Irrigation Innovations: Sprays and Rotors

"Everybody makes a black plastic thing that pops up and sprays water," quipped Matt Flemer, district manager, Rain Bird, Royal Palm Beach, Fla. The difference, Flemer explained, is not what the products do, but how they do it.

Jim Ross, vice president for marketing, Century Rain Aid, Madison Heights, Mich., agreed. "The quantum leaps in spray and rotor technology are pretty much done," he said. "[Manufacturers] are making smaller changes either for convenience, installation or operation, or they’re tweaking the performance a bit."

A mature market is causing manufacturers to change their focus, explained Jed Price, product manager, Rain Bird, Azusa, Calif. While Price acknowledged that there is still a large amount of opportunity in the market, the new emphasis is on nozzle performance and water conservation. This has prompted manufacturers to focus more on providing enhanced features on their existing sprays and rotors, he said.

WORKING WITH RESTRICTIONS. One of the major challenges contractors face today is water conservation. With droughts already in Florida and the Plains states and little rainfall expected in the Pacific Northwest this summer, contractors and manufacturers must maximize sprinkler efficiency by using the least amount of water possible.

To combat these situations, Jim Brinkerhoff, education manager, Hunter Industries, San Marcos, Calif., related that manufacturers have tried to perfect their sprinklers’ "scheduling coefficient" (SC). This is a measurement of how the sprinklers’ ability to uniformly lay water across an area relates to the precipitation rate of the entire area. In other words, the SC is an indication of the additional run time necessary to compensate for dry areas. Brinkerhoff explained that a perfect sprinkler would have a scheduling coefficient rating of 1, which means that every inch of the area that is being watered gets the same amount of water as every other inch.

Certain agencies around the country are requiring that landscape contractors use sprinklers with a certain scheduling coefficient, Brinkerhoff stated. Therefore, all manufacturers are constantly striving to create the perfect sprinkler.

"There’s always room for improvement," he said. "Until you get down to a [rating of] 1, you can still improve, and to this point, no one has gotten down to a 1."

WATER-SAVING FEATURES. Ross observed that some cities now offer incentives for using water-saving products, whereby the landowner will be reimbursed for helping to conserve water. Seattle, for instance, is offering to fund 50 percent of the costs of commercial water saving measures, including irrigation equipment, according to the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.

To help achieve maximum system efficiency, features such as pressure regulators, adjustable arcs and check valves are being worked into current product offerings. These are features designed to help contractors provide quality service while saving water:

• In-stem pressure regulator – Regulates spray head pressure at 30 psi (pounds per square inch), even in heads that are capable of reaching 100 psi. This reduces the fogging and misting associated with high pressure, and decreases the amount of water not hitting its intended target. Also, if a nozzle is broken off, with the water pressure regulated down to 30 psi, there is a substantial reduction in the amount of water streaming out of the sprinkler.



• Adjustable arc – Allows a contractor to adjust one nozzle to any angle between 0 and 360 degrees. Getting the angle a contractor needs for each part of the project not only increases the irrigation system’s efficiency, but it also conserves water by eliminating unwanted overspray.



• Check valve – Stems the water flow in a system that is placed on a hill by keeping the water in the pipes, which eliminates low-head drainage. Without check valves, the sprinklers at the bottom of the hill could drain for hours after the system is turned off. This feature not only saves water, but it eliminates landscape damage from flooding and erosion.

Ross said that using products with these features are more expensive for contractors, but he stressed that saving water benefits everyone. And he added that a savvy contractor promotes water conservation as part of marketing their services.

CONTRACTORS’ CONCERNS. Besides conserving water, contractors say they look for other features, such as consistency and reliability when choosing sprays and rotors.

Chris DeWitt, president and owner, Aquatech Irrigation, Greenville, S.C., said his top priority when choosing a head is consistency. "We need a head to perform as they say it’s going to perform all the time."

Garry Caldwell, vice president, A&G Irrigation, Atlanta, Ga., explained that reliability in a head is his key consideration, while Jerry Goodwin, president, SSI Sprinkler Systems, Wichita, Kan., said workability is the feature that most appeals to him. He appreciates when manufacturers offer a variety of nozzle sizes to match each head as well as features that simplify maintenance, such as being able to turn the water off on a particular head.

Most contractors agreed that cost isn’t always the determining factor when they decide which brand and what type of system to use.

Because his standards are high, DeWitt stressed that promotions don’t do much to persuade him to use another brand or type of head. "I’m not willing to save a dollar to switch to a brand that we aren’t used to," he said.

Goodwin added that you have to factor in fittings, labor and maintenance when making a product decision. "A spray head costs $2 and a rotor costs $10, and taking into account that it takes 20 spray heads to do the same thing as four rotors, it might seem as if they cost the same," he explained. "But with the spray heads you’ve got to dig 20 holes and make 20 fittings, so overall I don’t think they cost the same. I would rather use fewer heads."

So, not only do manufacturers have to do their best to create a spray or rotor that meets environmental standards, but the products also have to meet contractors’ high standards.

CONVENIENCE FEATURES. Beyond reliability, workability and consistency, manufacturers are working to add features that will make their heads easy to use and versatile. These include:

• Increased pop-up heights – As mowing heights increase, this feature allows for the head to pop up 5 or 6 inches, clearing taller grass and ensuring the water reaches its intended destination.



• Expanded nozzle trees with low angle and standard nozzles – This type of nozzle tree provides a variety of accessible nozzles during installation, reducing the time you spend at the site.



• Flow stop at the head – Allows contractors to turn off the water at individual heads instead of turning off the entire system. This makes maintenance quicker and easier.



• Color-coded nozzles – Allows quick, easy nozzle identification.

"These are just a few of the features that manufacturers of sprays and rotors are perfecting so that installation, operation and maintenance are quick, easy and effective," Brinkerhoff noted.

EDUCATION. Because convenience, conservation and performance have become such hot topics in the industry, manufacturers now offer training so contractors can properly install and maintain these water-saving irrigation systems.

"When I was a contractor, there wasn’t much in the way of education," Brinkerhoff commented. "Most of the jobs we did we just shot from the hip and the systems seemed to work most of the time. We try to educate contractors so that all of their systems will work all of the time."

The purpose of some manufacturer’s training is not only to improve the contractors’ irrigation system design skills, but also to help them earn profits.

"This is the kind of education they so desperately want," Brinkerhoff stressed. "This kind of education makes their company much more marketable than [a company] that doesn’t know anything about irrigation scheduling, such as how long to water according to what kind of turf the customer has or what season it is."

ONWARD AND UPWARD. Communication between the contractor, distributor and manufacturer is a key element that allows manufacturers to continue improving sprays and rotors.

"They’re listening to customers and following trends," Ross remarked. "It’s just a matter of communication."

Price agreed, adding that manufacturers are continuously developing innovations to address problems that contractors experience in the field. "The next steps in the market are only limited by the imagination of our customers," he predicted.