not sure if this belongs here... some part of our lawn is getting dry, and I figured out why - the sprinkler head responsible for this part is not spraying evenly. It's adjusted to 180 degree spraying and does it correctly, but instead of one even flow of water over 180 degrees, I get like 3 streams, at 0, 90, an 180 degrees, so grass in-between, I.e., roughly between 1 and 90 deg, and between 90 and 190 gets nothing. Does it mean the sprinkler head needs cleaning? or adjusting?
Thanks.
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
is this an in-ground pop-up type sprinkler?
many types have patterns, adjustments to rotation range, elevation of stream, etc etc etc. and yes they sometimes get dirty and clogged up over the winter.
typically the sprinkler head screws onto a pipe buried in the ground. one can carefully excavate a bit around the top rim of the thing and unscrew it.
you must keep dirt out of the "hole" and pipe while the head is off.
oh, turn the sprinkler system off during the repair . . . with one head off you get a geyser.
before you tackle the job - check the make and manufacturer of your sprinkler heads and be sure you have access to repair parts and/or replacements. an easy route is to buy a spare sprinkler head - which usually comes with instructions and any required special tools for adjusting - take out the malfunctioning one, put in the new one, adjust. you can fix the malfunctioning one at your leisure.
if you are not mechanically inclined and have no clue about such things, I would recommend you call in a sprinkler guy and observe what he does for the first go around. reason: if you break the underground piping / fittings, it gets to be expensive unless you figure out a DIY mode.
many types have patterns, adjustments to rotation range, elevation of stream, etc etc etc. and yes they sometimes get dirty and clogged up over the winter.
typically the sprinkler head screws onto a pipe buried in the ground. one can carefully excavate a bit around the top rim of the thing and unscrew it.
you must keep dirt out of the "hole" and pipe while the head is off.
oh, turn the sprinkler system off during the repair . . . with one head off you get a geyser.
before you tackle the job - check the make and manufacturer of your sprinkler heads and be sure you have access to repair parts and/or replacements. an easy route is to buy a spare sprinkler head - which usually comes with instructions and any required special tools for adjusting - take out the malfunctioning one, put in the new one, adjust. you can fix the malfunctioning one at your leisure.
if you are not mechanically inclined and have no clue about such things, I would recommend you call in a sprinkler guy and observe what he does for the first go around. reason: if you break the underground piping / fittings, it gets to be expensive unless you figure out a DIY mode.
Thanks, guys! My sprinklers are RainBird 1800, I found this useful video on how to clean the head:
https://www.rainbird.com/homeowner/support/video-1800CleaningNozzleScreen.htm
Plan to try it myself this weekend ( and yeah, as sad as it is, I am more mechanically inclined than my husband, don't tell him though lol!)
Alice
https://www.rainbird.com/homeowner/support/video-1800CleaningNozzleScreen.htm
Plan to try it myself this weekend ( and yeah, as sad as it is, I am more mechanically inclined than my husband, don't tell him though lol!)
Alice