Sprinkler Service & Supply, Inc.

Rotary Nozzles: Both Rain Bird and Hunter have a line of rotary nozzles that will easily retro-fit onto many existing pop up spray heads. As the name implies, these nozzles slowly rotate multiple streams to water lawn, shrubs or flowers.

A traditional 15' Full pattern spray nozzle puts out 3.7 gallons per minute. When spaced with similar spray nozzles, the average spray sprinkler system creates a precipitation rate of 1.7 inches per hour. The average water infiltration rate on most lawns is between .4 to .6 inches per hour. The high water application of traditional spray nozzles leads to excessive run off with run times over 15 minutes.

By comparison, a similar rotary nozzle 15' full pattern has a flow between .87 to 1.85 gallons per minute. When equally spaced, a rotary nozzle system will sprinkle between .45 to .61 inches per hour. This drastically reduced precipitation rate reduces run off and allows the sprinklers to run longer and more often to meet the watering needs of the plants within the reduced watering schedule. Rotary nozzles cost from $4.25 to $6.00 and require no special tools to thread onto existing spray bodies.

In-Line Drip Emitter Tubing: Shrub areas currently watered with traditional spray nozzles can be easily converted to drip using drip tubing that already as the drip emitters installed in the tubing. The home owner replaces one of the existing spray heads with a one piece filter and regulator (1800Retro $17.30) and then using a few transition fittings connects the In-Line Drip Tubing through out the shrub bed. The other spray head are shut off and with very little work the shrub bed is converted to drip irrigation with out digging or changing valves. A 100' roll of In-Line Drip Tubing, emitters spaced every 12" with a flow of .9 gallons per hour, is approximately $39.00.

Soil Moisture Sensor: This sensor reads total percentage of water in the soil. At a preset moisture level, the module interupts the irrigation controller from watering. The preset level can be changed to accomodate different soils. Two stations on the irrigation controller can be excluded from being interupted by the sensor. The system uses the existing valve wiring to communicated from sensor to module, reducing installation work. Works on any controller, $110.00

Rain Sensors prevent the irrigation controller from initiating watering if it is raining. Rain sensors are the easiest and most cost effective product to immediately save water. They easily wire into any existing irrigation controller. The actual sensor is easily mounted to a fence or rain gutter. In terms of saving water, they are most effective in the fall and spring when rain occurs while some of us may still be watering our yards. Rain Bird wireless version combines rain and freeze sensor, $69.00

Weather Stations: Hunter Industries has released a compact weather station that adjusts the irrigation water times based on solar radiation and temperature or interrupts the controller all together with a rain sensor. The Solar Sync measures the amount of daylight and temperature and adjusts the controller's water budgeting feature. The homeowner initially programs the controller's watering times to meet the irrigation needs of their turf for the hottest part of the year, usually July. The Solar Sync then adjusts the watering time by a percentage. The Solar Sync may determine that a 30 minute run time can be reduced by 50% in May based on current conditions. The adjustments are updated daily and the homeowner can always make other adjustments to accommodate various conditions. Hunter's Solar Sync is easy to install and can be purchased for approximately $78.00. The Solar Sync will only work with existing Hunter Pro C or ICC controllers. A 6 station indoor Pro C residential controller costs about $117.00