Winterizing a Sprinkler’s Backflow Assembly
This trick makes prepping your sprinkler system for winter a breeze.
For years, I more or less carefully took apart my lawn sprinkler’s backflow device every winter (usually during the first blizzard) and wrapped the entire bulky assembly in insulating wrap. Then, in the spring, I had to find all those pesky little parts in the shed: the springs, O-rings, gaskets, and such.
Usually, some part was missing or cracked. Then it seemed to take forever for me to remember how the whole mess went back together again. I solved this problem by adding a couple of pipe unions to the water lines, as shown in the drawing. In a few minutes, with a couple of turns of a wrench, the entire assembly comes off as a unit.
I cap the two open pipes, wrap them with some insulation, and hang the whole U-shaped backflow assembly in the shed. It stays nice all winter and pops back on just as quickly in the spring. No lost parts, no adjustment, and no rebuilding required. I even installed the two unions at different heights so that I can’t possibly install the assembly backward.
— Jim Parker; Littleton, CO
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View Comments
Brilliant
I'm assuming your valve manifold is on the interior of the house or you don't have any zone valves, or your entire system is on a measurable slope and the last head is self draining. Otherwise your system would need to be properly winterized to insure remaining water in the lines doesn't freeze.
"Wrap them in insulation" What no mention of blowing the lines out with compressed air? Wrapping insulation around the stand pipes is not going to prevent the water in those pipes from freezing in any of the northern states.
...and if they have been blown out, there is no need to wrap them with insulation.
I just have a spot to connect my compressor inside to the feed from the house to the manifolds, and then blow the whole system out one zone at a time from inside. I've never had any issues in Ottawa, Canada, where it goes well below freezing.