Dear visitor, welcome to SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers. If this is your first visit here, please read the Help. It explains how this page works. You must be registered before you can use all the page's features. Please use the registration form, to register here or read more information about the registration process. If you are already registered, please login here.
Puddling Around Rotor Heads
I'm not sure if this is a common/accepted problem or not. I just installed quite a few Hunter I-20 rotors and when I run them I get puddles directly around many of them. Other than that they seem to be working great. I've adjusted the nozzle screw and made sure all of the nozzles are pushed in all the way but it didn't really help. I can't see a noticable difference between the heads that do puddle and the ones that don't. I'm not sure what will happen once I get the grass planted but right now the dirt around the puddling heads gets pretty saturated. Is there anything I can do to alleviate this? Thanks.
Matt
When does the puddling happen? It is very common for water to runout of the head AFTER the zone has run. This can often create puddling. You will notice this around heads that are at the low point on the line.
It starts as soon as the zone is energized. It's almost like water is spraying at too low of an angle which causes it to saturate the ground around the head. I also see water trickling down on some of the sprinklers kind of like something is blocking part of the spray. Like I said though, I checked all of the nozzle adjustment screws to make sure they were not blocking the flow. Some water also runs out of some of the heads after the zone is shut off but this is not what is causing the puddling I am seeing. I'm hoping I'm making this out to be a bigger deal than it is and everything will work out when the grass gets established. I just want to make sure there is nothing I did wrong or that the rotors are not defective (which I doubt since it is happening to so many of them). Puddling may not really be the correct word to describe what is happening since I am mainly getting puddles because the ground around the heads is not perfectly flat yet. I guess I should say that the ground immediately around the head (1-2 foot radius) is getting saturated while the rest of the zone is getting the correct amount of water.
Matt
Its possible you have some heads with bad seals. All heads leak slightly around the rim. What you do need to do to prevent to much puddling and wash off of seed is run smaller cycles. As little as only 8 minutes at a time to let the soil absorb until the grass grows in.
As for low head drainage, The I-20's come with check valves which prevent low head drainage when they shut down.
SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers »
Help with Troubleshooting / Service / Repair »
Sprinklers - Rotors, Sprays, & Nozzles »
