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Sprinkler system blowout help

Rot Box

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Supporting Member
Location
Smithfield Utah
Hey fellas, Sprinkler blowout time is right around the corner and I don’t have a riser with the fittings to blowout. In fact I don’t have anywhere to attach a compressor?? Last year I just shut them off and I paid the price in the spring as ALL the heads and valves had froze and broke 😣 haha.

Any ideas? Do I pull individual heads on each zone and blowout from there? I’m a big dummy when it comes to these things what should I do? Thanks,

Andrew
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
Rot Box said:
Hey fellas, Sprinkler blowout time is right around the corner and I don’t have a riser with the fittings to blowout. In fact I don’t have anywhere to attach a compressor?? Last year I just shut them off and I paid the price in the spring as ALL the heads and valves had froze and broke 😣 haha.

Any ideas? Do I pull individual heads on each zone and blowout from there? I’m a big dummy when it comes to these things what should I do? Thanks,

Andrew
Click to expand...
You can add a valve to the backflow preventer and blow it out from there. That's what I do
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Make sure you regulate the pressure, 30 psi max. I blow out mine each year and 2 yrs ago I forgot to turn the air pressure down at my compressor. 140 psi turned a piece of 2" PVC into a pipe b*mb, less than 3' away from my face.
 
Rot Box

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Supporting Member
Location
Smithfield Utah
In my front lawn just off my meter I have a shutoff valve for the sprinklers (a few feet below the surface) then about ten feet away from that is my first sprinkler box with four valves. The last owner of the house claims he never had to blow them out… ugh.
 
Spork

Spork

Tin Foil Hat Equipped
Location
Saratoga Springs, UT
last time I blew mine out I just pulled up a head by hand and stuck the blow gun in the sprinkler nozzle hole. It's hard to over pressurize it when your holding it by hand.

I guess a lot of this goes back to how the sprinkler system is designed, is your yard sloped? My yard has about a 5' drop from one side to the other so I'm not expecting a lot of water to accumulate in my lines. I also switched to poly instead of PVC so any issues with freezing are limited to the connectors. When it was installed did they put in drains?
 
Rot Box

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Supporting Member
Location
Smithfield Utah
Yard is flat as a pancake. That’s kinda what I’m thinking.. I’d have to pull a head on each zone though right? I’ve got a nice regulator on my compressor I can put to use.
 
P

Pike2350

Registered User
Location
Salt Lake City
I have never blown out my sprinklers. Usually I just shut off the water and open the thumb screw on the valve. The water will usually evaporate enough if you do it early enough (I usually do it in mid October)

I have only ever had 1 crack/break in a pipe and I'm not even sure it was related to freezing. Between my house and 2 rental properties, I've never had a major issue.
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
^that works really well if you have drains in the system too. At my last house I had drains and did it that way for 15 years with zero issues. Since I designed the system at my current house I left out the stupid drains and added the valve to be able to blow it out.
 
1969honda

1969honda

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
Cache
If this it's in a culinary system then it should have a backflow preventer. Usually there's a pipe plug you can pull off on the sprinkler system side of the black flow and adapt a1/4 NPT air fitting to it.

I used to install a ball valve there, and then an air fitting. This way customers could easily open and close the valve each year, after blocking out the backflow valve, and blow out the system. 10-15 minutes per zone on the timer usually worked great. I also used to install a garden valve at the end of the main line to help ensure it got fully drained. The bonus was another garden hose hook up out in the yard when needed.
 
P

Pike2350

Registered User
Location
Salt Lake City
N-Smooth said:
^that works really well if you have drains in the system too. At my last house I had drains and did it that way for 15 years with zero issues. Since I designed the system at my current house I left out the stupid drains and added the valve to be able to blow it out.
Click to expand...
None of mine have drains. I just like to think that I shut them off soon enough and by opening the valve it allows some water to evaporate and gives room to expand if it does freeze.
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
1969honda said:
If this it's in a culinary system then it should have a backflow preventer. Usually there's a pipe plug you can pull off on the sprinkler system side of the black flow and adapt a1/4 NPT air fitting to it.

I used to install a ball valve there, and then an air fitting. This way customers could easily open and close the valve each year, after blocking out the backflow valve, and blow out the system. 10-15 minutes per zone on the timer usually worked great. I also used to install a garden valve at the end of the main line to help ensure it got fully drained. The bonus was another garden hose hook up out in the yard when needed.
Click to expand...
Yup, this is how I did mine.
www.rme4x4.com

What did you work on Today; Home Edition

That’s for sure. We have a great pack of neighbors in the houses surrounding us and we all pretty much assume we’ll want or need to take our turns being involved when the HOA is handed over. Our development is going to be huge, like 850 units huge so there will be issues with aligning priorities...
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