Sprinklers can be easily damaged in the winter if you forget to turn them off. The low temperatures that come with winter can cause them to become damaged. It also causes broken pipes which becomes costly.
Make sure you follow these tips to winterize your sprinklers and protect them!
Turn off the Controller
If you have sprinklers that come on automatically, make sure to turn them off at the controller. This ensures that will not come on randomly which can ruin the components. You can either unplug the controller or set the automatic settings off depending on your system.
Make Sure All the Water is Out
If you drain your system, all the water will be out and you don’t need to worry about the pipes being broken. You can use a home air compressor to blow the water out of the pipes. Make sure to do each zone so that all the sprinklers are left without water.
Protect the Valves
While the pipes are some of the most important things to protect, you also need to consider the valves. Make sure the above-ground valves are insulated and the backflow preventers are insulated as well. You can use insulation tape or pine straw.
Check Your Sprinklers for Damage
The best time to see if your sprinklers have damage is before winter comes. Once the frost and cold come, it could do large damage, and then you will have to spend more money fixing it. You need to make sure your pipes are also below the frost line. If they are below the line, you don’t have to worry about much.
Check Winter Watering Levels
If you live in an area without much frost, you might want to continue watering the lawn or doing irrigation in the winter months. If you have overflow though, you could end up with icy sidewalks and driveways.
If you really need the sprinklers in the winter, make sure you are only watering on a warm day.
Wrap Up the Pipes
If you have above-ground pipes, you need to make sure you cover them before the frost comes. You can cover them in insulation tape or foam tube insulation. You can buy these items from hardware or home improvement stores.
Call the Experts
If you aren’t sure how to drain your pipes or insulate the pipes, you might want to consider calling an expert. It can be a hard job for beginners and you don’t want to risk doing it incorrectly and ruining the sprinklers or pipes.
Calling a professional is also cheaper than trying to buy equipment buy yourself if you don’t already have items like the air compressor.
Sprinklers might seem like a weird thing to worry about in the winter, but they can cause major problems if you do not protect them and insulate them. The key is to make sure you take all the necessary precautions before the first frost comes.
