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UNCLE GEORGE

Unregistered

1

Thursday, August 29th 2013, 10:20am

Rotary nozzles

I am using rotary nozzles on Rainbird 1806 heads. In use, some nozzles rotate freely, some slowly and some not at all. On the workbench, even after a careful cleaning, the various nozzle heads (the rotating part) require different amounts of torque to make them turn. Normally, one would lubricate but Rainbird says lubricate with water only and, indeed, WD-40 does no good. So what can be done to loosen up stiff rotary nozzles?

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,510

Location: USA

2

Thursday, August 29th 2013, 6:28pm

Are you using the Rainbird brand rotory nozzle or are they Hunter?
Check out this video of an Irritrol rotory nozzle vs the Hunter. It starts at 1:44.
Rotory video

I just bought a bunch of the Irritrols. The verdict's still out if I like them better than the Rainbird.
I don't get a chance to use them much but they sure are handy when you need them.

What I do know is, the Hunter brand gave me nothing but headaches. They all turned at various speeds. Some were so slow I was questioning if they were broken or not. They didn't seem to cover well enough either.

I suppose if you installed pressure regulating sprinkler heads so each head had the same amount of operating pressure things might work better.

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As far as cleaning them I don't have a clue. Maybe soak them in warm vinegar for an hour to disolve any calcuim build up.

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