprinkler head caches often lead to careless geocachers breaking real sprinkler heads, which isn't good.

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I found one a few weeks back. There was a concrete block sitting on top of it (took me some time to figure that out), so I figured it couldn't be a real one. When I pulled up, the whole thing came out of the ground easily. There should be no twisting or resistance of any sort to pull one out. That being said, I think this one is in a gray area of the "no burying" rule. It's not technically "burying" it, it isn't covered up...but it does impact the ground and, in the case of the one I found, the sod that had been installed. In the grand scheme of things it isn't damage of any significance, but I think it violates the spirit of that rule. It DOES sure beat the lame light pole skirt caches, though!

 

I'm no reviewer, and I don't have the exact date, but they are in violation of the burying rule, but only for the last year or so, when the burying language was slightly modified.

 

So before that they were legal. Not that the reviewers ever ask what the cache is anyways. :)

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I just picked up a sprinkler head and I'm still not sure if it was the cache. There were no other sprinkler heads anywhere around but it was twice the size of the typical "fake" one pictured above, which I've found about a dozen times. I think it may have been a real sprinkler head with the spring for it to pop up and everything but somehow modified into a cache. There were too many muggles around and it was too soaked and muddy for me to really examine it. It's close to my house so I'll swing by again.

 

Has anyone ever seen a cache made by out of a real (but not attached to a water line) sprinkler head?

 

Believe it or not, in 9+ years of Geocaching and 2,500 finds, I have never seen a mythical sprinkler head cache of any kind, period. But I live in a cold climate that gets plenty of annual rainfall, and real ones are very rare, let alone phony ones for caches.

 

I hadn't seen one either until I did some geocaching in Monterey, California. I guess when you live in a place where the ground freezes a couple of feet deep underground water pipes don't work all that well.

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Believe it or not, in 9+ years of Geocaching and 2,500 finds, I have never seen a mythical sprinkler head cache of any kind, period. But I live in a cold climate that gets plenty of annual rainfall, and real ones are very rare, let alone phony ones for caches.
I hadn't seen one either until I did some geocaching in Monterey, California. I guess when you live in a place where the ground freezes a couple of feet deep underground water pipes don't work all that well.
Real sprinklers are pretty common around here, but I've found only a few sprinkler caches. And of the few I've found, only one required digging or creating a hole in the ground. Most were hidden in ways that complied with Groundspeak's "no digging" guideline (e.g., supported by landscaping bark or other loose material, or attached to a flat base covered with bark or dirt). And other than that one exception, it was easy to tell that they were fake before opening them up.

 

That doesn't necessarily mean they're a good idea though.

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There is that pesky no bury rule again... ;-)

All of the sprinkler head caches I have found, six or so, were pushed into the ground, no sharp pointy objects or digging required to place or retrieve it. The no-burying rule does not apply.

 

3.Geocaches are never buried, neither partially nor completely.

If one has to dig or create a hole in the ground when placing or finding a geocache, it is not allowed.

 

Was a hole created when the fake sprinkler head was pushed into the ground? (I'd say yes there was)

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before we went caching in USA FL, we newer even know about sprinkler heads

not for water and not for geocaching,

you can maybe imagine the kind of bad poking we did in a few real sprinkler heads,

and even braking at least one in the attempts to find caches in it.

again : MARK all containers, no matter size and type and style with a GEOCACHE logo, 4-color marks

or G sign or VERY good hint

now you smart CO out there.. THINK !!

the next visitor could be a turist or a beginner,

they will seek deeper and harder until they have vandalized the whole area in their try to find the thing you hidden,

so it is actually YOU as a CO who invite people to come and cause damage, you made it too hard.

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they will seek deeper and harder until they have vandalized the whole area in their try to find the thing you hidden,

so it is actually YOU as a CO who invite people to come and cause damage, you made it too hard.

 

No, it is the seeker that is causing the damage - they are responsible. As a seeker, you need to know when to stop, and when you are actually causign damage. If ti gets to the point where I can't find something without causing damagae, I stop. It's not worth the smiley.

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yep.. but it is VERY easy to find the wrong sprinkler head,

and damage it while seeking its maybe hidden logbook, when you find out it is NOT a modifies GC one

that happened for quite a few, same thing happen all the time with other type of hides

simply due to a mismatch from hiders and seekers levels and such

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they will seek deeper and harder until they have vandalized the whole area in their try to find the thing you hidden,

so it is actually YOU as a CO who invite people to come and cause damage, you made it too hard.

No, it is the seeker that is causing the damage - they are responsible. As a seeker, you need to know when to stop, and when you are actually causign damage. If ti gets to the point where I can't find something without causing damagae, I stop. It's not worth the smiley.

Yes and no. The seeker is responsible for the damage they cause, but the hider also must realize that not all geocachers are going to be careful as they search.

 

From the Groundspeak guidelines:

 

4. Geocache placements do not damage, deface or destroy public or private property.

 

Caches are placed so that the surrounding environment, whether natural or human-made, is safe from intentional or unintentional harm.

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on the same topic, ive got in trouble looking in and around power boxes, (because the description told me to do so) how is hiding your cache in or on a real breaker box legal? this only encourages people to open and mess with real breaker boxes, something the buisness owners DO NOT like.

Caches on power boxes are common in Japan. Putting them inside? I think not. If somebody hid one in a power box it is one I am not going to find. One was inside a rustic wooden housing around a power box. Magnetically attached to the side of the meter. Nothing dangerous.

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I just picked up a sprinkler head and I'm still not sure if it was the cache. There were no other sprinkler heads anywhere around but it was twice the size of the typical "fake" one pictured above, which I've found about a dozen times. I think it may have been a real sprinkler head with the spring for it to pop up and everything but somehow modified into a cache. There were too many muggles around and it was too soaked and muddy for me to really examine it. It's close to my house so I'll swing by again.

 

Has anyone ever seen a cache made by out of a real (but not attached to a water line) sprinkler head?

I made a cache out of a real one.

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