Helluva forecast facing our little corner of the world. Today’s high is forecasted to be 93° and could set a record high for this date. Tomorrow’s high 85°, but the front rolls in that night and overnight low is supposed to be 27°. Tuesday high temp of just 32, with an overnight low of 19°! Wednesday’s high forecasted to e 41°, but below freezing again that night before a return to more seasonal temperatures.

I know at minimum that the exposed sprinkler system manifold will need to be protected. The question is, are below freezing temps for 3 straight nights, including a forecasted 19° enough to blow the whole system out? If I do winterize for this front, I’ll probably have to bring the sprinklers back up until October.

Drain the lines. There isn't enough summer left to worry about the lawn. Fixing busted sprinkler pipe is a pain in the ass. You already know about the pain in the ass thing I'm sure.

It isn't the sprinkler lines he has to worry about so much as the manifold(s) and heads.

It has to be well below freezing for some time for the ground to get cold enough to freeze the water in the lines down where they are. But the heads and manifold(s) are more exposed.

What ensigmatic said....but if you drain most of the water out of the lines, then the heads won’t freeze and break.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
What ensigmatic said....but if you drain most of the water out of the lines, then the heads won’t freeze and break.

Maybe

One year the people we have come blow our's out must not have done a thorough job on the last zone. One of the heads all the way at the bottom of the driveway was blown up the following spring. I'm guessing the water they didn't get out eventually ran downhill, collected there, and, of course, froze.

I better do it. I planned on protecting the manifold, but wasn’t thinking about water sitting at, or just below, each sprinkler head.

Put a Schrader valve in the line and blow it out with compressed air .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Put a Schrader valve in the line and blow it out with compressed air .

It takes a lot of compressed air volume to blow out irrigation systems. The average homeowner compressor won't get 'er done.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Put a Schrader valve in the line and blow it out with compressed air .

It takes a lot of compressed air volume to blow out irrigation systems. The average homeowner compressor won't get 'er done.

Well, I do my own winterizing anyway

What is this "winter" you write about?

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
What is this "winter" you write about?

flashguy

Believe it or not, parts of the Great Plains, including as far south as the Oklahoma/Texas panhandle, are looking at a chance of snow in the next few days.

Like the OP said, it's supposed to drastically dip from over 90 degrees down to freezing or below in those areas from Monday-Wednesday, with some precipitation included.

This may result in the earliest snow in recorded history in some of those areas.

The water in the line is the problem. It freezes, swells, causes ruptures/etc.

Blow out the lines as best you can.

There was actually measurable snowfall on Togwotee Pass in NW WY on August 31. Unbelievably, we could see 4 - 8” of snow here. The Laramie Divide —-> Elk Mountain will see more. Oh well, helps to keep out the riff-raff (at least some of them).

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
There was actually measurable snowfall on Togwotee Pass in NW WY on August 31. Unbelievably, we could see 4 - 8” of snow here. The Laramie Divide —-> Elk Mountain will see more. Oh well, helps to keep out the riff-raff (at least some of them).

I'm going to move out there in a couple of years. Thinking Thermopolis or somewhere north /South of there. I grew up in Nebraska so wind/cold doesn't bother me. I just hate high humidity !

quote:

Originally posted by john crusher:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
There was actually measurable snowfall on Togwotee Pass in NW WY on August 31. Unbelievably, we could see 4 - 8” of snow here. The Laramie Divide —-> Elk Mountain will see more. Oh well, helps to keep out the riff-raff (at least some of them).

I'm going to move out there in a couple of years. Thinking Thermopolis or somewhere north /South of there. I grew up in Nebraska so wind/cold doesn't bother me. I just hate high humidity !

I would send you an email, but there isn’t one in your profile. Sounds like you’re not next door in Nebraska any longer, and certainly not in western Nebraska, or you wouldn’t be complaining about humidity

Another thought would be to run the sprinkler system on low volume until freeze is over.

Back in the days when I had sprinklers.....

The system freezes from top (exposed) to bottom (buried). The most vulnerable part is the vacuum breaker, which is typically mounted above ground, and the pipe from it to the manifold (which is buried in the "box"). I've replaced more than one vacuum breaker.

If the cold is just starting there, I'd turn off the water and run the system through a few cycles, which will drain out the water above ground. You'll have to blow it out sooner or later, but this will buy you some time.

I've blown mine out plenty of times with a standard 20-gallon home compressor. I would run it until the compressor came on, then close the main valve and let the compressor "charge" back up. Repeat a bunch of times, then progress to the next zone.

As an aside, keep an eye on the valve inside the house. One year, mine started leaking - through the valve, like it was on a slow trickle. This, of course, filled the system with water again, or at least from the manifolds up. Yep, you guessed it - new manifolds and vacuum breaker again.

quote:

If the cold is just starting there, I'd turn off the water and run the system through a few cycles, which will drain out the water above ground. You'll have to blow it out sooner or later, but this will buy you some time.

Hmm. Might be worth doing, this is about a month early. I’ll,certainly consider it. Thanks

quote:

Hmm. Might be worth doing, this is about a month early. I’ll,certainly consider it. Thanks

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hard to imagine. We are right in the middle of hurricane season and our first freeze is generally in December. Last year the ground temp never got below 55 degrees.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
What is this "winter" you write about?

Ah ha ha ha ah ha! That never gets old