Metal Impact Sprinklers

Metal impact sprinklers are the overhead heads a nursery reaches for when plastic will not hold up: field-grown stock, container pads, pot-in-pot blocks, and any solid set that also has to run all night for frost protection. This page carries brass, zinc and other metal heads from Rain Bird, Superior and Rivulis, from half-inch heads that start at 0.33 gpm to 1 1/4 in. heads throwing past 100 ft of radius.

Every product below lists its own specs. Use the notes here to narrow the field by inlet size, pressure window, nozzle and pattern before you ask for a quote. ML Irrigation sells wholesale from Fountain Inn, South Carolina, and ships to growers in all 50 states.

Which metal impact head fits the block?

Sort by inlet size first, because it tracks spacing and flow. Half-inch heads such as the Rain Bird 14VH, the Superior 90SD, 17023 and 170W series and the Rivulis 423 cover nursery solid sets and container pads at spacings of roughly 30 to 50 ft on about 5 gpm or less each. Three-quarter-inch heads like the Superior 2000S and 261SDX and the Rivulis 233B / 234 push spacing toward 60 ft. The 1 in. and 1 1/4 in. heads (Superior 300SAX, 360SAX, 400S and AI120, Rivulis 260) are field equipment, with radii from under 50 ft to past 110 ft and flows that top 100 gpm; the Rivulis Duplex 280 big gun reaches further still.

Then decide the pattern. Any head on a road, building line or property edge should be part circle. Superior's part-circle heads (90SD, 90DZ, 261SDX, 360SAX, AI123) adjust from 20° to 340°; Rain Bird's 25BPJ-FP and 35A-TNT / 35A-ADJ and the Rivulis 423 handle the same job at nursery spacings.

Check trajectory. Most heads throw at 23° to 25°, which suits open ground. Under a tree canopy that angle wets leaves instead of soil, and the 15° Superior 170W15RP exists for that reason.

Match the drive to the water. Spoon and precision-jet drives are the ordinary choice on clean supply. Wedge drives, on the Rain Bird 14VH and the Superior 170W heads, use a self-cleaning wedge that keeps the arm swinging on gritty water, and run at the lowest flows in the category.

What pressure, flow and water quality does the block need?

Every head on this page lists a pressure window, and the pattern only holds inside it. The half-inch heads sit between 20 and 60 psi; the big brass heads want more, with the Superior 300SAX and 350SAX rated 40 to 80 psi, the AI120 55 to 95 and the 400S 65 to 100. Below the window the stream fails to break up and the head lays down a ring with a dry center; above it the droplets fine off and drift. Measure pressure at the last head, not at the pump.

Where pressure varies across a block, two approaches help. The Superior 360SAX carries the widest window of the large heads at 35 to 100 psi, for systems that are not tightly regulated. Rivulis offers pressure-compensating versions of the 233B, 260 and 280 that hold output as pressure changes along the run.

Flow is the other budget. A Superior 17023R on its smallest nozzle runs 1.28 gpm; a 400S on its largest draws 132 gpm. A frost set runs every head in the block at once for the full event, so size the pump for the whole block, not the largest zone. Ask us about pump sizing when you request a quote.

Water quality decides the drive. Pond, canal and recycled supply carry grit that stalls an impact arm. Put a screen or disc filter ahead of the lateral, and on the dirtiest supply pick a wedge drive or the Rivulis 423 with its sand and dust sleeve.

Where do impact systems go wrong, and how do the lines differ?

The mistakes we see most are ordering mistakes. Nozzle thread comes first: the Superior 17023R and 170W23R take 3/8-24 UNF nozzles, while the 17023W and 170W23W take 1/8-27 NPT. Same head, different nozzle stock, so buy the one that matches the nozzles on your shelf. Next is replacing part of a block with a different head so the patterns no longer overlap; the Superior 17023R shares parts with the Rain Bird 20JH, which matters when a 20JH block needs a few heads replaced. Then a full-circle head on a boundary that wets the road, and spacing stretched past what the manufacturer lists, which leaves a dry ring between heads.

The three lines come at the category differently. Rain Bird runs a compact brass range: the low-flow 14VH, the 20JH, 30 and 65PJ heads, the 85EHD with the largest throw in its ag range, spreader and plugged versions of the 30 series, and part-circle 25BPJ-FP and 35A-TNT / 35A-ADJ heads. Superior, which brings together the Buckner, Superior Controls and Western Brass brands, is the deepest brass impact line we carry: stainless springs and fulcrum pins, chemical-resistant seals, stream-straightening vanes, UNF and NPT nozzle threads, a part-circle head in every inlet size, and the powder-coated zinc 90DZ as the step between a plastic impact head and solid brass. Rivulis publishes metric sizing, offers pressure-compensating versions of its larger heads, and builds the 423 to keep water inside the pattern.