Matched Precipitation Rates (MPR)

Most of the large sprinkler manufacturer’s produce sprinkler heads with Matched Precipitation Rates (MPR). This simply means that all the heads will water at the same rate on a given sprinkler zone. To be more precise, it is the actual nozzle in the sprinkler head that will water at the same rate. So you could have spray heads on a sprinkler circuit that water different arcs and radii, but will water at the same rate because all the nozzles have MPR’s. A good example of this is Rain Bird’s Matched Precipitation Rates on it’s spray nozzles. The 5 series, 8 series, 10 series, 12 series, and 15 series nozzles all have Matched Precipitation Rates (MPR), even though the 5 series will water a 5′ radius and the 15 series will water a 15′ radius. This gives the sprinkler installer or maintenance person greater flexibility when working on a sprinkler system because different nozzles can be used for precise watering while maintaining matched precipitation rates across the sprinkler zone.

In the photo above, I am using Rain Bird 15VAN series nozzles to water the new turf that I installed.

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