Marlex Street Ells

A Marlex street ell is a 90° street elbow molded from heavy-duty Marlex HDPE, with a male thread on one end and a female thread on the other. That male-by-female configuration is what lets the fitting turn the run of a sprinkler line by a full ninety degrees and bring it up toward a head without an extra coupling. Because Marlex is self-lubricating, the threads draw together easily and seat into a leak-free connection — no thread sealant or dope is needed to make them hold. It is that combination of an easy, clean make-up and a tight seal that makes the street ell the fitting of choice for swing joints and riser connections that have to stay tight under stress.

This is the same street ell — a Marlex 90 street elbow, sometimes spec’d as an HDPE street elbow MPT × FPT — that we use inside our pre-assembled swing joint assemblies. Here it is sold on its own, by the case, for repairs, custom builds, and contractors who assemble their own swing joints on site. The ½” ell (part 1412-05) is stocked 500 to a case, the right scale for crews working through a large irrigation install or keeping a service truck supplied. Its self-lubricating, impact-resistant material is also why it is preferred over a PVC street ell in this role: it absorbs the flex and load of a buried swing joint far better and keeps its seal over years of underground service.

In a typical swing joint, the street ell sits at the top of the assembly. The female end threads onto the riser nipple coming up off the lateral line, and the male end turns the flow ninety degrees and threads up into the sprinkler head — so the head can be set to the correct height and angle while the buried connections below stay sealed and undisturbed. Because Marlex flexes rather than cracking, that joint survives the settling, foot traffic, and mower impacts that would split a rigid fitting, which is exactly what keeps an installed swing joint leak-free for the long haul.

See our guide to building a swing joint for where the street ell fits in the full assembly, or browse the rest of the irrigation fittings family for the nipples, swing joints, and related parts that go with it.