SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

No. The flow rates are way out of line with each other. Treat a MP Rotator the same as you would a rotor.... i.e. don't mix and match with a spray.

to the first I will send one great ****o to all Sprinler-friends here.

I`m from germany and now I say sorry for my bad english for the next time!!!!!
Here is my problem :
in europe is it conventional to blow out the irrigation system with compressed air.
Can any one of your say if it give trouble with the MP -Nozzles?
I hear from the Rainbird Nozzles that they destroyed from the higher speed of the head with compressed air. tell me what you think!

thank you all,letsrain

In Canada, we blow out our systems at the end of the season too. Rainbird has pulled their rotators from the market right now due to problems with blowing them out. I have not heard of any problems with MP Rotators in this aspect. But, this is the first season for them as well, so time will tell.

Having said that; Rainbird rushed their product to market to be able to compete with MP Rotators and their design was not nearly as sophisticated as the MP. I did talk with a MP Rotator rep this spring, and from what he said, I feel pretty comfortable with the amount of testing that was done to MP Rotators and expect them to stand up.

I will thank you, it let me feel better to hear your comments.
Let us hope for the next springtime!!!!

I heard some stories about the Rainbird rotators not holding up well under the system blow out, and so I actually did a test with a few other local companies recently. We set up two lines, both 100' long 1" PVC. One line had 5 MP rotators, and the other line had 5 of the Rainbird rotators. The Rainbird rotators didn't hold up at all under air pressure of around 60-65 PSI. The MP rotators held up alot better, and actually withstood 110 PSI and still functioned normally after the test. I was impressed.

The MP rotator has been in development by the company that manufactures them (Wolla Wolla) for about 2 years...the product has been carefully designed and developed. The end of last year, when the manufacturing of this product was announced, Rainbird rushed to make a similar product before patents were final. They did exactly that..they rushed..Rainbird is still "evolving" into irrigation. They were a previous high volume hose end company before they went into underground, and they still need a few more years. The Rainbird project on spinning nozzles will remain discontinued for now according to Rainbird.

You might be incorrectly painting Rainbird in newbie colors, since, as the originators of the impact head, they've been major players for several generations. The various manufacturers do have a history of rushing product to market, with clearly mixed results. Wintertime seems to fall outside of a lot of design considerations.

One thing to remember about Walla Walla and the MP Rotator. The parent company of Walla Walla is Nelson Irrigation. Not the Nelson that us turf guys know, but a company that has focused on agricultural irrigation for years and years. They formed the Walla Walla brand to avoid confusion with the Nelson we all know. The agricultural irrigation folks in general are very, very focused on product quality as their products are used for cash crops. They think these things through a lot more than the turf industry. If you compare the MP Rotator with Rainbirds product, you can see how much different the engineering slant is. The MP was designed and built to be a high quality product. The RB one was designed and built to be a competitive product. There is a big difference in building to be the best and building to be a competitor.

Ray - As much as I agree that RB's attempt at this product is mediocre at best, I think you really need to take a good look at RB and understand who they are. To characterize them as "evolving" into irrigation is very incorrect. Take a walk around almost every irrigated park or golf course in North America....

OMG, dear Sprinkler -Friends,
it was never my intention to open a confict betwen the Friends of Rainbird & Nelson & walla, walla or anybody!!!!
I`m Rainbird-Installer , anyway the MP is my own favorite, especial for the variable Radius,
nobody have a chessboard-garden , to install only the Rainbird 90°-or 180° Nozzles
Only I`wish to know -must I replace them for blow out or not.....