ever have your oscillating sprikler get stuck...grrr!

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We're on City water out here in the County... the City put in a large well (don't ask why), anyway so we have fairly decent pressure but at times my oscillating sprikler gets stuck in one position thereby flooding one area of the garden before I realize the problem. I thought it was because I had historically bought the cheap plastic models but last fall I shelled out 25 bucks for a nice brass/metal unit. But the dang thing still sticks in one postion every so often. I've tried making sure that the "works" were not covered in mud or sand but no luck...

any advice?

Thanks Otter

-- otter360 (kitchen@eng.fsu.edu), March 21, 2002

Answers

I kept buying those expensive sprinklers that go back and forth and they kept "not working", and I called the 1 800 number on the box. They replaced it and again it stopped working after just a little while. I called back to the company and finally got someone that told me that it was because I was on a well and that I couldn't use those types of sprinklers on a well system. It is because the fluctuation in water pressure makes it stop working on occasion. Nothing wrong with the sprinklers. I got rid of my collection of that type of occilating ones and bought one of those sprinklers that go around and back again. It is on a tripod that will raise and lower. It is the best one that I have ever had and works fine on our well. Got it from E and R seed company. It is called a rain tower or something like that. I have used it on my half acre garden for 3 seasons now and it still works great!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), March 21, 2002.

Sounds like a great gadget. You'll find the manufacturer's website and a picture of it in action here:

http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/Product.asp?PG=546

-- Hank in Oklahoma (hbaker@ipa.net), March 21, 2002.


Yes, that is it. I looked in my catalogue for E and R seeds this year and it doesn't have it in there anymore. Sorry. It was about the same price as the one from the company that you posted from. It really does work. You could make one yourself if you had the know how. A friend of mine used to mount one of those ratcheting type sprinklers on a pole and it worked much the same way. Her's was stationary though. I needed one to move around.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), March 21, 2002.

It's good to know that I'm not the only one with this problem. Glad to know that it is the product and not my ability to be smarter than a sprinkler. I have just given up and let it shoot in one direction and then go and move it to another part of the garden. Wouldn't you know...as soon as it sees me coming it starts to oscillate my way and sprays me in the face!

-- connie in md (connie@mission4me.com), March 21, 2002.

You should be able to reduce the effect of the fluctuations by adding an air pressure cavity to your system, I am sure there is a proper name for such things but basically they are a sealed container filled with air and connected to the water line. When the water pressure suddenly rises the air is compressed a bit, when the pressure falls the air pressure tends to even things out.

Can someone help us out with the common name for such things?

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), March 22, 2002.



Are you talking about the pressure tank? We have one on the house and on the chicken barn(where we get our water for the garden) and they still fluctuate enough to cause the oscillater to stop working right. When the pressure is good it goes great and when it drops off it aims in one place and floods that spot. You might be talking about something else though. Are you talking about that big tank that is by the pump that has a vacuum type seal inside and when it gets full of water it makes the well cycle on and off and it needs to be bled out? Woooooo....sorry.....I am NOT a plumber! Not that you couldn't tell...heehee!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), March 22, 2002.

just a suggestion... get rid of that oscillating sprinkler (: after reading some years back that you lose a great deal of moisture to evaporation (don't remember the percentage, but it was quite notable) by using the oscillating type, as it throws the water out so far above the ground (made sense) we stopped hassling with the oscillators. have been using the impulse-type sprinklers for a number of years with much more satisfaction. (the head of this type can also be replaced if needed. get a good brass one and you won't need to for a long time, tho) they can be obtained with a spike base or sled base and can be adjusted to go all the way around or go to a certain point and kick back. you can use it in the garden by rigging it up to some sort of extension. we had a spike one years back and the extension was just a discarded broken piece of post about 3' long stuck broken end down in a bucket of gravel and braced with a rock; drilled a hole in the top end to accommodate the spike... it cleared everything to about 3' high. our favorite is the one we made for the garden (never have gotten a drip-system put in, but very happy with this): used a 5' threaded piece of conduit and attached necessary fitting to the top to accommodate a surplus small pivot head that our neighbor was kind enough to offer us. (used a small orifice pivot head... they come in different sizes for the center pivots; DON"T use a big one, it'll drown a garden, and don't let this go for as long as you would conventionals) made a base of an old disk welded on beneath a threaded "t" fitting at the bottom of the pipe. we used a screw-on 2- sided female hose fitting attached to the "t" (down by the base) which allows the hose to be connected (could j-b weld the fitting on the riser side, we've lost ours a couple of times when it got removed with the hose) we've been thinking about making another one that's shorter for the yard, as we are far and away the most satisfied with this one, after all the ones we've tried over the years. the concentration of water output is much greater it reaches the ground so quick we don't seem to lose moisture, even with the height. the saturation is so much better than with any other type that we known of, and we didn't have to put out much expense to try it. you can probably rig something similiar up easily if you're interested... good luck.

-- teddy (millerfam@panhandle.net), March 22, 2002.

WELL SYSTEM TUTORIAL 101: ------------------------- This probably won't help Otter, but it might offer some enlightenment for others with the same problem who are on a private well system. If I were Otter, I'd be complaining to the water district honchos.

But you guys on private wells shouldn't be having this problem with those sprinklers, assuming:

1. Your hose is coming from a pressure tank between it and the well pump;

2. And the tank has a high enough PSI range pressure switch that is working properly.

The tank on a well system may be either a plain sealed, steel container or it may contain an inflatable bladder, which is the bettr system. Either way, it works by the water compressing a head of air in the tank as it's pumped in and that head of air maintains a relatively stable water pressure in pounds per square inch at the outlet.

The pressure switch on the tank monitors the air pressure inside and when it drops to a factory preset cut-in pressure that trips a breaker which sends electricity to the pump to turn it on. When the pressure in the tank rises to the preset cut-out point on the switch, it trips the breaker again and shuts off the pump.

Pressure switches come in various factory preset ranges for cut-in and cut-out pressures -- 20-40 PSI, 30-50 PSI, 40-60 PSI. Most municipal water systems try to maintain pressure at around 60 PSI, but private well systems can fluctuate dramatically from one to another because of the many variables involved:

1. Pump horsepower and volume output;

2. Pressure tank size and/or air pressure in the bladder, if there is one;

3. Pressure switch PSI range.

The bottom line here is that there's no reason not to have the highest pressure switch on your system -- 40-60 PSI. With that, and assuming everything else is working okay, you shouldn't have any problem with the sprinklers.

Unfortunately, unless you have the original box it came in, I don't know of any markings on a particular pressure switch that'll tell you its PSI range. It has a threaded rod with an adjustable nut on it coming up through the spring that controls the cut-in and cut-out but unless you really know what you're doing I don't recommend fooling around with that.

Pressure switches only cost about $15 and they're not hard to replace, so if you have any doubt about the range of yours just buy a 40-60 PSI switch and replace the old one. But when you do that, make sure you hold the pipe, especially if it's PVC, with one wrench as you unscrew the switch with the other one. Just make a note of the original wiring and hook up the new switch the same way. And puuulleeeeeze turn the electric power off to the whole system first.

BTW: I'm not a plumber either. If all this free counseling results in total loss of water to the household, a newly formed Old Faithful geyser in your yard, or if it severely angers or stresses your dog, don't hold me accountable. Sue the sprinkler maker or someone in the neighbor whose children have a police record for vandalizing water well systems.

-- Hank in Oklahoma (hbaker@ipa.net), March 22, 2002.


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