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Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: September 5th, 2016, 1:34 pm
by Ric Clint
I'm not too familiar with these yet... but what would be the real reason for the 5004 being priced several dollars cheaper than the 3504? Some of the online Sprinkler sites have the 5004 at like $7-8 and the 3504 at like $10-11... and I believe Rain Bird's own online store mirrors this also I think.

I'm confused:
* the 5004 (the regular version and the one WITH the SAM feature) is bigger and sprays a farther distance and is cheaper priced
* the 3504 (the regular version and the one WITH the SAM feature) is smaller and sprays a shorter distance but is higher priced

Is there any real reason to picking the 3504 over the 5004?



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Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: September 5th, 2016, 6:20 pm
by rydaddy
...of those, I would stick with the 5004.

Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: September 6th, 2016, 11:43 am
by rtomek
If it makes you feel better, Amazon has the 5004 priced higher than the 3504.

Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: September 7th, 2016, 12:42 am
by Ric Clint
rtomek wrote:If it makes you feel better, Amazon has the 5004 priced higher than the 3504.
:no: :D



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Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: September 7th, 2016, 1:03 am
by Ric Clint
And one other thing I was confused about is, and this may be a dumb question... but I just don't know
the answer...

I know the 5004 has a 3/4" inlet in the bottom and the 3504 has a 1/2" inlet in the bottom... but if you take both of these 2 Rotors and then put, say like a 1-GPM or 2-GPM Nozzle in both, wouldn't they both have the same throw/distance and same amount of water coming out since they are both using the same size GPM nozzle... or would the 5004 be more powerful since it's a little bigger and actually throw farther and put out more water despite the Nozzle on both being the same size?

My other question... in WHAT SITUATIONS would the 3504 actually be more beneficial than the 5004... maybe like a small yard where the throw/distance on the 5004 has the water shooting out into the highway hitting passing cars??? What size yard's (as far as Square Foot) are better for the 3504... and also if you have alot of curves and obstacles... would that "yard situation" be better suited for the 3504 compared to the 5004?

Still new to the Rotor Sprinklers and trying to get a handle on all this.

Thanks!



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Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: September 7th, 2016, 11:02 am
by rtomek
If you want to shoot the same amount of water a farther distance, you need a higher pressure. Usually the inlet size matches the pipe size that is used in the type of installation.

http://irrigation.wsu.edu/Content/Calcu ... e-Loss.php

If you have two heads on the line, that's 4GPM. Using 1/2" pipe, if the first head is 100 ft down the line you lose 16.1 PSI, and if the second head is 50 feet further down the line you lose another 2.2 PSI. Using 3/4" pipe, you only lose about 1 PSI with 100' at 4GPM so you can put even more heads in a single zone. It might be a supply and demand thing too, the 3504 seems to be marketed toward residential and smaller installations and the 5004 for larger professional installations.

Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: September 7th, 2016, 4:37 pm
by Darkshadow
Ric,

You might want to check out the performance charts for each model and your estimated PSI at the head. It's on their product pages at the link below. The charts are based on perfect scenario, so don't take it as gospel, but it should give you a sense of what you may be looking for.

Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: September 11th, 2016, 5:56 pm
by PW405
I would HIGHLY suggest using the 5004 over the 3504. Reason being is you can adjust the left and right "stops" of the 5004 without a tool or digging/rotating the entire body. They have a feature called a "slip clutch" that seems to be mentioned anywhere.

I have both.. and in one area where I needed a shorter distance, I went with the 3504. The spray pattern is a little different. The 5004 seems to throw a more concentrated stream of large droplets farther. The 3504 is a little more prone to "misting" the spray.

Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: August 10th, 2019, 5:40 am
by schreibdave
Commenting on an old thread ...

I am making a home brew irrigation system. Rainbird rotors and 1" polypipe fed by an Orbit home depot 4 valve ($50) timer. I have discovered that I can run two 3504s on a zone but only one 5004.

I also noticed the difference in price and asked the guy at Site One and he didnt know why the difference either. My guess is that they sell a lot more of the 5004s and they price them to be competitive with the competition. It seems like the 3504s are only preferable in situations like mine and they must sell fewer of them. In fact at Site One they had to rummage around to find them for me while the boxes of 5004s were easy to spot.

Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: August 10th, 2019, 11:04 am
by PW405
What GPM nozzle are you running on the 5004's? Seems like you should be able run more than 1. If nothing else, you could always swap to a lower flow nozzle and adjust zone timing accordingly.

Update to my 2016 statement - the 3504's are significantly lower quality. I started replacing my 5000 series rotors back in 2015 and have had 0 issues. Both of my 3504's failed either due to leaking at the connection underground or rotor mechanism sticking.

Re: Rain Bird Rotors: 3504 vs. 5004

Posted: August 10th, 2019, 9:31 pm
by schreibdave
PW405 wrote:
August 10th, 2019, 11:04 am
What GPM nozzle are you running on the 5004's? Seems like you should be able run more than 1. If nothing else, you could always swap to a lower flow nozzle and adjust zone timing accordingly.
Thanks for the tip. I had 5 GPM nozzles in the 5004s and they would not pop up all the way. With 1.5 nozzles they work fine. Thanks again.