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I hate microsprays

4K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  Hank Reardon 
#1 ·
I hate them!

:hammerhead: :hammerhead: :hammerhead: :hammerhead:
 
#3 ·
You think your funny SprinklerGuy?Do you know how many Drip irrigation systems I have installed?Do you know my capabilities?You automaticly think that DirtyWater installs better systems than I do because I use shrubblers and he dosen't like them..stepped on one one time and broke it so he's never even tried them?At least I am open minded to new ways and different materials.Does that make me a bad drip installer?Or or is it because I don't just do irrigation exclusively that you insist on making fun of me?
Micro sprays are what they are and untell they come up with with something better I use them..only the red ones.
 
#4 ·
Ok, I feel better now.

Doing a install where the customer asked for microsprays...One of those "I need to see it water to know its working" type customers..real PITA.

Why I hate microsprays:

  • Microsprays take forever to assemble.
  • They either cover too much or too little
  • They are fragile, especially once they've been in the sun a few years.
  • They waste water
  • They take forever to assemble
  • They cause weeds
  • They overspray due to the lack of a variable microspray
  • They get water on the foilage of plants, and not the root system
  • They clog easy
  • Did I mention they take forever to assemble?

Anyways, I ran out of time today because I have to repair our house plumbing (shower manifold sprang a leak), and I'm generally in a bad mood. My usual weekend off will now be spent finishing the microspray job and repairing my bathroom.
 
#7 ·
sheshovel said:
I fully assemble a microspray and insert it in it's stake in about 30 seconds or less.
Are you using flexible tubing clamped into a stake with the microspray on it, or are you using the rigid 1/4" tubing for a riser and the 1/4" screw fittings?

It takes about 30 seconds per microspray to put them together for me to...I can drip a lot more than 2 plants a minute using drip rings or punch-in emitters.

In my perfect world Microsprays would only be used in raised garden beds that are too small to water with a streamrotor type head...and never on the same zone as regular emmiters (That annoys me so much, you end up with dried out plants and totally swamped out garden beds).
 
#9 ·
The only time I installed microsprays was when I was forced to do so...and even then I used the Pepco pop up type so I could bury them most of the way and protect them from damage....Jon's damn boots kept breaking them.

You are correct....I do not know your capabilities...... truth be known..I use to use the shrubblers quite a bit for annual beds...I would use the spray type not the stream type and they worked very well for me. I also used the stream type shrubblers for trees when bozos piped trees/plants on the same valve.....in order to give some semblance of order to the drip system and try to water equally as per the plants/trees individual needs.

But...I never used shrubblers for every plant on the system because they cannot be controlled precisely enough for my tastes....

Yes, I think I'm funny.
 
#16 ·
PurpHaze said:
If you hate drip-style microsprays why not use the ones incorporated on spray pop-up sprinklers? The ones we've used are boot resistant because they retract to ground level. Naw... then you couldn't pull the line probably. :laugh:
New to the industry but agree with Jon. From what I've seen, you can't beat a Rainbird hi-pop with a Weathermatic nozzle.

We grew from a landscape maintenance company so I am very familiar with how vulnerable micro's are. If stationary risers are going to be used, sell them on copper. They look fabulous and last much longer than plastic.
 
#19 ·
Man, I've been out of touch 3 pages of threads I haven't read. On the micro-spray topic though...........You young pups really, really, really needed to see a WM peanut nozzle system. Those old brass peanut nozzles beat the crap out of anything going now and did the same thing, only better.
 
#21 ·
Weathermatic 'peanut' nozzles were machined from (3/8-inch, I think) brass hex stock, with 1/8 inch pipe threads on one end, and the usual nozzle machining on the other end. Despite the small diameter, they could be made in any normal spray radius and arc, full circles excepted. Low angles, and extra-short radii, too. An adapter would be soldered on the end of your 1/2 inch copper riser, to receive the nozzle. Very compact. They even made MPTxFPT extender pieces, to raise them when the shrubs grew.
 
#23 ·
Wet_Boots said:
Weathermatic 'peanut' nozzles were machined from (3/8-inch, I think) brass hex stock, with 1/8 inch pipe threads on one end, and the usual nozzle machining on the other end. Despite the small diameter, they could be made in any normal spray radius and arc, full circles excepted. Low angles, and extra-short radii, too. An adapter would be soldered on the end of your 1/2 inch copper riser, to receive the nozzle. Very compact. They even made MPTxFPT extender pieces, to raise them when the shrubs grew.
We use the Weathermatic 100 Series sweated to 1/2 copper for most of our risers. They look awesome and can take a beating (well, they aren't much of a match for the power shears of my maintenance crew...). Change the adapter on top and you can install an MP rotor zone.
 
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