How To Protect Your Plumbing -Including Your Irrigation System- From Winter’s Icy Grip
Chances are you’ve been under a freeze warning before. You might have even heard how to protect your plumbing fixtures by opening cabinets under the sink and letting faucets drip overnight.
Now, that’s good advice, but it’s just the start, especially when it comes to protecting outdoor plumbing, including your irrigation system. So, to help ensure you don’t get an icy surprise indoors or out, the professionals from Acre Lawn & Landscape offer the following tips and tricks to protect your plumbing.
Cracked/Burst Pipes
What Has Happened?
The laws of physics are unforgiving, including the one that says, when water freezes, its volume expands by 9%. Another law – the one named Murphy’s that says “if anything can go wrong, it probably will” – then takes over, causing all those now frozen and bigger water molecules to burst your pipes. You can, however, tell Mr. Murphy to take a hike, by doing the following:
Preventative Measures
You can prevent your pipes from bursting by:
As mentioned above, letting faucets drip overnight. This keeps the water moving, making it slightly less likely to freeze. But the real reason for the drip is that it can lessen the pressure in the space between any ice blockage and the faucet, making the pipe less likely to burst when it begins to thaw.
As for leaving open those under sink cabinets, that only helps if it’s warm enough inside to counter the cold outside. So, especially if you plan to be away from the house, maybe vacationing at a nice warm beach, keep the heat up high enough to do the trick.
Using foam or heat tape to insulate pipes.
Checking for damaged pipes and replacing them before anticipated freezing weather.
Damaged Sprinkler Systems
What Has Happened?
Just like the ice can burst your pipes, it can also damage your sprinkler heads and drip emitters. The force from that expansion causes fittings to shatter and sprinkler cases to break open.
Preventative Measures
In order to prevent damage, we recommend completely draining your irrigation system. Here are the different methods you can use depending on the type of system you’re using:
Busted Valves and Backflow Devices
What Has Happened?
Ice and high pressure can damage valves and backflow devices as well. Sometimes you may not even notice the damage until the next season when you start to experience leaks and breaks.
Preventative Measures
You can prevent busted valves and backflow devices by trying the following techniques:
Turning off irrigation in the winter
Using the blowout method to drain valves, but again, if you do choose this method, be sure to follow all safety measures
Closing drain valves
Using backflow blanket on backflow devices
Need Further Assistance? Contact Acre Lawn & Landscape
ACRE’s experts can offer additional tips on how to protect your outdoor plumbing, and they can design and install a functional and customized irrigation system that is easy to maintain all year long, including the winter months. ACRE works with the latest irrigation technologies to design and install a time- and money-saving system that will allow you to customize water schedules.
An Acre-designed irrigation system will not only be easy to maintain in the off months. It will also provide the best in watering technology and care in the spring and summer when bringing your lush lawn back to life. Contact us today for more information!
