# Rain Bird 5000 Rotor for Small Lawn



## HopWorks (Mar 16, 2021)

Good Morning!

I have a very small yard, about 460 square feet with dimensions being rectangular at 17' x 27'. After doing quite a bit of searching, I read that by using an appropriate nozzle, I can get a coverage radius of as little as 13 feet, although some reviews listed the Rainbird 5000 at as little as 8 feet which I could not substantiate. I like the features of the Rain Bird 5000 and figured I can do 6 heads on 2 zones, with a quarter, half, and quarter on each long side (ZONE) of my rectangular yard, and set the radius up to 17' before overshooting the borders.

My question, is it viable? Cost of the heads is not an issue, and I realize I will have full overlap in most regions of the yard. And I fully realize this rotor's application is for much larger lawns. I have had some bad experiences with Hunter's MP rotors in the past, with other lawns, and I do not like the waist and wind-driven altered coverage of a standard spray, which is why I am opting for the single stream this time.

I am asking if anyone knows if this is doable with a small lawn, with the included nozzles and adjustable settings of the Rain Bird 5000.

My static pressure is 60 PSI with 10gph (30 seconds to fill a 5gal bucket).

I sincerely appreciate your time and advice! Thank you!

- Gary


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## coreystooks (Aug 6, 2019)

My system is all 5000 heads and I would recommend against them for your situation. The reason being is that these heads spray 30-40 feet unrestricted with a really good pattern, I have a couple heads that are adjusted down due to location and the pattern is nowhere near as good as the ones that are adjusted down and so it doesn't provide as good of coverage. I would look into the 32sa series if you're wanting to stick with rain bird.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Rotators (e.g. MP Rotators) are your friend here. Throttling down a 30 foot head to half that distance will adversely affect uniformity.


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## HopWorks (Mar 16, 2021)

Doesn't the Rain Bird 5000 come with nozzles to reduce the GPH to what I need? I'll check out that 32SA, thank you!

And no... as I said in my OP that I had bad experiences with MP Rotors from Hunter.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

HopWorks said:


> Doesn't the Rain Bird 5000 come with nozzles to reduce the GPH to what I need? I'll check out that 32SA, thank you!
> 
> And no... as I said in my OP that I had bad experiences with MP Rotors from Hunter.


My bad - I missed that. What was the bad experience? I have a lot of MR Rotators and they have been trouble free for 10 years so I'm curious. If it was a Hunter issue, Rainbird has a rotary nozzle head also, but I have no experience with them.


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## RichM (Feb 20, 2021)

With an area that sized you might benefit from pop ups instead. They can put down a lot of water in less times since they don't move.


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## Colinwjholding (Apr 6, 2020)

Why not run rainbird 3500 heads. ?

Seems like a no brainer for the size you have.


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## HopWorks (Mar 16, 2021)

bernstem said:


> HopWorks said:
> 
> 
> > Doesn't the Rain Bird 5000 come with nozzles to reduce the GPH to what I need? I'll check out that 32SA, thank you!
> ...


I am sure that under normal use with normal water, the MP Rotors from Hunter are just fine. The problem I had is my unbelievable hard water. The calcium deposits that form are unreal and the heads were consistently clogging and stopping. This of course is very possible I will have the same issue with any brand. So maybe my judgement of this brand was a bit unwarranted. It is also one of the reasons I wanted a throw stream and not multi-streams, with any brand.


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## HopWorks (Mar 16, 2021)

RichM said:


> With an area that sized you might benefit from pop ups instead. They can put down a lot of water in less times since they don't move.


I get a lot of wind sometimes, and do not want the overspray. I also have hard soil and would like a slower water application than what standard spray heads provide.


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## HopWorks (Mar 16, 2021)

Colinwjholding said:


> Why not run rainbird 3500 heads. ?
> 
> Seems like a no brainer for the size you have.


I am looking at them, but the nozzle chart I looked at from Rain Bird did not show anything in the range I needed, which is a min of 13' (ideal, less is ok too) and a max of 17'.


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## HopWorks (Mar 16, 2021)

I decided that it would not cost me too much money or effort to set up a couple of test heads. I will try to keep the configuration the same as my original design, above ground, and run it for some test periods to see what results I get. It is probably unconventional, but I planned to build the small system above ground first, before the lawn is in, so it would be easy to make changes if needed. Then when I see the coverage is what I want on the dirt, I can mark the framework on the soil with maybe spray paint markings and then move it to dig. Then place it and bury. I am using funny pipe to the heads. I do not know the terminology for the framework, but I am running two 3/4" runs (one per zone) down the middle, with extensions from tees for each head. At the end of the extension, a threaded fitting will allow for the funny pipe (2'-3') fitting to the head. My original design was 3/4" runners and 1/2" extensions, but seeing as the 5000 series has 3/4" threaded inlet, I might just go all 3/4". I also noticed that the 3500 series is 1/2" threaded inlet. I hope this all makes sense.

I'll post what I find out. Any more suggestions would be appreciated, and I sincerely appreciate all the feedback thus far!! Thank you!!


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

There are more than a few above ground setups just like you have described. I think it is a great idea to see how well an unconventional setup will work before committing to a permanent installation. Once you have it where you want it, you just bury the temporary setup and you are done.

The rainbird 3500 looke like it will throw at 17 feet with a 0.75 nozzle. 
https://www.rainbird.com/sites/default/files/media/documents/2018-02/chart_3500.pdf


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## BadDogPSD (Jul 9, 2020)

The different nozzles are more to adjust the GPM the sprinkler puts out and the radius adjustment screw determines how far the water will spray. The smaller nozzles will shorten the radius somewhat also, but with my 3500's & 32SA's I can adjust them to spray almost 40', but my pressure is also over 70psi. As others mentioned using the radius screw to drastically reduce the the distance will adversely affect the evenness of the water spray. It will also cause more misting which you don't want in a windy area. It's pretty windy where I live too, but normally not in the early mornings so I water between 0300-0900.


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## HopWorks (Mar 16, 2021)

bernstem said:


> There are more than a few above ground setups just like you have described. I think it is a great idea to see how well an unconventional setup will work before committing to a permanent installation. Once you have it where you want it, you just bury the temporary setup and you are done.
> 
> The rainbird 3500 looke like it will throw at 17 feet with a 0.75 nozzle.
> https://www.rainbird.com/sites/default/files/media/documents/2018-02/chart_3500.pdf


Thank you. It's encouraging to hear something positive about my approach. Irrigation pros would probably roll their eyes at this but I am not a pro and would feel better about my final design if I did not have to find out if it works after it is buried.


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## jht3 (Jul 27, 2018)

I find the 5000 doesn't like to throttle down below 20', at least in my yard on city water.

I do like the rvan rotators I installed last year in a zone that was previously sprays. The dark red nozzles have the most throw, 17-24, and should be right in your sweet spot.

Don't get hung up on the 3/4 or 1/2 threading on the body. You'll use barb fittings to connect to funny pipe.


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## Colinwjholding (Apr 6, 2020)

HopWorks said:


> Colinwjholding said:
> 
> 
> > Why not run rainbird 3500 heads. ?
> ...


Not exactly sure what charts you are looking at, but the rainbird stuff never shows minimums. The only way i have been able to reduce distances is by closing the spray control it self. Which then creates very inconsistent gpm or amount of water the head puts down. For a yard that size i would definitely go with a standard mist head. They put down the most water in the shortest time. If wind is an issue you can water at night or morning.


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## Sloubi116 (Mar 29, 2021)

Hello, (Sry for my bad english !)

I'm currently thinking about the design of my future irrigation system.
I also have similar distances to cover (17-19 ft). I don"t know if I will use r-van/mp rotator or rotors..

I would prefer high end rotors like PGP ultra or I-20 instead of 3500/PGJ. I heard the quality is much much better..

I saw they have black short radius nozzles (https://www.hunterindustries.com/irrigation-product/rotors/pgp-ultra)
from 17 to 26ft

Do you already have considered them ?


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