Haven’t got my sprinklers blown out yet – help

I am scheduled for Monday with my blow out company. Obviously nervous with the weather we’ve had already and specifically this weekend doesn’t look like it will be above freezing in my area

I have a 20 gal compressor. Would it be worthwhile trying to blow them out myself? I know it would take a long time and maybe not very effective, but probably wouldn’t hurt anything?? Better to get some water out than none at all??

I had mine blown out yesterday by Greenlawn (out of south metro area). The guy got here in Hudson at 4 pm. We had over 6 inches of snow. He indicated my backflow preventer was froze. He said he needed to use a torch to thaw. He was able to get mine blown out in about 30 minutes. They told me to wrap my backflow preventor if it got below freezing. Not sure how well that will work until next Monday though. Good luck.

Here’s just one of many helpful vids on youtube.
Maybe one of them will match your system and steer you in right direction.
Good luck

They’ll be fine waiting till Monday. The ground temps are still warm enough to keep the lines from freezing. Honestly a 20 gallon compressor will do more harm than good. The goal is to high volume and lower pressure to prevent the system from heating up from the air.

Edit: If you are really worried, on the backflow there is a spigot on each side. Take a straight screwdriver and give the screws 1/4 turn. You could also remove the plug that the compressor gets hooked to. That will drain some of the water out of the backflow.

No worries, Monday should be just fine. I’ll be doing mine on Sunday.

I watched my neighbor water 9″ of snow this morning.

BassinBill wrote:

They’ll be fine waiting till Monday. The ground temps are still warm enough to keep the lines from freezing. Honestly a 20 gallon compressor will do more harm than good. The goal is to high volume and lower pressure to prevent the system from heating up from the air.

Edit: If you are really worried, on the backflow there is a spigot on each side. Take a straight screwdriver and give the screws 1/4 turn. You could also remove the plug that the compressor gets hooked to. That will drain some of the water out of the backflow.

If you burst it will be fine with a 20gallon, not ideal but it will work.

Thanks guys I feel better. My sprinkler guy also said they will be fine until Monday. I think I’m gonna get some heat tape or cable at Menards and wrap the back flow just to be sure

Drain the pipe that is above ground so it won’t freeze and break the pipe. I turned mine on a week to early this spring and it got down to 25F and I thought it would be fine next to the house. I was wrong. I got to practice my soldering skills. It also froze in the backflow prevention device needing to have the components of that replaced. That was about $50. Shut off the water, open the garden hose valve if it has one and open the valves one at a time and the water will clear above ground and you will be fine until next week.

I’ve been doing mine with a 20 gallon compressor for 13 years and haven’t had any problems. I fill the compressor to 120lbs set the output to 60lbs then run each zone for 2 minutes. I let the compressor get back to 120lbs for each zone. The water usually stops coming out of the farthest sprinkler at about a minute and a half. I cycle thru once then let everything sit for about an hour then cycle thru again at 1 minute per zone. Your anti siphon manifold is the only thing I would worry about freezing before Monday.