Generally, spray heads use about 0.75 gpm for ¼-circle, 1.5 gpm for ½ circle, and 3.0 gpm for full-circle heads. "Rotor" style heads use 2 to 5 gpm each, for most residential applications.
Rain Bird High Performance Sprinklers are built rugged to withstand the harsh conditions in agricultural applications. With flow rates ranging from 0.28 to 6.82 gpm (62 to 1,549 l/h), these sprinklers deliver precise, uniform and unrivaled water distribution.
The average system uses approximately 15-16 gallons per minute, per station. Here is an easy formula to help you calculate the approximate amount of water you are using each month.
Watering with a typical sprinkler using a standard 5/8" garden hose for one hour uses about 1,020 gallons of water; if you water three times per week, that's about 12,240 gallons per month.
You can record the water meter use before and after running a station/zone for 10 minutes. That will give the actual gallons used for 10 minutes, divide by 10 to get the gallons per minute or gpm. [On average a pop-up station uses approximately 15 to 16 gpm.]
It is ideal to water lawns about one inch of water per week. To determine how long you need to water to get one inch, place a plastic container in your yard and set a timer. On average, it will take 30 minutes to get a half inch of water. So, 20 minutes, three times per week will give a lawn about an inch of water.
That might not sound like a lot, but your sprinkler system uses about 12 gallons of water per minute, which works out to 2,160 gallons or $13 over three hours. A leak in the system will spike your water bill even higher.
The answer is that it usually takes up to 30 minutes to get a half inch of water. Watering 3 times per week equals to an inch of water on a lawn.
Sprinklers generally cover up wider ground and spread out water at a slow yet steady pace, which makes all the soil moisturized evenly and soaked underground. A watering hose takes time to cover space and can clutter the soil if there's too much water.
To calculate the amount of water you use, multiply the width times the length of your yard in feet to get the number of square feet of area. Then multiply that figure by 0.623 to come up with the number of gallons used (or use our calculator below).
Fixed spray heads apply 1.5 to 2 inches of water per hour in a fan-shaped spray. Rotors apply about 0.5 inches of water per hour in a single, rotating stream of water. Rotary nozzles apply approximately 0.4-0.6 inches per hour in multiple, rotating streams of water.
System maintenance can help save you a lot of money and water! Cracks in pipes can lead to costly leaks, and broken sprinkler heads can waste water and money. You could be losing up to 25,000 gallons of water and $280 over a six-month irrigation season! Now is the perfect time to spruce up your irrigation system.
However, the flow rate of the Rain Bird PRS spray held steady at 2.1 gallons per minute, saving almost a gallon per minute over the non-PRS spray.
For example, at 35 pounds per square inch (PSI) the 5000 Series Rotor using the 3.0 nozzle will use 3.11 gallons per minute (GPM).
Rain Bird lawn spray heads usually emit over 1 inch per hour.
One inch of water or rain is equivalent to 623 gallons per 1,000 square feet.
If your sprinkler output is 1½ inches per week, your sprinklers should run for only ⅓ hour or 20 minutes that week (½ divided by 1½). On a twice-weekly watering schedule, run your sprinklers 10 minutes each time.
Water Wisely
Many of us water too often and too long. Most lawns need to be watered no more than three days a week in the spring as well as in the summer and two days a week in the fall. This watering schedule is recommended under normal water supply conditions.
Install sensors to shut off irrigation systems if it starts raining. Modify sprinkler patterns to match the lawn, garden, or decorative shrubs, and eliminate watering the driveway, parking, or pavement. Raise sprinkler heads that are blocked by shrubs or other foliage.
People water too much, too often, at the wrong times, and the wrong way. Not only does this waste a valuable and increasingly scarce resource, it also makes your lawn look worse by increasing disease, insect, and thatch problems.
Over-spray occurs when your sprinkler heads spray water onto pavements, driveways, and other concrete or asphalt surfaces, and it is a major cause of water waste in lawn sprinkler systems.
You should run your sprinkler system for as long as it takes to apply a half inch of water to your lawn. You will need to water for at least 10 minutes per week for most systems. Measure your sprinkler system's output to ensure you're not using too much water or underwatering.