Pop-up

[marktrot1]

I have two Orbit 4" adjustable Pop-ups that are very slow and noisy when popping up. Unfortunately I purchased these sprinklers instead of more K-Rain pop-ups like I have elsewhere. Of course now, K-Rain sprinklers are not sold locally...

Any idea why they are so slow to pop up versus the K-rains which are fast and spray nicely? Should I just replace them with Hunter or RainBird pop-ups? I don't think flushing them out will help.

Thanks,
Mark

[SW315]

I would check for debris where the heads screw in.

At work I had to dig up 4 feet back from a head to the 1" lateral line due to debris at the fittings that connected to the head and to the lateral line

[eriocaulon]

Do these two popups see lower water pressure? ie. longer distances of pipe can really lower pressure. I guess it also doesn't hurt to swap one out to see if another brand works better. I myself order a bunch of different Hunter rotors/sprays for when I need to replace them.

[Michael Wise]

Do the K Rain heads you are use to have a drain check valve, and these orbits don't?

Without the check valve you could be experiencing low head drainage through the orbits and then have all the noise and slowness as that zone starts up.

Just a guess.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[bpgreen]

Are they impact or gear drive? I used to use impact sprinklers, but have been switching to gear drive as the impact heads need to be replaced. They're much quieter and they'll work with lower pressure when the impact sprinklers won't.

[marktrot1]

No. The k rains dont have a check valve. The two orbits are down a lateral from a row of k rains. I think the 90° elbow forces the water to bypass the lateral. Once the pressure builds up they operate fine.

I will probably just run them until they die and replace them with rain bird or hunter. I am operating 4 heads per zone and am at the limit of my pressure and gpm with 3/4 pipe. I am sure that plays a major role as well.

[ Post made via Android ]

[marktrot1]

As a test I dug up the Orbit and installed a Hunter body with a Mr. Rotator Head. It performed better than the Orbit. I then put the Orbit head onto the Hunter Body and it performed equally well. As I suspected, the Orbit body was the problem.

The Hunter body had a nice tight spring and pop-up, while the Orbit had a lot of play when it was out. The Orbit tended to leak a bunch of water from around the pop-up until it fully extended. The K Rain and Hunters do not do that. Since both of my Orbits do this, I will likely change out the other body also.

The Orbits will be great for use in a flower bed or other location. Not my newly seeded lawn where they were flooding everything until they could get going....