but now, as temperatures start to drop, it’s time to put the system to rest for the winter. here’s a quick diy guide to winterizing a lawn-sprinkler system: if your sprinkler system is connected to your house water source, then there should be a backflow preventer that ensures sprinkler water doesn’t flow into the house. shut the backflow valve and then open the manual drain valve on the sprinkler system. and any water left behind can freeze, expand, and damage the sprinkler system. after draining out most of the water from the sprinkler system, hook up an air compressor to blow the lines clear of any remaining water. start by closing the valve on the backflow preventer, which is also known as a pressure vacuum breaker.
remove the plug and screw in a brass quick-connect blow-out plug. by the way, it doesn’t take much air pressure to blow out a sprinkler system. to determine the exact cfm your sprinkler system can handle, find the gallons-per-minute (gpm) rating of each sprinkler head. divide the total gpm of each zone by 7.5 to find the proper cfm of air pressure for the compressor. next, turn off the water supply to the sprinkler system and set the timer to open just one zone. use the compressor to blow out the first sprinkler zone. now repeat to blow out each of the remaining sprinkler zones.
a sprinkler blowout is the process of pushing pressurized air through the sprinkler system lines expelling all remaining water from the pipes. this prevents water from freezing inside of the pipes, causing corrosion, rot, and bursting pipes. all you need is a simple adapter, 4-6-gallon air compressor, and a hose long enough to reach from the sprinkler control valve to the compressor. before doing anything, let’s shut off the water to the sprinkler system. the water shut-off is also located inside this box and is usually a handle. after a few minutes of draining, connect the adapter to the water line opening. once the air compressor comes to full pressure, turn on the sprinkler system from the control box.
do not continue to blow out the system with air as you will melt the sprinkler heads and interior pieces. after each zone has been emptied of water completely, head back to the sprinkler control valve box where the air compressor is plugged in. since we’ve blown out all of the water from the sprinkler lines, be sure to leave the water off for the remainder of the winter. if the sprinklers are going to be turned off for an extended amount of time, a blowout is necessary. sprinkler pipes burst when there is trapped water inside the pipe that freezes, then expands. what happens if you get an early freeze and need to take care of the sprinkler blowout yourself before your landscaping crew can make it to your house? with a simple adapter and pancake-style air compressor that is found in most garages or workshops, you can do the sprinkler blowout yourself in less than 1 hour!
blow out the line. connect the other end of the air hose to the compressor and blow out the line. the heads should pop up and spit out water. use the compressor to blow out the first sprinkler zone. once the sprinkler heads pop up and expel water, immediately release the air pressure while this chore is critical for a healthy sprinkler system, it’s also easy enough for any diyer. all you need is a simple adapter, 4-6-gallon air compressor,, .
but that’s not quite accurate. air pressure is important, but in order to blow out an irrigation system, you also have to pay attention to the based upon what i have read, the secret to blowing your irrigation system out is air volume. i have also read where it takes about 10 cfm of volume to blow a re: diy – sprinkler winterization @jerseygreens i too used my pancake compressor, had a ball valve between the air hose and the system. when, .
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