Winterizing your Irrigations System

When colder weather starts rolling in, our “To Do” list inevitably changes gear to prepare for the colder months. At my home, a large part of that is end of the year yard work; raking, cleaning out gardens, and putting away all of the outdoor toys and gadgets. Yet, if your landscaping also includes an irrigation system that “end of the year” clean up includes Winterization. The process of Winterization, once you know what you’re doing, may take anywhere from 10-30 minutes, depending on how large your system is. So, buckle in because we are going through a step by step approach on how to proceed with winterizing your system!

If you are new to irrigation there is a chance that winterization, as a concept, is also very new. So, let’s start from the top. Winterization of your irrigation system is the process of removing all water from your lines, sprays, and drips, and completely shutting down your irrigation clock for the cold season.

Now, think back to our last series of posts, we spent a long time discussing what I like to call the “irrigation cornerstones”. The four cornerstones we covered were as follows: a Stop-and-Waste, Backflow, Manifold, and Irrigation Clock. These components are central to having a functional irrigation setup, and coincidentally they are also crucial to winterization or blow outs.

But before we go through how to blow out your system, let’s go on a little tangent and give you a list of tools needed to get the job done.

What you Need – Tools List:

1. Water Key
2. Air Compressor (Gassed up.)
3. Air Compressor Hose (Long enough to reach your Backflow.)
4. Female Air Coupling (If your hose does not have one on it.)
5. Male Air Hose Fitting
6. Flathead Screw Driver
7. Flashlight (Optional)

Winterization: Where to Start

Once you have all of your tools assembled, it is time to start winterizing. Now if you recall during our discussions of the cornerstones, we spent a good amount of time talking about where to find them. THIS IS IMPORTANT! As the very first step in winterizing is finding your Stop-and-Waste, Backflow, Manifold, and Clock. When all of these components have been located, then winterization can REALLY begin.

The Steps:

1. 1.   After all four of the components have been located, go back to your Stop-and-Waste. (If you have a flashlight, you can use it to shine light down the access pipe to see the direction of the Stop-and-Waste.) With the water key, insert the “key end” into the pipe. The key should go around the Stop-and-Waste’s handle. Turn the key a quarter turn, or until the handle is completely perpendicular to the flow of the valve, the picture to your left shows a top view of this. If the handle is NOT turned all the way, water can still leak into your system after winterization. Once the Stop-and-Waste is off, you can set aside the water key, it will not be needed again.

Again, make sure your generator and hose are ready to go, and that your hose has a female air coupling for the end of it. Once your tools are primed and prepared to go, head over to the Backflow. Now, for our next few steps I will be referring to picture “B” below. Please, use it as a guide, in case you need it!

2. Now turn off Valve B, making sure the handle is perpendicular to the valve. Attach the threaded end of your Male Air Hose Fitting into Test Cock B. Then insert the barbed end of the fitting into the female air coupling/hose. After this is done, start your air compressor. Finally take the screw driver and quarter turn the bleed screw on Test Cock B – this opens up the port.

• Perhaps you are wondering why it needs to be Valve B and Test Cock B first? Well, let me explain… To correctly winterize your system, water needs to be blown out through both the Stop-and-Waste, and the irrigation stations. Since water enters through the Stop-and-Waste, it makes the most sense to blow that end out first. By using Valve B and Test Cock B first, it is ensuring that all of the water in the backflow gets pushed out back out through the Bleed Port on the Stop-and-Waste.

3. Once you believe all of the water has been pushed out of this side of the system, it is important to double check, and release any built up pressure. So, head back to the Backflow and close the bleed screw by twisting it a quarter turn back. At this point, you can remove both the hose and male air hose fitting from the Test Cock. Now STEP TO THE SIDE of the Test Cock (you don’t want to get blasted with unexpected water, trust me…) and with your screw driver quarter turn the bleed screw back to open.

• If water is still in your system, it will shoot out and you will have to repeat steps 2 and 3. But, if air or a fine mist comes out, then the first half of your system is blown out. Close the test cock back up, and continue to the next step.

4. Before you start blowing out the “stations” side of your irrigation, it is VERY IMPORTANT to close Valve A of the Backflow first! THEN you can open up Valve B. Attach your male air hose fitting to Test Cock A, make sure your air compressor is on, and then PAUSE!

• Opening up Valve B BEFORE closing Valve A will allow water from the non-blown out side to rush back into the side that has already been flushed out.
• The reason we switch Test Cocks is because, water will flow all the way to the next closed valve. If you keep the same Test Cock for the second half of the blow out, water will get stuck in the head or Bonnet of your backflow. This can cause breaks later on with the water freezing and thawing.

Now, I will be explaining this next part with the Pro-C as my example clock. If your clock different, the exact steps are likely to differ, however the overall process remains the same.  Picture “C”, to the right, will be my reference image. Refer to it as needed.

5.  Before you open up the test cock to start blowing out the other half of the system, head over to your clock and open it up. Turn the dial to “manual”. Using the arrows, go to your desired station (in this case station 1) and add a run time onto that station using the +/- buttons. Usually, 5 minutes is more than plenty. Then turn the dial to “run”.

6.  At this point, head back to your backflow, your Air Compressor should still be running, and quarter turn the bleed screw on Test Cock A to open it. The water will be pushed through the spray or drip devices on that station. Continue to flush the water out till you see a mist come out, you hear air hissing through the emitter, or you no longer see water come out. If there is still time on your clock, head back to the irrigation clock and turn the dial to “system off”.

7.  Repeat steps 5 and 6 till all of your stations have been run and blown out.

• If your clock is not working properly, you can always go to the valve manifold and manually turn on each valve or station with the solenoid.