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I'm replacing a set of Hunter Pro spray nozzles (no idea model number) and I'm trying out the RainBird 1800 45 PRS 4" rotary model 12SAPROPR. I replaced one of them (a 90*) to see how it performed, but it was abysmal: it sprayed about 4 feet, didn't pop up all the way (one of the reasons I'm replacing the heads in the first place), and it had significant leakage dribbling near the stem, even fully extended (when I pulled it up by hand). These RB heads are advertised to 17 feet at 40 psi.

I have a pressure gauge on the same line, which sits at ~70psi, and then drops to ~40psi when I turn on one zone, which includes:

  • 2x 360* sprays
  • 4x 180* sprays
  • 2x 90* sprays (in my test, one of these was replaced with the RB rotary)

I read somewhere a while ago that you shouldn't have different types of heads in the same zone, but I didn't expect performance this bad from replacing one head. Do I need to replace all of the heads in one zone to see it perform as advertised or am I using the wrong sprinkler head?

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    What is the rated GPM of each head at the standard operating pressure? It sounds like you are simply demanding more water from the system than your pump can keep up with.
    – keshlam
    Commented May 22, 2023 at 2:52
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    what the pressure at the spray head?
    – Jasen
    Commented May 22, 2023 at 4:35
  • @keshlam pump? AFAIK this is just water pressure from the city system. As measured it should be sufficient.
    – BrDaHa
    Commented May 22, 2023 at 5:41
  • @Jasen pardon my ignorance, how could I measure that? I assumed that since the sprinkler system and the spigot I was measuring on were on the same "circuit" that the water pressure measurement would be representative of the pressure at the head.
    – BrDaHa
    Commented May 22, 2023 at 5:42
  • @keshlam Unfortunately I don't know the rated GPM of the current system, but according to rain bird, 2-5 GPM for the rotors
    – BrDaHa
    Commented May 22, 2023 at 5:49

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The seal at the stem is achieved by water pressure holding the head against a gasket. If pressure is low, you can get leakage around the stem because there isn't enough force to seat that fully.

The fact that replacing the head made things worse throughout that branch suggests that the new head wants to release more water per minute than the previous head, further lowering pressure.

It sounds like you simply have too many heads on this branch for your current household water pressure to carry. This may be because the solenoid valve isn't opening fully (they do age), or another somewhere upstream isn't fully open, or there's some competing demand for water in the house (sprinkling at the same time as showering?), or there may be variation in pressure at the mains. If you're lucky, it's a valve in the house and you'll be able to find it and resolve it. If not, I think you will need to cut back on the number of heads in affected zones and, if necessary, add another zone or two to cover the heads you removed.

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Fit a pressure gauge at your point of use then you will have the pressure you are working with.

As for the flow, a bucket and a stop watch with a bit of simple maths will tell you the flow at the point of use.

Once you have that information then you can paln a course of action.

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