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Advice needed: Pop up lawn sprinkers.....Rain Bird S U C Ks !

Kern Dog

Life is full of turns. Build your car to handle.
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I have had enough of these dang things. They last about as long as a box of donuts at a Weight Watchers meeting.
I'm talking about the oscillating "impact" pop up sprinklers made by Rain Bird. They are terrible. Home Depot sells these. I know that there has to be other manufacturers out there that don't get shelf space at HD.
They do have another type, a cylinder shaped gear driven one, German made if I recall. I've tried those, they do work but their spray pattern seems strange and adjustments are not as easy.
These Rain Bird units are under $18. They adjust easy and work fine, when they work. I'm not around when the sprinklers are working so the only time I know that a problem exists is when the yard starts to brown out. One of my dogs likes to peck at them. This often results in breakage. If not for the dogs, sometimes these things randomly stop rotating. Sometimes a smack on the top gets them working again.
It sucks though. I want something that just works and is durable. I'll pay more, that isn't the issue. The problem is that Home Depot and Lowe's don't have a wide selection of manufacturers that they carry.
Some may not know but with retail stores, there is often some dirty and shady deals made between suppliers and the retailer. Tool company A will sometimes demand that the store NOT carry products from Tool Company B. The result is a monopoly and a lack of options for products. I have seen this and spoken with employees about it.
I have checked with a few other places but have not found anything that I like.
I need something that sits below the grass when not in use. Anything that sits up all the time is not what I want. It has to be durable and reliable. They have to be IN ground, not on the end of a hose.
Suggestions?
 
Mine are Hunter. Not sure of the model as I am away right now. But they seem fairly good to me.

I had to edit the spelling errors......I forgot who I was replying to! ;)
 
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Rain Birds were installed in my place in NH over 10 years ago & I haven't had any trouble with them. If yours are above the grass, it sounds like they weren't set deep enough.
 
No, they are at all different depths. Some are flush to the dirt, some are a little below. They all get good pressure.
The issue isn't with placement, it is with the way they work for a short time then just quit functioning. They pop up, but don't move or move REAL slow. Some last a year, some last a couple of years. I've been here since 2004 and I've replaced some 3-4 times.
Thanks, China.
 
Eh, out here the Johnson grass don't care....
But perhaps in your case, water quality may contribute to longevity of the devices?
 
I know your pain sir. There are many issues that cause these to work poorly. I know you had mentioned pressure was not an issue, but how many heads do you have, their locations and elevation? How many are located per zone? Do you have screens on them? Hard or soft water?
 
K-Rain and Rain Bird are the popular brands here in south FL. The heads that rotate don't seem to last too long before sand/dirt gets in them and binds the gears. My neighbor had those and was always working on them or replacing them. I put a system in at my old house, but chose to use only the fixed, non-rotating pop-ups as they are far less problematic. Even then, the system needed regular care & attention to keep it working properly. Broken heads or a stuck indexing valve were the 2 most common issues.
 
Shitty well water jacks them up.
Having spent a lifetime seeing what supposedly "good" municipal water systems can do to the innards
of valves, pipes and backflow devices - I concur.
 
I did irrigation work for 4 years and we would replace Rain Bird with Hunter
Hunter was designed by the guy who first designed Toro
I would still use Hunter over Rain Bird
 
K-Rain seem to built much better. Their gear drives really get the water out there.
 
Rain Bird is all that I have ever had and I have never had to have one replaced in any of my homes and the longest I have lived in any one house was 12 years. Professorially installed and maintained by a professional. Some of mine would pop up with dirt on them, but never a problem. Back flows with all copper pipe up and down and the water coming from the shut of at the street so I don't have to hear it running.
 
Don't need sprinklers in western Ky. Been mowing every 5 days because of all the rain & humidity. :(
 
Hunter, right there in your backyard (Carlsbad). Great company and still family owned if I recall. The rotating sprinklers are problematic animals, like mentioned above, the crap in the water tends to foul up the mechanism after a period of time.. Toro is still a pretty good choice, not sure where the tooling's made anymore since I haven't built anything for Toro in a number of years.
 
Impacts are old tech. You need Hunter PGP-B heads or if you want fancy ones get the Hunter I-20. Seen these last 30+ years.
 
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