A rotor sprinkler head throwing a long stream beside a spray head fanning a short arc on a lawn

Rotor and Spray Sprinkler Heads Compared for Maplewood Lawns

A rotor turns one stream across open lawn; a spray head fans a fixed pattern over a small patch. A typical system uses both, and each one works only on the ground it suits.

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Rotor vs spray sprinkler heads at a glance

A rotor turns a single stream back and forth across a larger stretch of turf, while a spray head covers a small area with a fixed fan of water.

Both pop up out of the lawn when the zone runs and drop back flush when it stops, which is why they look alike from the street. Some owners call a "rotor" the rotating sprinkler, and either kind only does its job when it is aimed and set for the right amount of water. Here is how the two heads compare on the points that decide where each one goes:

	Rotorone turning stream	Spray headone fixed fan
How it waters	Swings a single stream slowly across its arc	Throws its whole pattern at once, the moment it pops up
Ground it covers	Larger stretches of open turf	Small lawns, beds and narrow strips
Heads it takes	Fewer, because each one throws farther	More, set closer together
How fast water lands	Slowly, spread over a wide circle	Fast, over a small patch
What goes wrong	A head that stops turning and soaks one spot	Mist and drift when the water pressure runs high

parts of a sprinkler system

A rotor sprinkler head throwing a long stream across a wide open lawn

Rotors for large turf areas

Rotors can cover wide, open lawn with fewer heads, because their longer throw reaches farther.

One rotor's stream reaches across a big stretch of turf, so a front or back lawn with room to spare is watered by a handful of heads spaced well apart. Put a rotor in a tight spot and most of its throw lands on the driveway, the siding or the yard next door. A rotor earns its place on ground like this:

Open front and back lawns
Wide side yards with nothing in the way
Large turf areas on commercial properties

A row of pop-up spray heads fanning water over a narrow strip of lawn beside a walk

Spray heads for beds and narrow strips

Spray heads can water small lawns, beds and narrow strips neatly, though high pressure makes them mist and waste water.

A fixed fan stops where it is set, which is what a foundation bed, a side yard or the grass boulevard along the street needs. When a spray head runs above its pressure, the water breaks into a fine mist that drifts off instead of landing, and EPA WaterSense: Spray Sprinkler Bodies notes that pressure-regulating bodies cut that waste. The tight spots where a fan fits best include these:

Small front lawns and odd corners
Beds and foundation plantings
Narrow strips along walks, drives and the street

Wet driveway, dry lawn?

That is usually the wrong head, or the right head set wrong. Call and tell us what the zones do when they run, and we will quote the whole job before we start.

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Why one zone keeps one head type

Rotors and spray heads should run on separate zones, because they put water down at different rates.

The fixed fan soaks its small patch quickly, while the turning stream needs far longer to wet its wide circle; the trade calls that speed the "precipitation rate". A "zone" is the group of heads one valve runs, and it gets one run time from the controller, so the beds under the sprays soak while the open turf under the rotors is still thirsty.

Good design keeps each zone to one kind of head, spaces the heads properly and regulates the water pressure, so coverage comes out even. Here is the difference on the lawn:

One mixed zone

Soggy beds beside thirsty turf, or puddles on the lawn to fix it.
How it should be

Matched zones

Each zone waters one kind of ground, so the controller can be set for that ground alone.

Kind words from the neighborhood

Google reviews

Our Google reviews, as the neighbors wrote them, including one from an owner who needed new sprinkler heads, not a new system.

Glenn with Rainmakers Irrigation is super cool, awesome and trustworthy. We are in Woodbury and almost the whole block on our street goes to Rainmakers for sprinkler installation, general maintenance, winterization, and spring startups. Their services are top notch, responses are timely, and prices are affordable. I would recommend Rainmakers Irrigation to anyone who is out shopping for a service provider to install, expand, or service an irrigation system.

Lun Ho

Google review

Absolutely great company to deal with .I was quoted by a different company that I needed a whole new irrigation system rainmakers came out and fixed a leak and replaced two sprinkler heads and got my system up and running and saved me $2700.00 dollars .if you need irrigation work done give them a call there an honest family owned local business.

robert mcnaughton

Google review

Always responsive...Always Fast...Always done right. LOVE THESE GUYS.

Thomas chris Chapman

Google review

Rotors watering the open middle of a back lawn while spray heads fan along the edge of a planting bed

Put every head where it belongs

Call and tell us what the lawn is doing. We will run the system zone by zone, match the heads and nozzles to the ground they water, and quote the whole job before we start.

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