Expert IrrigationHeads are the cheapest part of an irrigation system and the one most often replaced badly. Putting the same head back in the same place solves the symptom you called about; getting the nozzle and the pressure right is what stops the brown patch coming back.
Snapped at the collar
The classic Broward failure: a mower or a car catches a head sitting slightly proud of the turf and shears it at the threads. Straightforward to replace, but worth asking why it was proud in the first place. Usually the body was installed high, or the soil around it has settled, and unless that is corrected the replacement snaps too.
Misting instead of spraying
Water atomised into the air, drifting, never landing where it is aimed. This is a pressure problem, not a head problem — the pressure at the nozzle is higher than it was designed for. It wastes a remarkable amount of water, and in the parts of the county where static pressure runs high it is the single most common thing we correct. Pressure-regulating bodies or a regulator at the valve fix it properly; swapping heads does not.
Mixed head types on one zone
Rotors and spray heads apply water at completely different rates — a spray zone might deliver an inch and a half an hour where rotors deliver half that. Put both on one valve and there is no run time that is correct for both. One half of the zone is always drowning or always dry. This is the most common design fault we find in older Broward systems, and it cannot be fixed by adjusting the controller. It needs the zone splitting or the heads matching.
Arcs, aim and the driveway problem
On the smaller lots east of the county, and anywhere with hardscape close to turf, arc adjustment matters more than anything else. Water on concrete is water you paid for and the grass never saw. On well-fed systems it is worse than waste — the dissolved iron oxidises on contact with air and stains the driveway orange within about thirty seconds. Adjusting the arc so well water never lands on concrete is the first fix we try, well before anyone suggests chemical treatment.
Sunken heads and settling
A head that has sunk below grade sprays into the surrounding turf instead of over it, so you get a ring of healthy grass around a dry circle. Common on the dredge-and-fill soils in the western cities, where the ground continues to settle for years after construction. Raising them on risers is a permanent fix; pulling them up by hand every few months is not.