In Parker, Colorado sprinkler blowout is essential winter maintenance for all homeowners. Winter is coming and I bet we will have freezing temps in the next 2 weeks.

If you have never done this before and don’t want to do  it yourself then I can guarantee you that there will be plenty of offers stuck to your front door over the next week or two. I’ve already had several stuck to my door and it’s only October 3rd. If not google a local lawn care company and have them come out and do this.

Make sure you have your sprinkler system blowout or at least drained before the first freeze.

Sprinkler head

The procedure is pretty simple so remember sprinkler blow out is essential winter maintenance in Colorado.

• First shut the water off to the sprinkler system. This valve is usually found in the basement near where your water pipes enter the house from the water main out at the street or well.
• Each zone in the system needs to be blown out so most of the water is removed from the underground lines. This is accomplished by connecting the air compressor to the back flow preventer and opening the valves to allow the air to flow through each zone and clear the pipes.
• The back flow preventer outside the house needs to be drained and that is usually done in the basement with a small bucket and a pair of pliers.
• I also picked up a back flow preventer cover from one of the home improvement stores that is think and insulated and has Velcro all around the edges to seal in and completely cover the back flow preventer. This just keeps the cold winds from coming in direct contact with the pipes which do run into the house.

If you choose to hire someone to do this make sure they have an air compressor powerful enough to get the job done. I personally tried to use a smaller air compressor to do the job one year and it didn’t work.

My personal experience: I was told by a reliable plumber that he has never blown out his own sprinkler system. He only drains the back flow preventer and covers it as I mentioned above. He told me this about 7 years ago and since then I’ve never paid anyone to blow out my entire system. I’ve just drain the back flow preventer and covered it and I have never had a problem. This is not a recommendation that this is what you should do but rather the way I have done it. It works for me but maybe not for you. I think it has a lot to do with how deep the pipes are buried and maybe luck.

Staging your home in a good real estate market.