Late Season Sprinkler Blowouts

We finally stopped taking on new sprinkler blowouts Saturday, Novemember 23, and with good reason.  We had 6 sprinkler blowouts to complete that day, and found that with more than half of them that the valves were frozen not allowing air to push the water out of the lines.  There was one backflow that we came across that was leaking from a seal due to the cold weather. 

Others had pipes frozen before the valves.  If the lines or valves are blocked by ice, air cannot pass through to push out the water inside.

We recommend at that point to not have your sprinklers blown out.  Putting air through lines that are blocked by ice can cause the lines or valves to "blow apart" from the pressure.  Even if sprinkler blowouts seem successful at this time, there is no guarantee you valves or lines survived which is something you probably won't notice until the water is turned on in the spring.  We have seen a few other companies put too much air through the lines during the regular sprinkler blowouts season and blow heads or valves apart.  Imagine if these same companies blew out your sprinklers when there is a possibility they are frozen or contain ice.  The result could be disasterous.

We at The Maintenance Shop use the least amount of pressure necessary to get our sprinkler blowouts completed, and we won't blow out sprinklers if there is a chance a system is blocked with frozen pipes or ice in the lines.

There are some other steps that can be taken that we would be more than happy to do for you that could minimize system damage, but it is not fullproof. Contact us if you would like us to do that for you.  We have done it several times over the years when necessary, even in December and January.

By the way, we completed 513 sprinkler blowouts this year, up from 415 last year!

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