Why You Need Sprinkler Blowout so it Doesn’t Blow Up in Winter

No doubt that in one of your early science classes you learned the interesting fact that water is one of the few substances on earth that actually expands when it freezes. This is an important lesson to hang onto, especially if you live in a place where the winters come early and the temperatures drop low.

In certain places, like Idaho, where the freeze can go deep in the ground, homeowners need to make sure they don’t leave any water in their sprinkler system. Even if your system uses flexible black pipe (polyethylene pipe), a small bit of leftover water can freeze in the pipe and crack or rupture the pipe wall. Then, come spring when you turn the water back on again, you are going to have a massive and expensive problem!

How to Safeguard Your Outdoor Sprinkler System During the Winter

To protect your lawn’s sprinkler system, it’s important to perform a “Sprinkler Blowout” of all the water in the pipes before the first major freeze hits. This should be done sometime in the middle of the fall. The blowout system involves using highly compressed air to basically blow every single last droplet of water out of your pipes.

To perform a blowout, you will need to get your hands on an appropriate compressor and some safety gear. The use of compressed air can be dangerous, especially if you stand too close to pipes, sprinklers, and valves during the proceedings. If you don’t do it just right, you also risk damaging your sprinkler system and property, which is exactly what the blow out was intended to avoid.

That is why we recommend that you hire a professional lawn care company to perform your blowout for you. A professional lawn care company can provide you with trained specialists and the correct equipment. A licensed company will also carry insurance which will be able to cover any damage in the unlikely event something goes wrong and your property is damaged.

Hiring a professional company can also take a lot of the worry, burden, and time off you. If you live in Boise, Eagle, or Meridian, contact Nature’s Elite Lawn & Landscape to schedule your sprinkler blowout. We can actually schedule an ongoing activation in the spring and blowout in the fall, so you never accidentally forget to take care of your system.

Let us handle your sprinkler blowout so you can concentrate on getting everything ready for the holidays! Give us a call today (208) 340-0820.