As temperatures outside drop below the freezing point of water water in your sprinkler system pipes can freeze into ice and expand causing your pipes to burst as a result.
Winterizing irrigation lawn system.
How to winterize a sprinkler system.
But you can probably blow it out zone by zone.
Your grass likes a deep drink every week to 10 days in most climates.
Most systems have a built in manual or automatic drain valve that uses gravity to move water from the pipes.
Yet the thin tubing used in irrigation systems has a tendency to shift and sink over time.
If you don t almost any part of the system can freeze bursting pipes cracking sprinkler heads breaking valves or damage to the most expensive part of all the backflow preventer the big brass and copper.
Manual drain auto drain or blowout.
As a general rule you should winterize your system at least a week before the first freeze is expected.
Without proper preparation your sprinkler system might be damaged by freezing temperatures.
If you re into number crunching and you have the original irrigation layout showing the gallons per minute gpm of each sprinkler head just divide the total gpm of each zone by 7 5.
Ways to winterize an irrigation system.
But the question of when to stop watering your lawn and winterize your sprinkler system is a little more complicated.
In areas where winterization is mandatory irrigation systems are installed using one of three types of water removal.
If you don t know your system type it is best to use the blowout method.
The blowout method is usually the easiest and most efficient way to winterize a sprinkler pump system.
Just be aware that even the largest home compressor isn t powerful enough to blow out the entire system at once.
Keep an eye on the local weather reports in the newspaper or on television for when the first freeze of the year is expected.
If you have a lawn sprinkler system and you live in a climate that drops to 32 degrees f.
Most of the country will see at least one deep freeze during the cold season.
Damage to an underground irrigation system is costly to fix and may require a large portion of the yard to be dug out to locate the problem.
Many more will see freezing temperatures and snow through the winter months.
There are generally three methods used to winterize a pump system.
Below the freezing point some of the most critical components of a sprinkler system can be damaged.
You need to winterize your.
Here are some tips from rain bird on how to prepare your irrigation system for winter conditions if you live in a region where it freezes.
Manual drain auto drain and the blowout method air compressor.
Recommendations for blowing out an irrigation system.