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Water pressure problems

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t1021ru

Active Member

Posts: 6

Location: Sterling Heights Michigan

1

Tuesday, September 8th 2009, 9:43am

Water pressure problems

I have had my system inspected by an irrigation guy and he said my equipment is workig fine. My problem is that due to water pressure problems with city water my Rainbird 1800 popups do not always extend completely at 4 am morning. When there is low water pressure they popup maybe 2 inches and the water just dribbles out. If I start the system later in the day the system works fine. Are there any nozzles that I could use to compensate for low pressure by limiting the flow of water but still cover the 12 feet radius that is needed? My current nozzles are Rainbird 12Q and 12H. Any suggestions would be appreciated.



Thanks for th info about the seals(O-rings). I have replaced all old heads with new and the system seems to be working better.

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "t1021ru" (Sep 14th 2009, 12:28pm)

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,510

Location: USA

2

Tuesday, September 8th 2009, 11:14am

The seal on the Rainbird 1800 will start to go bad after about 10 years depending how much sunlight it gets. The seal it the white part on the top of the sprinkler. Best bet is to buy new 1800's. Unscrew the guts and replace if this is the problem. You can buy just the cap but they cost as much if not more than the whole sprinkler. Try pulling on the stems while the sprinklers are running and see if they seal and spray better. If so look for bad seals.

HooKooDooKu

Supreme Member

Posts: 683

3

Tuesday, September 8th 2009, 12:59pm

While not cheap, another alternative (or something that might need to be done in conjunction with mrfixit's suggestion) is the MP Rotator

http://www.hunterindustries.com/Products/MpRotator/

They are not CHEAP, for they will cost about $5-9 dollars a piece.

http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MP1000360

t1021ru

Active Member

Posts: 6

Location: Sterling Heights Michigan

4

Monday, September 14th 2009, 12:31pm

Water pressure problems

Thanks for the infor about the O-ring on the 1800 head. I have replaced 7 heads and so far the system is working better. :) :)

t1021ru

Active Member

Posts: 6

Location: Sterling Heights Michigan

5

Friday, September 25th 2009, 8:19pm

rainbird impulse heads

I have a station with 3 Rainbird impulse heads. Sometimes on this station 2 heads will shoot out water and not rotate and the 3rd head will shoot water and rotate. I have other stations with only 2 impulse heads and they seem fine. We are on city water and I think there are pressure problems sometimes. My system turns on at 4 am and according to the city this is a great time with very goof pressure. Other people have complained about possible pressure problems. When I test my system during the day I do not have any problems. I have turned on the 3 impulse head during the day for 15 minutes and have not noticed any leaks.



Does anyone have any ideas?

hi.todd

Supreme Member

Posts: 417

Location: Houston, Texas

6

Saturday, September 26th 2009, 6:26pm

Get a pressure gauge and check the water pressure when the system looks good.

Also, check the pressure at 4:00 in the morning. Your sprinklers should have 45 to 50 at the rotor head and 30 PSI at the spray heads. If your water pressure is below 50 you may have pressure problems from the city. You may have a kinked supply line that restricts the flow or gallons per minute so when more water than the restriction allows passes through the pipe the pressure will suffer greatly. It could be bad pipe design or irrigation design. Has the sprinkler system ever worked great. If not, it is probably poor design. It could also be diaphragms in the valves that need to be replaced.

You may just need to clean all the trash around the impulse heads and try to adjust the heads a little bit.

Good Luck. :thumbsup: :thumbup:
:thumbup: :thumbsup:

newbie bob

Unregistered

7

Thursday, May 27th 2010, 6:33pm

Quoted from "mrfixit"

The seal on the Rainbird 1800 will start to go bad after about 10 years depending how much sunlight it gets. The seal it the white part on the top of the sprinkler. Best bet is to buy new 1800's. Unscrew the guts and replace if this is the problem. You can buy just the cap but they cost as much if not more than the whole sprinkler. Try pulling on the stems while the sprinklers are running and see if they seal and spray better. If so look for bad seals.
Will new caps fit on older model 1800s? I thought there was a change made a while back (15+ yrs) that prevented this?

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,510

Location: USA

8

Thursday, May 27th 2010, 7:23pm

The 1800's came out in 1977. The 1804 with the wiper seal came out in 1984. I know there were 1800's that were green in color. The sprinklers you're refering to are black in color I believe. They're very old. The new cap will screw onto that sprinkler. It's been a while since I've tried but I'm fairly certain. There aren't a lot of those still in service. You'll have to use the old innards because the ratcheting type will turn inside the body. These are my comments and are due to change without notice.....

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

9

Saturday, May 29th 2010, 9:35am

Just change the entire 1800 body if there's a problem. They aren't that expensive. Let the very-old ones occupy a landfill.

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