Having a sprinkler system makes your life much easier. You don’t have to drag a hose around the yard to make sure your grass is getting watered, you can set a timer to automatically run your system, and you don’t have to keep unhooking and re-hooking up your hose so you can water the entire yard. Although have a sprinkler system isn’t as labor intensive or time consuming as using a hose, it still requires some maintenance every once in a while. Sometimes parts will wear down after years of use, other times you (or more likely your children) will run over a sprinkler head with the lawn mower, and other times you just may have water freeze in the pipes so they will need to be replaced.
There are also many different brands of sprinklers on the market and usually each brand will have a specific design of how to adjust the heads of a system. Among these brands, one of my favorite brands is Rain Bird. I use their parts when I am doing repairs or installing a new system. One of the common subjects that comes up with the systems are the Rain Bird 5000 sprinkler head adjustment. It seems like it may be a simple thing to do, but without knowing what you are doing, it can be very frustrating.
Once a sprinkler head is newly installed, it is likely that you will have to adjust it. The 5000 model was designed to make this adjustment easy, saving you time and reducing your stress. If you want to adjust how far your sprinkler will shoot, you will need to change out the nozzle. To do this, use the tool provided in the box of sprinklers. If you don’t have this tool, you can purchase one from a supply house for a reasonable price. Insert the tool into the pull up slot, turn it ninety degrees and lift up. If there is already a nozzle in, you will need to unscrew it from the top. Once it is out, you can slide in the new nozzle. When it is in, secure it by tightening it from the top.
If you need to adjust the arc of the sprinkler, locate the part of the sprinkler head that has a plus signal and a separate minus signal. Insert the tool into the slot until it fits. To increase the arc, turn the tool to the right (clockwise). To decrease the arc, turn the tool to the left (counterclockwise). The maximum that a head can do is 360 degrees and the minimum is 40 degrees. If you turn the tool one full clockwise turn, this will add 90 degrees. If you are turning the tool and you hear a ratcheting noise, this means that you have adjusted the head too far. As soon as you hear this noise, you should stop turning immediately. This feature can be useful when you aren’t sure what the head is adjusted to, but shouldn’t be used more than necessary. If you have a plus series head, there is also a slot to turn the sprinkler head off completely. This is nice when you need to fix neighboring sprinklers so you don’t get drenched!