# How To Reduce Watering Time



## Ben S (Oct 6, 2018)

I water with a garden hose and impact sprinkler. I also have a rain bird rotor sprinkler that I mounted to an impact sprinkler base. It is time consuming and I'm trying to figure out if I can speed it up. I just read this thread and based on this it seems like it should make a difference if I use a larger hose. But aren't I still limited by the flow rate of whatever sprinkler I'm using?


----------



## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

You can upsize the nozzle on the rainbird rotor. I think the largest is a #8. That will flow 8 gallons per minute at 45 psi. If that is too much flow, downsize until you are using the largest nozzle you can. The nozzle number equates to gallons/minute of flow at 45 PSI. Higher flow = higher precipitation rate and less time to get the same amount of water down.

Increasing your hose size can also make a difference as larger hoses have higher flow rates and less pressure drop. For example, a 5/8 inch 100 foot hose at 40 PSI will flow about 11 gal/minute. A 3/4 inch 100 foot hose will flow about 18 gal/minute. Higher pressure and shorter hoses will get you more flow. Keep in mind, though, a bigger hose will only help so much if something else is not limiting flow. For example, if you are using a #1.5 nozzle, the bigger hose won't matter as the flow rate is limited to ~1.5 gal/minute by the nozzle. Your spigot might also have a small supply line which limits the spigot to less than 10 gal/minute.

You may have also noticed that even the largest nozzle will not flow as much as a 5/8 inch 100 foot hose. That changes if you have more than one sprinkler on the same hose. Two sprinklers flowing 8 gal/min will be 16 gal/min and may exceed your hose flow.

TLDR - a hose probably won't help. See if you can get a bigger nozzle on the rainbird rotor, or chain two sprinklers together (then a bigger hose might matter).


----------



## Ben S (Oct 6, 2018)

Thanks @bernstem. I did a bucket test and I am only getting around 5 gpm from my spigot so it seems like that is probably going to be my limiting factor.


----------



## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Hmm, that is definitely going to limit how much water you can put down. Most likley the hose is limited by a small supply pipe. That may or may not be an easy fix depending how long the run is an whether you are comfortable doing your own plumbing work.

With a spigot that only flows 5 gal/min, a bigger hose is probably not going to get you much more flow.


----------

