Tried winterizing sprinklers DIY - fail

[CarLuver]

i went over to my sisters house to try winterizing her sprinklers system. she usually get it done by a company . been watching youtube vids on how it can ben done with a small compressor. i have 125psi small 15 gallon compressor so i dragged it over. bought one of the valve kits off of amazon.

reading responses on the youtube vids some say it works great. some pro's chimed in saying not enough volume in small compressors to do it . i hooked up the hose, pumped up the comp to 125 and set the pressure to 50 psi . Epic fail. did not even pop the heads up. as soon as i opened the valve , pressure dropped to 40 psi and even with the comp running that was all it could muster unless the valve was closed to allow it to pump up.

my sister says the company usually brings a tow behind compressor . not hard to understand why. maybe the small compressor might work for a small system , but not one of her size. Told her to call the company and have them come out and do it.

this was just for fun and experimentation . i learned something and i like to learn by doing . sosmetimes it works , sometime it fails . So does a small compressor work for your system?

 

[KGMtech]

Well. I feel your pain as I have done this with the shop compressor at work and it is not easy. I take some comfort that water going to ice expands 11% so in a perfect situation if you get as little as about 15% of the water out...maybe you'll be okay? I bet you got more out than needed.

 

[harbor]

Kudos for trying. The sprinkler guys in my area are approx $60.

 

[Ursatdx]

I do mine with a 15 gal compressor every year.
Be sure the anti-drain back valve isn't bleeding all your air.

 

[GSCJR]

I did my own for the first time in 19 years ; I used a Makita MAC2400:

SCFM @ 40 PSIG = 4.8
SCFM @ 90 PSIG = 4.2
Tank Size = 4.2 Gallon

One zone at a time, all the heads popped up and discharged until a light mist was present. I did each zone 3 times, waiting for the compressor to build pressure in between (65 PSI). The amount of water/mist discharged was notably less every time.

I guess I'll find out in the spring if it worked or not. I'm surprised at your results @CarLuver , maybe 50 PSI is too low?

 

[alarmguy]

You don’t say what part of the country and winter temperatures are.
I used to blow out my own sprinklers then didn’t bother at all anymore in SC, never has an issue.
Now in NC will do my own. No reason to pay anyone ever.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I paid $70 and the guy had a tow behind compressor. I might do it myself next year.

 

[CarLuver]

I do mine with a 15 gal compressor every year.
Be sure the anti-drain back valve isn't bleeding all your air.

hmmm. i turned off the anti drain back and supply lines valves . there was already a large coupling for a valve which i removed and replaced with the amazon one. i turned on each zone via the pad and turned on the air . she has a 4 zone system with probably 6 heads on each zone. if i am doing something wrong i can't figure it out .

had one of these couplers

Rain Bird - 3RC - 3/4'' Quick Coupling Valve w/ 1-Piece BodyDefault Title

3/4 in. (20/27) rubber cover; 1-piece body Industrial-strength brass quick-coupling valves for convenient water access in potable and non-potable systems Rugged, red brass construction for long life and reliable performance Reliable operation with strong corrosion-resistant stainless steel...

cheapsprinklers.com

 

[sluggo]

My son used to perform this service in our NJ neighborhood as a teenager and into college. I taught him how to do it and he made a lot of money because our neighbors would rather pay him $50-80 than the installer $80-90. He used my 20-25 gallon oil-less compressor and flowed each zone twice to make sure all water was removed. Never had a problem with freezing. The biggest system had 12 zones, with 4-6 heads per zone. All the systems in our neighborhood were piped the same, but they had varying number of zones. He charged by the number of zones. It was boring work, waiting for the noisy compressor to fill between each zone. but he made a ton of money to cover his share of college tuition. All of our systems had a white plastic flush out plug near the underground box. This was between the vacuum break backflow preventer and the underground valve box. We made a fitting to connect the compressor directly to that fitting with a short piece of pneumatic hose. I cannot remember the pressure we used, but it might have been higher than the 50 psi that you are using. Our neighborhood has city water pressures much higher than 50 psi, so I wouldn't worry about increasing your pressure to 70-80 psi. I don't think that you will hurt anything. Only after all the water was drained did the heads stop fully popping up with air pressure.

Try increasing your pressure and see if the heads will pop up and drain.

Let me know if you have questions.

I am away from home on a business trip right now, but I can shoot you some pics of our setup when I get home on Thursday.

 

[tbm5690]

My largest pop-up spray zone has 9 heads and my largest rotor zone has 6 heads. There is a reason why I pay for a tow behind compressor and have it done. That rotor zone, in particular, flows a ton of water and my water supply struggles to keep the pressure adequate for watering. It takes a large volume of air to get it cleared out.

 

[Danno]

Did the blow out every fall with a 15 gallon compressor. Did the valves manually, one zone at a time, and blew them out twice. 1" pipe and max 5 heads per zone. I just let the compressor go at 125 psi, no restrictions.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I do mine with two 5 gallon compressors I happened to own, tied together with a splitter. I have a garden hose tap in the system and I’m able to tie into it and shut the main water off at the tap on the side of the house leading to the main manifold. I do one zone at a time, letting the pressure build up to 50 psi then opening the electric valve to the zone. The water spews out of the heads, and the the air hits it. It’s worked fine. Here is the adapter Immade to tie the compressors into the tap. It happens to be sitting on my heat pump.

 

[supton]

Am going to try this again this weekend; the seal in my oilless 20 gallon compressor wasn’t so good, so I replaced it. Almost got two zones done when it ate the seal… waiting for more seals now. Don’t use the compressor for anything else, so it is hard to justify buying a nicer one. But if it is upwards of $100 to pay to have this done, it might be the right choice.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I think some people are intimidated because they don’t have the appropriate cross overs to connect to the tap leading to the irrigation manifold. Thirty minutes at the fitting section at Home Depot will get it done.

 

[RhondaHonda]

I paid $220 for winterization and a county mandated backflow test. That seems to be about the going rate here. Nobody is coming to the house for $80. I’m not sure what amount the backflow test is vs the winterizing but since I have them out for the test I may as well have them blow the lines out.

I’ve got 16 zones and a pool auto fill but it was the same at our prior house with a smaller system.

 

[notharry]

I live in the northeast and do my own. I have a 120 gallon compressor in the basement and tied in a garden hose connection to the tank outlet and run this directly to the drain off in the basement for my blow-outs. I run the pressure unregulated however never let the pressure get up beyond 50 psi, however the 3/4" mostly un restricted method does well. I first stat with one zone slowly bringing the pressure lower if the tank pressure is too high. Yes the water pressure may be over 50PSI at times but the air volume verses the water volume thru the rotator heads I get concerned about. A head that normally turns 360 once every two minutes flailes to and fro in seconds. the gears are not designed for this great speed and IMO can overheat and damage the delicate plastic gears. This year I installed a Orbit B- Hyve wifi irrigation controller. Let me tell you it woth EVERY dime. I can control and monitor the system from anywhere on my mobile phone. I just walked the yard and selected the zone i wanted to run.. AMAZING!! Sure beats going in and out for a hour. Has smart watering that can be completely adjusted for every zone Anywho, Look peeps, you need the flow and i found the regulator and small hoses are too restrictive. Is it worth 60.00 for someone to come with a huge compressor and 1" air hose. Sure IMHO. FYI The backflow perventer will drop out and chatter if the pressure gets too low and could damage this as well. 11 years doing my own, 9 zones and most have 6 heads. Shoot air straight thru the backflow and everything else.

 

[notharry]

I live in the northeast and do my own. I have a 120 gallon compressor in the basement and tied in a garden hose connection to the tank outlet and run this directly to the drain off in the basement for my blow-outs. I run the pressure unregulated however never let the pressure get up beyond 50 psi, however the 3/4" mostly un restricted method does well. I first stat with one zone slowly bringing the pressure lower if the tank pressure is too high. Yes the water pressure may be over 50PSI at times but the air volume verses the water volume thru the rotator heads I get concerned about. A head that normally turns 360 once every two minutes flailes to and fro in seconds. the gears are not designed for this great speed and IMO can overheat and damage the delicate plastic gears. This year I installed a Orbit B- Hyve wifi irrigation controller. Let me tell you it woth EVERY dime. I can control and monitor the system from anywhere on my mobile phone. I just walked the yard and selected the zone i wanted to run.. AMAZING!! Sure beats going in and out for a hour. Has smart watering that can be completely adjusted for every zone Anywho, Look peeps, you need the flow and i found the regulator and small hoses are too restrictive. Is it worth 60.00 for someone to come with a huge compressor and 1" air hose. Sure IMHO. FYI The backflow perventer will drop out and chatter if the pressure gets too low and could damage this as well. 11 years doing my own, 9 zones and most have 6 heads. Shoot air straight thru the backflow and everything else.

BTW I have 3/4 coming out of the tank. So there is that. (( ;?)

 

[thastinger]

You aren't doing something correctly. Did you turn on the zone?
I do mine with a 5 gallon pancake compressor every year. Mine runs off a shallow well we have so I am able to backfeed through a spigot that is attached to the well, but there is plenty of volume and pressure to blow one zone at a time (4 gear drive sprinklers) for me.

 

[CarLuver]

You aren't doing something correctly. Did you turn on the zone?
I do mine with a 5 gallon pancake compressor every year. Mine runs off a shallow well we have so I am able to backfeed through a spigot that is attached to the well, but there is plenty of volume and pressure to blow one zone at a time (4 gear drive sprinklers) for me.

yeah i opened each zone separately. i can hear the air and see bubbling , but the head won't pop up . they have a pretty stiff spring in them

 

[thastinger]

yeah i opened each zone separately. i can hear the air and see bubbling , but the head won't pop up . they have a pretty stiff spring in them

If they are pop ups then unscrew the heads off of them and all the water will come out without them needing to pop up. If they are the larger gear drives then the upper part of those will also unscrew from the base.
But really, they don't need to be bone dry, I'm sure some amount of water will enter the system with the rains, condensation etc.