– winter is just around the horizon. In Seattle, the chilly weather often lasts almost 4 months, from November to February. The cold weather can cause the ground to freeze as deep as 2-3 feet. So if you don’t do a good job of getting all the water out of the pipes in the ground, you can have significant damage when you turn on your system again in the spring. In order to protect your sprinkler system during an extended period of cold temperatures, it is imperative that you learn how to winterize your sprinkler system.
Winterizing your sprinkler system can be done in three easy steps:
#1 Learn how to winterize your sprinkler system – shut off the water:
The first step is to turn off the water supply to the system. Find the shut off valve and turn off the flowing water, then find your irrigation controller. It might be located inside your garage or basement or perhaps outside in an underground landscaping box. Once you have found it, turn it to the off position. You can do it with your phone if you are one of those with a smart controller. You should keep your controller turned off from the months of November through February. However, depending on the precipitation we’ve had during the winter, it might last as late as early March or even into April.
#2 Learn how to winterize your sprinkler system – drain the water
Once we have stopped more water from entering the system, we must drain the water already in it. For that, you need to locate your backflow prevention assembly. We typically work with a pressure vacuum breaker (PVB), but there are various different types of backflow preventers as well. What’s a PVB? When it rains, or there is an irrigation event, water naturally mixes with different materials and collects around the sprinkler heads. Following that, water could seep back into the irrigation system. Additionally, water from the irrigation system may be siphoned back into the house for you and your family to drink or take showers in the case of a backflow incident, such as a city main line breaking or even a fire down the road. This device stops it from occurring and safeguards the water supply, ensuring the safety of you, your family, and your neighbors.
There should be an isolation valve between the PVB (Pressure Vacuum Breaker)and the water meter. Once you have located the isolation valve, remove the lid from the isolation valve box.
- If it’s a ball valve, turn the handle 90 degrees until the water shuts off
- If it’s a gate valve, rotate the handle until it no longer turns.
After that, take a screwdriver to slowly open the test cocks and drain the water out of the assembly. This process may get you wet, so make sure to wear protective gear. It may take a couple of seconds for the water to drain out of the pipes completely. Once the water is completely drained out:
- Turn the test cocks to a 45-degree angles
- Turn the isolation valves to 45-degree angles.
This will prevent water from getting stuck inside the ball valves, which might result in freezing and cracking the pipe.
Other than the manual process of draining water, two other popular methods include:
Automatic Draining: Some sophisticated sprinkler systems allow you to bypass the manual procedure and instead drain the water on their own. All you have to do is activate a sprinkler head after the water supply has been turned off. However, the process is not entirely automatic since you still have to give some physical effort.
Blow-out draining: Blow-out draining is another common drainage technique. However, most professionals do not encourage it since it has been associated with multiple injuries, especially for newbies. In this method, an air compressor is connected to the sprinkler system pipes to expel any residual water from the sprinkler heads.
#3 Learn how to winterize your sprinkler system – insulate your sprinkler system
The process of winterizing your irrigation system is almost done. To protect the exposed components of the sprinkler system, wrap the pipe, backflow preventers, and water supply shut-off valve with insulation tape. Insulating will ensure adequate protection from the freezing winter.
The steps above are a good guide, but to be fully confident that your system will survive a chilly Seattle winter, contact us to learn how to winterize your sprinkler system.
