[Ohno59]

Well, I installed a homemade sprinkler system. A regular one with a PVB valve and 6 station manifold. The PVB is Toro, and so are the valves. I connected it to a 1/2" hose bib on the exterior of the house by taking the front of the actual faucet apart, and threading a T on there. (One for sprinklers, and one for Garden hose). Everything is working great. No leaks, great pressure, the pvc is pretty bent and crooked in the boxes and where it enters the ground , but it is a strong and dry.:thumbsup:

The only problem right now is sprinkler heads. Ive done our backlawn (frontyard soon) with Hunter PGP ultras, and Regular Hunter PGP-ADJ's, also I used a few Orbit Saturn II's from HomeDepot. The Hunters stick up after watering ALOT! And I have been tripping on them since the system was installed a week ago. They are flush with the ground, and sometimes they don't even pop up, although, the pressure is fine.

The Orbits pop up and down excellently. Although, the water pattern ain't the best. I thought Hunter was top of the line?? What happened. Help?!

Any suggestions are great. The Orbit Voyager II's and Hunter PGP-ADJ's look exactly the same except for the cover and nozzles, although the quality is definatly different. Anyone can help me here. If you need some pics, let me know, and specify which ones. I could definatly use the help.

What should I buy? Is there a way to "lubricate" the springs????:laughing:

I am kinda angry that Ive fallen about 6 times from tripping on "stuck up" heads.

 

[user1007]

Did you blow out/flush out any crud that might have been stuck in the irrigation lines and risers before fitting the heads? If not, sand dirt, PVC particles could now be blocking the heads from popping up and retracting properly. Just so you know, box stores sell anything but the top of the line sprinkler heads to art.

If the sprinkler components extend through the base into the risers, make sure your riser are parallel to the path of the sprinkler head.

 

[Ohno59]

Yeah, they were all cleaned, I flushed the lines out for 2 min each zone (until water was clear) and installed the heads while it was still somewhat pressurized so no dirt/mud would fall back into the pipe. The risers are not even close to the inside for that to be bothering it.

The Orbits are actually somewhat good, but the nozzles arent even with water coverage. The Hunters have wonderful coverage, but arent reliable with popping up/down.

 

[GulfCoastRick]

If you noticed similarities, there is a reason for this. The owner and founder of K-Rain (a Florida company) owns the design patents on the gear drive/pop-up mechanisms that are universal across all product lines in the industry.
I recently replaced all my sprinklers with K-Rain K2 and Orbit Voyager II units and love both of them, especially like the 5" pop-up and both of these have rugged, carefree gear drives.
I have friends who switched to these years ago and ended much of their troubles.