You could stomp the sprinkler prank entirely just by placing in directly over the stove or fireplace instead on in the tile in front. If a sim can't stand directly below it, that sim cannot perform the prank.
Yes, and normally I do that.
But when I started playing a PlantSim, I discovered that the prank fills the Water need almost immediately, plus is good for more than one PlantSim at once, provided they're near each other.
I don't mind the time wasted of them reacting to the sprinkler, but it doesn't make sense to me that they're trying to avoid the water.