Prepare Your Sprinkler System after Winter
Before the winter starts, it’s important that you properly prepare your home’s sprinkler system to make it through the icy weather. Just a bit of winterization goes a long way toward preventing serious damage to the fittings, valves, pipes, and the sprinklers themselves.
But when spring comes around again, don’t just run to turn the sprinklers right back on: the irrigation system for your home shouldn’t be woken up abruptly after a long winter hibernation—it may be a bit grumpy! You need to take a few steps to see that the system won’t damage itself after a few months of inaction, and that you won’t run into repair problems in the near future.
If you do encounter trouble with your sprinklers this spring, call up Advanced Home Services. We provide comprehensive repair and maintenance for sprinkler systems in Idaho Falls, ID and the surrounding areas. With our help, your sprinklers should keep working for many years with few problems.
Steps to ready your sprinklers for spring
The biggest danger to your sprinkler system if your turn all the zones on abruptly after a long period of inaction is a spike in air pressure. This occurs because water rushes into an empty pipe and the air inside has no chance to escape. The result is often a burst pipe or a sprinkler that gets blown right out of grass, leaving water to geyser all over the lawn. You may have encountered a minor version of this with your indoor plumbing: a knocking sound from the pipes whenever you shut off a tap that’s known as water hammer.
If your sprinkler system has pressure relief valves, you need to open them up and remove the air from the pipes. If the system lacks these valves, the best approach is to remove the sprinkler heads. You don’t have to remove every one, only the ones located at the highest points of each of the zones.
Now that you’ve removed water pressure along the lines, begin to fill the system slowly. Fill the main line first, then go to other zones and fill them one at a time. If you have an automated system, don’t use it yet: do all these steps with the manual valves so you can open them slowly. It can take around a half hour to fill up each of the zones, so don’t attempt to rush.
Once you have filled up the entire sprinkler system with water, give each of the separate zones a test run for a few minutes to see if the spray comes out evenly from each sprinkler head and that they are clearing the ground. This is the time to check if there are any blockages in the fixtures or leaks around the sprinkler heads. If you notice issues like this, it’s best to call for a repair technician to take care of them.
When you are done with the above precautions, you should have a sprinkler system ready to care for your property through spring and summer. Advanced Home Services is here whenever you need additional help with sprinkler systems in Idaho Falls, ID. You can reach us any time for emergency services.
